[Red Moon]

Britain agrees plan to tackle online music piracy

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's six biggest Internet providers have agreed a plan to tackle piracy within the music and film industries, pledging to send warning letters to users suspected of illegal file-sharing.

But the plan in its current form falls short of requests by music trade bodies which had called for Internet service providers to disconnect those who repeatedly download music illegally.

Under the plan drawn up by the government, Virgin Media, BSkyB, Carphone Warehouse, BT, Orange and Tiscali have agreed to work towards a "significant reduction" in the illegal sharing of content.

They will send letters to prolific illegal downloaders each week under a three-month trial, warning them that they are being monitored.

The ISPs and rights holders will then work together with the media regulator Ofcom to come up with a Code of Practice on how to act if this does not work.

Options could include a three-strikes-and-you're-out warning and filtering to prevent illegal tracks from being downloaded.

"This is an intelligent approach to tackling unlawful file-sharing by industry and ISPs," Business Secretary John Hutton said in a statement. "It tells consumers what they can do, rather than just what they can't."

The ISPs had previously argued they were mere conduits and not responsible for content. But they agreed to the deal after the British government said it would impose legislation if they did not work with the music and film industries to curb illegal file-sharing.

Music companies have been trying desperately to boost digital sales in recent years following the growth of Internet piracy which has cut into CD sales. Some 6 million Britons are thought to engage in illegal file-sharing each year.

The involvement of ISPs has also risen up the agenda after France introduced a scheme to disconnect users who persisted in illegal downloading.

The government said the signatories would also need to work together to make material legally available online in a wide range of user-friendly formats.

A host of downloading services have developed on the Internet in recent years, with the most successful being Apple's iTunes with over 70 percent of the digital music market. But the government has said it would still like to see more choice.

BSkyB announced a subscription music service just this week.

Source: Reuters

[xDramatick]

UGH, i hate this.

the thing with me is either;
1. Can't afford to buy the CD.
2. I can't get an itunes account - no credit card holder.
3. A LOT of my music isn't available in England.
4. My CD drive is broken, so even if I bought the CD, I couldn't burn it onto my ipod.

If I download a song, I do end up eventually getting the CD too [if I can obvs]

Then again, I have AOL and they're not listed above so hopefully I'll be fine x]

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by Darenn
Then again, I have AOL and they're not listed above so hopefully I'll be fine x]

Now the big six have joined the others will follow soon enough. It will just be a matter of time.

What I hate about this is that it the start of internet censorship and taking away people freedoms on the net. The Government won't stop at music it will start to filter what we can read or not read on the net.

The Government already want the ISP's to store our e-mails next it will be the addresses of every site we visit and what we did on the site. What's more they will use this as an excuse to bring in such measures.

[\PJ/]

I don't download music through torennts i use youtube,i download the youtube video for example mercy then i convert to an mp3 file then burn to a cd is this illegal?

[xDramatick]

Originally posted by Pj
I don't download music through torennts i use youtube,i download the youtube video for example mercy then i convert to an mp3 file then burn to a cd is this illegal?

I think it is because either way, you still haven't paid for it =P

[\PJ/]

Originally posted by Darenn

I think it is because either way, you still haven't paid for it =P

Oh well i'll still do it the world is full of thugs and pedo's shouldn't they be more worried about them than this.

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by Pj
I don't download music through torennts i use youtube,i download the youtube video for example mercy then i convert to an mp3 file then burn to a cd is this illegal?

Yes it is.

Youtube would be one of the sites that could be affected by this type of action. The ISP's could monitor youtube traffic and restrict access to music videos uploaded on to the site.

In theory they could even pass the names of people uploading and downloading (i.e. watching) music videos to the music industry so legal action could be taken in the courts to recover lost royalties.

[xDramatick]

Originally posted by Pj

Oh well i'll still do it the world is full of thugs and pedo's shouldn't they be more worried about them than this.

Exactly.
I really doubt I'll stop unless I get a letter/warning thingy.

In which case, I'll probs just set up a deal with my mates, all buy CDs and trade the files over MSN. Mwahahaha.

[\PJ/]

Originally posted by Red Moon

Yes it is.

Youtube would be one of the sites that could be affected by this type of action. The ISP's could monitor youtube traffic and restrict access to music videos uploaded on to the site.

In theory they could even pass the names of people uploading and downloading (i.e. watching) music videos to the music industry so legal action could be taken in the courts to recover lost royalties.

Oh.

[\PJ/]

Originally posted by Darenn

Exactly.
I really doubt I'll stop unless I get a letter/warning thingy.

In which case, I'll probs just set up a deal with my mates, all buy CDs and trade the files over MSN. Mwahahaha.

Yes ill wait for the letter probably,and thats not a bad idea LOL.

