Illegal File Sharers

[colirv]

Interesting article today at ISPreview - including some nice comments from Simon Davies.

[Rik]

Useful link, thanks Colin.

I think Simon makes a very strong argument - it's not for ISPs to protect the financial interests of a single group such as the BPI.

[talos2]

 Big brother strikes again.
                                   The simplest way to kill it off is to legalise it, and make the money from adverts placed like commercial breaks within the film, the cinemas or any licenced performances could have the ads removed seamlessly.

[Malc]

Or, charge the same price for CD's etc as America, (which are half our price) instead, it's the usual case of rip-off Britian.

[Rik]

That seems to be a question that the Govt have never asked the BPI, Malc - I wonder if money is talking?

[Malc]

I wonder indeed

[cavillas]

Of course it is.  All politicians seem to be corrupted one way or another.

[Rik]

Don't they, Alf. They seem to have managed to alienate us in a way that I can't remember happening 20+ years ago.

[talos2]

In the trust stakes it used to be 1/ Second hand car dealers
                                               2/  Estate agents
                                               3/  MP's
                                                                               

[Rik]

I suspect that legislation to regulate 1 & 2 might elevate MPs.

[somanyholes]

just to add insult to injury you might like these links

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9321/More+Top+TVLinks+Alternatives

[Malc]

Add to that

http://www.myp2p.eu/

for live premiership football!

Not more £20 a month to SKY 

[Niall]

I have to laugh when I see stories like this. This has been an ever increasing problem and the way it's always reported is that it's a recent thing. I remember back in the days of the Spectrum and ZX81 that people were copying tapes because the prices were too high, and the companies haven't learned to this day.

Companies have ALWAYS priced games, music and films way too high, just through greed, although PC games seem to have slowed in the pricing recently, probably because they realise this now.

While I agree it's illegal to download games, most companies only have themselves to blame. Putting out games for £49 on a console and having the cheek to tell us that this is a fair price. Do me a favour, we're not morons out here you know.

If the film makers released films over here at the same time as in the US, they'd knock a HUGE percentage of illegal downloads off the figure. The same goes for music (although I think something huge has to be done here, possibly a format change) but I think that horse has long since bolted.

If you keep the prices down, treat customers with the respect they deserve then you'll get more people buying things.

For these people to claim it's a new thing, blaming broadband and ISPs for supplying fast connections is moronic. LAN events were rife with illegal software, despite the organisers claiming otherwise. I've been to a fair few in my time, and back in the days of 56k there were people passing around hundreds of games, films, music and software.

If you make a good product, do some damn research. Don't be greedy morons or you'll shoot yourself in the foot. End of story.

[Malc]

I can remember back in the early 70's, when reel to reel tape recorders first appeared in the shops and the record industries were up in arms them about people recording of the radio.

Nothing changes.

[Simon]

Remember this, on LP inner sleeves?



They couldn't stop it then, and I doubt they ever will, although admittedly, it's on a much greater scale now.

[Malc]

That brings back memories 

[Philip]

It is now £6 to see a film at my local flea pit, so if I went with my wife and daughter who now has to pay full price, even though she is not an adult the price with tickets, drinks etc. would be in excess of £30 for 90 - 100 minutes of entertainment, not good value to me, hence we very rarely go to the cinema, instead we wait for the DVD which is a third of the price. It's no wonder people download illegally.

Filesharing does have benefits though, a lot of people use it to "try before they buy" which is never reported in surveys.

[Lona]

I put my hand up to illegal downloading.  I justify it to myself as I don't go to the movies as I am not allowed to smoke in there, so they are not losing revenue from me.  I don't buy dvd's as they are too expensive and most are cr*p anyway.  As long as I don't sell anything on or make profit by it I justify my own level of dishonesty and can live with myself.

What about years ago when we used to copy our friends LP's to Cassette, nobody got their knickers in a twist about that.  If you weren't supposed to copy why make recordable cassettes and recordable cds and dvds.

What I really abhor is the pirate copies that are sold at bootsales and other places.  Those people should not be allowed to profit from downloading illegally. I only do it for my own use but I am still breaking the law. 

Who on here has the courage to admit they do the same.? 

[drummer]

Who on here has the courage to admit they do the same.? 

As one of those sad individuals who's purchased really costly software since the 1980s, I have now taken the "try before you buy" approach to some software and it has saved me a fortune.

The crippled trial software offered by the giants is often useless and I've had my fingers burned too many times to buy before I try, and on that basis, me and a few others have downloaded some iffy stuff but this has led to us legally purchasing soft/hardware packages that cost us megabucks (which all got melted in the recent Camden Lock fire - eep!).

As for fillums, I'm a bit of a movie junkie and I do get ticked off about what's (not) released in the UK so I do snatch the odd anime every now and again because I know it will never get a UK release. 

Other than that, I'm as impure as the driven snow...

[Dopamine]

File sharing will never stop, and if through legislation or other means it's reduced, I doubt very, very much that the music industry will see a rise in sales to compensate.

I've three children, now at university and college, and I've watched with interest as they and their friends have grown up with P2P. I come into contact with a lot of 16-22 year olds, and it's my experience that very few of them have developed a habit of buying music, either in CD form or by legal downloading. They've all become used to music for free, and would rather go without than buy it. They rarely need to go without though.

The more technically able teach their friends all the dodges, many use FTP to share music with one another, a lot don't even pay for internet access as they live in a city environment and own lap-tops, so it's a simple matter to connect to the nearby flat with an unsecured wireless router, or go and sit in their cars outside a block of flats or densely populated street and find an unsecured network that way.

I remember reading several years ago a music industry insider saying that the battle against illegal downloading would not be won by legislation, but over the family dining table, referring to parents stressing upon their children the questionable morality of what is, basically, theft.

I had those conversations with my children and lost or was laughed at, and so have most of my friends with their children. The BPI will have to find a new way to encourage this generation to spend their money on music. Brute force and legislation won't work.

[Malc]

I'll hold my hand up, but I do not sell it, it's mostly PC Games and the ones I am loyal to I do buy.

Example I love football and I have every release of Football Manager, I support the software house and get my money's worth, but a lot of games are rubbish and are never played.

As for music, I have spent hundreds of pounds in the past on music in the 70's and 80's, but who would in the right mind buys the 99% of todays music that is utter (c)rap? It's unbelievable that they  us to spend any money on it at all, I won't have it on my HD for free.

You can't sell sh*t.

[talos2]

 I do it.
             Music mostly, I collect the "oldies",  record companies delete good music far too soon , and make it impossible to get any other way, unless they release a compilation which is full of stuff you don't want. I don't sell it, in fact I give it away to other collectors who ask, but I'm still breaking the "law"

[Simon]

I don't download films, partly because I never get a chance to watch them, but mostly because I like purchasing and collecting DVDs, and prefer the 'real thing' to a copy.  That said, I do occasionally download music, but this is usually live bootleg material, rather than anything that's officially released.  I do also 'try before I buy' with music, but usually end up buying it anyway.  I have never sold anything I have downloaded, but do occasionally copy CDs for friends.

[talos2]

  I would say to anyone who does it or tries to do it, be very carefull, many of these PtoPeer sites are used to distribute viruses, some I suspect are produced by the record companies to put people off, but they still do a lot of damage.

[Malc]

I only use private trackers, slightly safer