UK’s Terrifying Anti-Piracy Plans Leak

[Inkblot]

On a slightly different note, is this something that is likely to concern IDNet customers?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8381097.stm

I have 2 teenage children who each have their own computers, I know that they download music from pirate sites occasionally. According to the article the lawyers have obtained a couple of court orders forcing ISPs to reveal physical addresses:

ACS: Law recently obtained two High Court orders that require ISPs to hand over the names and addresses of the account holders for 30,000 IP addresses, a number which can identify a computer on the internet. It is currently preparing three more.

Have IDNet been asked to provide this information? I appreciate that this is an unofficial forum but thought somebody might know the answer!

[Rik]

IDNet would have to comply with a court order, as would any ISP.

[Inkblot]

IDNet would have to comply with a court order, as would any ISP.

Oh I realise that alright! I was more wondering if anybody knew if IDNet were one of the ISPs who have already been asked to provide this information

[Glenn]

I doubt that IDNet would reveal that information on a public forum, but as Rik says, if subject to a court order, they would have to tell the authorities.

[Simon]

As I understand it, and I could be wrong, you're not likely to get stuffed for downloading a couple of top 40 singles each week.  It's the big uploaders (the people distributing the files illegally) that they are after.

[Inkblot]

I guess I'll have a word with them anyway although at 17/19 they are probably not going to listen as it's something they have grown up with and is common practice with the peer group. Don't have to agree completely with all parts of the law but do have to try and comply with it

[Gary]

As I understand it, and I could be wrong, you're not likely to get stuffed for downloading a couple of top 40 singles each week.  It's the big uploaders (the people distributing the files illegally) that they are after.

Considering that has been mistakes with people not downloading illegal material. Simon, I would not be concerned, but you can get done for downloading porn films, so if you use a torrent and get one of those by accident that counts as piracy  I am so glad I never used P2P for any downloads.

[Simon]

I may have been lucky, but I've never managed to download porn by mistake.  I can see how it could be done if people don't look at the file extension and size, though.

[Rik]

Is it illegal to d/l porn in general, or just certain forms?

[Simon]

it's only illegal to download illegal porn, surely?

[Rik]

That's what I was getting at. Do most of us know what's illegal, beyond children?

[Simon]

Probably not, but I believe almost anything goes, as long as it's consensual and 18+. 

[Gary]

it's only illegal to download illegal porn, surely?

Its not illegal to own it the laws were changed quite a few years back I believe you can buy it legally online (Private etc are multi million $ companies (saw a program on TV about the industry) so if you downloaded a film from one of the big studios you could get done jast as you would any other film, and I know people who have downloaded films and they have been.....not what they thought shall we say 

[sobranie]

Most people have some form of video recorder linked to the TV. Some TV's even have them built in of course.
So, I presume it's technically illegal to record anything from BBC.ITV,Sky etc.
So, why do manufacturers make the darned things in the 1st place and why can one buy blank media to facilitate the practice??
So, I d/l from 'The Box' site which lists all tv progs going back yonks so I presume this is illegal or perhaps even more illegal in the eyes of deep packet inspections.
I will resort to 'shoplifting' when the new rules arrive as it will probably work out cheaper to apologise to the store where I nick things, much better than a £500 fine don't you think?   

[Rik]

It's legal to record and store a programme, technically, I think, you are only meant to keep it for 28 days, though.

[dujas]

You can record TV broadcasts for the purpose of time shifting i.e. "copying to view the broadcast at a more convenient time", I don't believe there is a time limit on how long you are allowed to keep it.

I also believe you are allowed make a backup copy of the original CD/DVD you own for music, films and computer software/games, but it's illegal to try and circumvent any copy protection measures built into them (which pretty much every form of media comes with these days).

Possessing pornography, assuming you've paid for it and it's legal, isn't an offence. But since early 2009, it is a criminal offence to possess images of "extreme pornography" i.e. images that portray necrophilia, bestiality and "acts which threatens a person's life, or acts which result, or is likely to result, in serious injury to a person's anus, breasts or genitals").

[Simon]

This article might be of interest:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/11/facts_about_filesharing.html

[Rik]

And so the argument will go on...

[Glenn]

Geoff Taylor, BPI: Plenty. There are several pieces of substantial research showing that around 7 to 8 million people in the UK are file-sharing music alone. Let's look at two examples.

Harris Interactive conducted research among the UK general public aged 16-54 from February to March 2009, which gave a 23% incidence of music file-sharing using peer-to-peer networks in the UK population aged 16-54, or 8.3 million file-sharers based on ONS population data. This number omits people under 16 completely.

Additionally, Jupiter Research conducted consumer research on behalf of the BPI in August 2007, which predicted 6.7 million peer-to-peer file-sharers during 2008, and 7.3 million for 2009.

I wonder how big the target group was, and if it was taken countrywide or just in one area?

[dujas]

The effects of Sweden implementing the EU's Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive would seem to indicate there is quite a bit of piracy filesharing (of music at least) going on.