I dont think the arguement that this is infringing on anyones rights holds water. I mean it is illegal. The reason people are going to get so pissed off about it is because for the "bebo" generation they have never known the Internet without free downloads of music, for the older amongst us its probably something we started doing using DCC file sharing on IRC chatrooms many years ago.
I think the bisggest problem is that this hasnt been tackled earlier. Now some people think you are taking away their RIGHT to do something. Be realistic when you handle pirated music you are breaking the law. You are getting access to a product that other people pay for, just because you didnt go into HMV and steal it you are not innocent.
The truth of the matter is that the companies that produce music these days are huge organizations and make huge profits but the selection of music they offer is huge also - go into a tower records or similar and you are able to come out with different types of music from many different countries and this is all put there for you by sonymusic and others, someone has to pay for it.
The advent of online shopping has all but wiped out the smaller local video stores as there are decreased overheads for the likes of play.com but is this a good or bad thing?
If things continue as they are and it becomes the norm to go and freely download ANYTHING you want where does it end? I mean that puts organisations in a very stciky situation. The shops that sell the stuff close, the people who work there are out of jobs, the people who stock the shop have no work, the warehouse shuts, the manufacturing plant closes, the online stores close - eventually when you get a bit further up the chain you reach the producers like sonymusic and they are left with noone to produce for?
The above chain is what is driving these organisations to put pressure on ISP's to control their users. Personally I just think the next wave of file sharing applications will use industry standard enryption techniques and the ISP's wont know what you are downloading anyway so file sharing will never be stopped.
They have tried to tackle it from the other side by closing down the distributors of torrents etc but you just have to look at the likes of the pirate bay who publicly fight the laws and are still in operation.
I think when there are online services such as those mentioned above which allow you download and pay then you are making a concious decision when you choose not to pay, that is up to the individual.
As for changing the terms of your contract with your ISP, most ISP terms and conditions (Ive been involved in writing a couple) will state that that "The service must not be used for the purpose of promoting or engaging in illegal activites" and usually it is at the discrection of the ISP how "illegal activities" is defined. My old ISP offfered a dialup service called "NOlimits" and it was a flat monthly rate for unlimited off-peak service. When I had a dialer set to connect at 6pm and disconnect at 8am on a machine thats sole purpose was to download they called me up and said I was using it too much. Now that was a legal pickle for them as they were the ones who called it "NOlimits" not me... anyhow I digress...
I ultimately believe that if you choose to break the law you cant really moan about it when you get caught or when someone trys to stop you. Its much like speeding in my eyes.. Im not saying Ive never went over the speed limit.. but if I got caught I cant really complain and if they put loads of police out to enforce the law then I cant complain about that either as for ordinary law abiding citizens this is a non-issue.
I usually try look at these types of issues from the point of view of the people that will be effected. If you think by downloading a few songs and films you are effecting the "fat cats" think again. They will be the last to go if things get really bad - you are taking away sales from stores and ordinary people, just like you and I, will be the first to go.
D
