Music piracy: Singing a different tune
The music business is now doing two things right. First, it has built a better stick. Most countries have virtually abandoned the practice of suing people for downloading copyrighted files. The favoured approach these days is known as “graduated response” or “three strikes and you’re out”. People who are suspected of trading media illegally are sent warnings. If they fail to stop, their internet-service provider (ISP) may slow their connection. If that fails to deter, they may be temporarily cut off.
Graduated-response laws appeared this spring in Taiwan and South Korea—an advanced market where digital music has overtaken sales of CDs and DVDs. In October, following many political and legal hitches, they were enacted in France. The British government is expected to announce similar measures on November 18th. Almost everywhere in the developed world, such laws are being debated. Even where they are not (America, for example), ISPs are working quietly with the record industry to similar ends.
The Economist lauds the record industry for taking 10+ years to figure out that the Internet isn't going away and suing its customers probably isn't the best course of action if you want to stay in business. Ugh.
The Economist also implicitly lauds the "three strikes" movement in the disingenuous description. From The Telegraph last month gives lie to the "temporary" cut-off described by The Economist:
The third offence will lead to a judge ordering a one-year internet rights suspension or issuing a fine.
Moreover, The Economist also ignores inconvenient polling data - 70% of Britons opposed "three strikes" in an October poll. Heck, MI5 opposes three-strikes, too! From The London Times:
The police and intelligence services are calling on the Government to drop plans to disconnect persistent internet pirates because they fear that this would make it harder to track criminals online.
I'm disappointed, but not surprised.
(Trying the "edit excerpt" box to integrate comment.)
