Digital ‘Piracy’ Is NOT the Same as Physical Piracy

Intellectual Property Minister David Lamy shows a similar grasp of the issues around filesharing to Peter Mandelson:

UK Intellectual Property Minister David Lammy gave a speech to the MPAA in Washington DC recently during which he defended Lord Mandelson’s controversial “evolved” plans to disconnect repeat file-sharers from the Internet.

He said the proposal was important in “sending a clear message: when it comes to piracy and infringement, ‘digital is not different.’”

It’s the same sort of 1:1 lost sale nonsense that belies the mounting studies that have concluded the opposite: P2P increases music consumption.

Check out the final link where it shows the research that filesharers buy ten times as much music as they download. Is that really the same as ‘real’ piracy? I don’t think so. And is barring people from the Internet for repeat filesharing, which has hit neither music nor film takings, really the right solution? Finland qualifies Internet access as a human right – what right then should Peter Mandelson have to cut whole families’ access, without even the say-so of a judge or jury? This is continuing spin in the favour of specific corporate interests, and the government should be called for it.

The Digital Economy Bill is a disgusting, illiberal piece of legislation which threatens all of our freedom of speech. It must be stopped, and the first step is by calling it out for what it is.