I think the 1st comment in that article pretty much sums it up.
"Man kills another man drunk gets 6 years guy pirates material of super rich studios and gets 10 years wtf is going on in our justice system"
I would say encroaching on ones life is more severe than ones finances, The values seem to be mixed up imo.
The more one seeks, the more one finds and so you realise there is a lot more to be found.
Corporate Governance,where corporations have more power to change laws and policing than the public themselves!Originally Posted by Obie
OCP!
That article sounds like it's completely taking the mick. The govt. relaxed laws on copyright and it's now been appealed due to concerns from artists, so while under appeal the change is on hold.
All this about super rich studios is nonsense - they won't be affected either way, it's the rights of indie musicians that are a bigger concern.
But from what I understand the aim is basically to try and ensure that artists get a fair cut of the profits others make by streaming their stuff, nothing more, nothing less.
= folk online jumping to incorrect and ludicrus conclusions and massive online arguments about itthe government is now considering whether pirates in general should receive tougher sentences. Currently, infringers face up to two years in prison, but an amendment to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act could increase that punishment to 10 years. Government ministers have launched a consultation and are calling for feedback on tougher penalties. They argue that the "vast majority" of copyright offenders, focusing more on those who control the distribution of illegal content in the first place, have links to "further criminality" and tougher punishments could "have a deterrent effect" on criminals seeking to make money from file-sharing.
Yes I think/hope that is their angle. I hope they are trying to focus on organisations, rather than random chumps who download.
its all backwards.
rich corporations and their politician friends meh.
stupid business models IMHO. If you make content easier to get then piracy rates would go down significantly. Granted there will always be a small portion of pirates.......still at least you'd reduce the number.
It's totally unfair against the consumer. Why shouldn't we be allowed to copy our own legally owned music from CD to HDD. We still technically own the license in the form of the physical media.
We should.
That is my opinion, most people's opinion AND the opinion of the government, that brought in legislation to effect exactly that result.
BUT .... there were procedural deficiencies in the evidence-gathering process which that legislative decision was based on, meaning the Court has quashed the law based on faulty process. It is now for government to address those 'faults', and have another go.
This actually is an example of a principle in our democratic system which HUGELY protects us all, that being that neither government nor, as in this case, the Secretary of State can legislate on a whim. There is a process to be followed, consultations to be done, evidence to be gathered and IF there are faults with that, COURTS to hold government to account and strike down laws.
Sadly, this time, it's struck down something I, and most of us, including governments over a couple of decades, have wanted and considered right, but it was struck down on a technical matter of process, not of either law or principle.
Hopefully, it'll be done again, and correctly this time. But at least it does demonstrate the effect of an independent judiciary keeping government in check.
Totally agree with that guy.
I'd be happy with even tougher sentencing but for a shorter period of copyright.
It will make naff all difference - we have a huge problem with a "culture" of piracy which has only gotten worse over the past 15 years. It's become more and more acceptable to stream content illegally or just download whatever you want without a second thought.
even only 5 years ago, I would never hear non geeks discussing how they streamed the latest football game free online, watched a movie streamed from a well known android app/website, or surprisingly..pay £10 a month to some dodgy guy for the full sky package. People just don't care anymore, and thats really sad
The only way to stop this is to somehow change the culture behind it all - without that..nothing will ever change. How to do that I am not sure. Streaming services make a huge difference and for music I am sorted these days with my £10 a month that gets me everything I could ever want musically - and for TV/Film netflix is great..but still not up to date enough for most people.
Agreed, culture change is the way forward here, and its not something that can be done overnight. For film piracy I'm not sure what can really be done about that, simultaneous release and fair viewing prices seem to be it.
In the case of games, theres much more wiggleroom. I think it's safe to say that game piracy has got substantially worse with the influx of new, invasive DRM. AC2 was pirated even before it launched supposedly, and the DRM on that was so terrible that even people who owned the game used the offline mode patches. All DRM does is hassle the consumer while the pirates get around the DRM fairly rapidly.
The way forward for games is to just give people no reason to pirate I think, there will always be dedicated pirates, and there will be some who simply can't afford the games, but many current pirates I'm sure would be happy to start paying for games again if the DRM was less crazy, and some of those who can't afford to buy games full price will find great use of places such as r/gamedeals.
I don't really know of any solutions for films as there isn't much wiggle room there, and music in particular has been suffering from piracy for a very long time, but at least for gaming, DRM seems to be the elephant in the room.
Sadly the piracy of DRM-free games is even more appalling, so it doesn't seem to be that. Last time this came up on Hexus we were pointed to a study which investigated 'why' people pirated and I think it was largely because they could and wanted something for free. They even sometimes pirated games that were free or very very cheap! Availability of game in their region was another factor.
There have been many copyright laws in the past most won't be enforced. I remember the days when everyone used to record films on VHS when they were on TV. Will have to wait and see if this is a joke law like the statute forbidding bearing of armour in the house of commons or if they intend to screw over the normal person. If its the later I think we will need bigger prisons
The criminal offences that exist in this area don't really apply to downloaders, but distributors (though, of course, those who torrent files are technically distributing them). Should there be any confusion, the DEA 2010 effectively decriminalised downloading, if such downloading was 'illegal'. Accordingly, I object to the term 'illegal downloading'. Downloading copyrighted material is unlawful (and an individual faces civil liability) but rarely ever illegal.
Fair use doctrines are in need of expansion, but I have little sympathy for those who are operating businesses or companies that profit from the distribution of copyrighted media.
I'm not sure I'd go that far. The UK's separation of powers is limited (if indeed there is any considerable separation) and the UK courts do not have the power to 'strike down' legislation (unless it contravenes an EU Treaty or Directive). Judicial discretion can be severely limited by statute (after all, Parliament is sovereign) and even where there is room for discretion, the Courts may facilitate political policy. E.g. in the case of counterfeiting, it was held (R v Johnstone) that placing the burden on the defendant to effectively prove his innocence (although on the balance of probabilities) was acceptable, despite the fact that his conviction would carry a 10 year sentence. I agree that the judiciary can be the champion of liberty. Sadly, it often isn't. Numerous government schemes have been introduced without proper consultation (just think of every time the govbernment of the day has announced a 'pilot' scheme, and then proceeded to bring in the full programme despite the pilot scheme failing miserably) and generally there is little room for judicial intervention. Very few challenges occur, let alone succeed.
Last edited by zachs33; 25-08-2015 at 02:43 PM.
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