Oh, again. There’s another push to disconnect illegal file-sharers from the Internet. This time it’s happening in the UK, where people from the likes of the UK Film Council say file-sharing is costing people jobs and threatening the film industry. Because making movies is soooo damn important, right? How would we live and flourish as a civilization without 17 Again?
Simply put, it’s the same song and dance. An alliance of UK creative types (well, the suits at the agencies that are said to represent the actual creative types) is complaining to the Government, demanding action. One such way to obtain justice: kick people off the Internet, something the EU has already said no to. Don’t mess with Brussels.
I don’t know, go ahead and kick me off the Internet for all I care. I don’t use it for anything important anyway. Believe it or not, my respiratory system will continue to function without access to YouTube or Usenet.
Thank you, Penny-Arcade, for reminding us all of what we’d be missing if disconnected from the Internet.
I heard a rep from one of the groups pushing for this legislation on UK radio today. He mentioned a couple of incidents where a TV program had been leaked to the web before it was aired. This seems to suggest that it’s insiders and previewers who are sneaking copies out. If so, the content producers had better put their own house in order before forcing the ISPs to both shoulder the cost of monitoring, and play Big Brother.