Will Britain Get Anti File-Sharing Laws?
October 25, 2007 | by Christopher Nickson
A British MP says Parliament could legislate to stop illegal file-sharing.
The controversy about illegal file-sharing rolls on and on. The latest twist has been in Britain, where a senior MP told the BBC that if the government can’t get a voluntary solution, legislation to ban the activity could follow.
Speaking on the BBC’s iPM program, Lord Triesman, the parliamentary Under Secretary for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said that there had been talks between the music industry and major ISPs that had been progressing well, but warned that “if we can't get voluntary arrangements we will legislate.”
People who share music via P2P networks could be breaking the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. However, the Internet Service Providers Association said that it was not a sponsor of file-sharing, merely the route by which it’s used, and couldn’t feasibly monitor all the data packets sent every day.
Where will it all end? That’s a good question. The issue centers on two issues - intellectual property rights and privacy, and trying to find a balance between the two. Privacy advocates will object to any legislation, but it’s also true that illegal file-sharing affects the income of many musicians.
Maybe the solution is one that’s occurred to many bands, such as Radiohead, which is selling its new album online for whatever people wish to pay for it. Perhaps a new model is needed, and if one evolves, it seems likely to come from the musicians, not governments or official bodies.
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