The ban hammer is about to smash UK file-sharers. Legislation there is set to take effect in April that would, as a last resort, kick illegal file-sharers off the Internet. Very exciting~!
The deal is that the Government, ISPs, and intellectual property owners will work together to kindly remind you that not all forms of file-sharing are on the up and up. If they find you sharing something that you shouldn’t be, you’ll be sent a letter saying, essentially, “please stop.”
You’ll recall this was a hot-button issue during that Digital Britain debate.
That’s phase one. Authorities will check back one year later to see if the letters were effective in stopping illegal file-sharing. If it’s determined that the letters haven’t cut the piracy rate by 70 percent (man, set a high bar much?) then out comes the ban hammer.
You’ll then receive up to two “please stop” letters before you’re disconnected from your ISP.
All well and good, but wait till Brussels hears about this. Appeal, appeal, delay, appeal.
Nice business model… disconnect your paying customers from using THEIR service which THEY paid for at YOUR cost. I hope they’re prepared to go out of business. You can’t make money out of thin air you know. What are they going to do to make money if they kick their customers out? This isn’t even their battle, why get involved at all? Unless somebody is paying you to get involved.
This just seems completely retarded. They’ll lose money for no reason what-so-ever. How do they benefit from doing this??
How do they know you’re illegally sharing files anyways? The only way to know for sure is to take a look into your computer or at your traffic… that must not be illegal in the UK, letting the government spy on you without notice? Gee that doesn’t seem wrong at all…
Here’s an idea. Get with the program. Get a UK Hulu or something like that. I’ve stopped downloading ten fold since Hulu became available. Keep going in that direction, it’s basically THE ONLY direction at this point.
Pirating creates progress for all, unless you try to fight it in a way that only benefits yourself. Not exactly a hard concept to understand unfortunately.
Unfortunately Hulu isn’t available anywhere outside of America… unless using a web proxy. I don’t know why though. As you said, piracy would be greatly reduced if they were to allow Hulu to be watched from overseas..
soon enough a company thats interested in money will come out and start offering a service plan that does not snoop in on your activity, people will flock to them before and after they get banned. and more power to em!
I live outside the US and would gladly pay for content instead of possibly pirating; but the MBA’s with huge brains won’t let me give them my money. I guess they all understood what they were taught in “Reducing Profits 101″. (There must be a class named this in business school – right?)
How are “they” going to tell that you’re pirating? Or are they going to ban you if you just use a peer-to-peer protocol? If so that would be like arresting me for child pornography just be cause I own a camera.
This is what happens when you let the Government control things. The only thing dumber than this IMHO is what Obama is trying to do with health care in the U.S.