[MarkWaldorf]

I download my music through sites like Rapidshare, Zshare, Mediafire etc....file hosting websites. I haven't downloaded on things like Limewire for ages.

[xDramatick]

Originally posted by Markus
I download my music through sites like Rapidshare, Zshare, Mediafire etc....file hosting websites. I haven't downloaded on things like Limewire for ages.

same.
either those, or torrents.

I don't like Limewire =| too riskyy.

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by Pj
Oh well i'll still do it the world is full of thugs and pedo's shouldn't they be more worried about them than this.

Yes but they are harder to catch so lets go for the masses instead. Spotting lots of mp3's whizzing across the internet to a computer near you is easier, than catching the real evil beings on the internet.

Once again the Government got it wrong and has been bullied into supporting the music industry rather than getting it priorities right.

If the music industry didn't sell the CD for so much profit because they are greedy pigs then maybe people would actually buy them. People will pay for music if it is affordable because the quality of the sound on a CD is better.

I wonder how long before we get stop and search powers from the music police to check our mp3 players for copied music. After according to The Times the average teenager's iPod has 800 illegal music tracks (Link to Story)

[Mrluvaluva]

Illegal downloaders to be threatened by UK ISPs




Six major UK internet service providers (IPSs) have signed up to a new agreement to tackle illegal downloading in a move which will see hundreds of thousands of internet users sent warning letters about downloading music.

BT, Virgin, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse have signed up to the agreement, which was negotiated by the government, reports BBC News.

The deal is called a Memorandum Of Understanding, and was drawn up by the Department For Business, Enterprise And Regulatory Reform (BERR).

The news comes in the same month that ISP Virgin Media sent around 800 warning letters to customers, saying their internet connections could be cut off if they continue to download music illegally.

However, the ISPs who have signed up to the new agreement have not agreed to threaten to cut off users' connections – something the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) wants them to do.

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI, said the move was a step closer to ISPs taking responsibility for dealing with illegal downloaders using their service.

The new agreement will apply to users who both upload and download music files.

"The focus is on people sharing files illegally," said Taylor. "There is not an acceptable level of file-sharing. Musicians need to be paid like everyone else."

What do you think of this measure? Will it stop internet downloads? Is it an invasion of privacy? Are there alternatives that the music industry is ignoring or is it right that artists get to protect their music?


Original article here

[supernoodles!]

i dont care i will keep going til i get caught out

[rayheartbliss]

but...everyones on it....

[Axiom]

The way things are going, the government will have access to every single bit of information about the public. Anyway, I don't think this will stop anybody from downloading the music. What are they going to do? Send people to jail for it? I can just hear a policeman now: "Mr whatever, I am arresting you on suspicion of downloading "Barbie Girl" by Samanda illegally". Lol

[Fom]

Psh like thats gonna stop me :P
I will carry on doing it until I have a full time job which can pay for music, I cant at the moment and I have better things to spend my money on :P

[XxShortyxX]

Oh well I am still going to download music. The music I download (mostly trance, dance, club) you can't buy from the shops anyway.

The Goverment will be moaning how much will all breathe next

[Scarlett.]

Ah well only recently began downloading Youtube vids anywho

[Tom]

Originally posted by Darenn
UGH, i hate this.

the thing with me is either;
1. Can't afford to buy the CD.
2. I can't get an itunes account - no credit card holder.
3. A LOT of my music isn't available in England.
4. My CD drive is broken, so even if I bought the CD, I couldn't burn it onto my ipod.

If I download a song, I do end up eventually getting the CD too [if I can obvs]

Then again, I have AOL and they're not listed above so hopefully I'll be fine x]

AOL has been bought out by Carphone Warehouse so unfortunately you are in it.

Another point is that they're only tackling p2p networking so stripping audio from youtube clips (which is what I do) shouldn't be affected ...

[Tom4784]

I don't really download much stuff (only if I REALLY like something that's not available in this country, otherwise i'll buy Cd's and DVD's as I like having the proper stuff)) but I think this is stupid, it sounds like an invasion of privacy to me. You'd think the government would be tackling knife crime and serious stuff like that, not trying to help Britney Spears gain a few more 0's on her pay cheque.

No wonder this country is going to the dogs.

[Lauren]

I'm not worried one bit.

96% of 18-25 year olds download music.
Similar figures for other age ranges.

The big companies aren't going to dog in their best customers, especially with BT recently announcing plans they want optic lines in every house in the UK, a 15bn plan.

[Tom4784]

What get's me is that they are attempting to go after people who download stuff, surely it would be more beneficial to go after the sites and such? Cutting off the supply would work a whole lot better then going after individual people.

[Ross]

I don't care.

Virgin Media can kiss my arse.