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Online pirates could face 10 years in jail

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N

Nokterian

Member
Online pirates could face jail terms of up to 10 years under plans being considered by the government.
Online copyright infringement currently carries a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment.
Ministers have launched a consultation on increasing it to 10 years - bringing it into line with copyright infringement of physical goods.
The government said tougher sentences would act as a "significant deterrent".


By Dave Lee, BBC technology reporter

Groups that represent the country's creative industry - particularly film and music - have been lobbying hard for this for some time.
They argue that a couple of years in jail just isn't a sufficient deterrent to prevent online piracy, and that the law is well out of date.
The proposed measures are mainly targeted at the distributors of pirated content - the people creating copies of movies, sometimes before release, and uploading them to be downloaded by thousands upon thousands.
It's not, the police are clear to point out, aimed at small-time downloaders - although there are other ways and means to prevent that too.
The consultation phase will likely turn heated. Internet rights groups will question the influence Hollywood and the music industry has over the day-to-day operations of the police - after all, industry bodies, funded by top studios and record labels, have paid for staff to work in police stations with the sole brief of investigating copyright crime.
They'll also say the way to "solve" online piracy is to offer affordable, flexible ways to consume new film and music - not jail terms.
Netflix, Spotify and others are evidence this is happening, the industry groups say. They'll argue that no legal service, however cheap, will ever tempt those who simply don't want to pay for their entertainment.


'Digital world'

Intellectual Property Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe said: "The government takes copyright crime extremely seriously - it hurts businesses, consumers and the wider economy both on and offline.
"Our creative industries are worth more than £7 billion to the UK economy and it's important to protect them from online criminal enterprises.
"By toughening penalties for commercial-scale online offending we are offering greater protections to businesses and sending a clear message to deter criminals."
Detective Chief Inspector Peter Ratcliffe, head of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, said: "Online or offline, intellectual property theft is a crime.
"With advances in technology and the popularity of the internet, more and more criminals are turning to online criminality and so it is imperative that our prosecution system reflects our moves to a more digital world."
The consultation follows calls from the creative industries for more action over copyright offences.
Click to expand...

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33578180

Goddamn it UK this isn't the answer ye old dinosaurs...

114.gif


10 years? That is insane so you go to jail and a cell mate asks what did you do? Well i downloaded a justin bieber song and now i have 10 years...
 
Dice

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
I don't understand laws like this for anything where you are not a danger to other people. Give people fines, probation, community service, mandatory corrective/guidance programs, a big stain on their record for employers, whatever other things that can function as deterrents and recompense for whatever the perception of what was lost by their actions was. But straight up taking away years of their life locking them up in a box? That's just vindictive. So far as 10 years? That's deranged.
 
C

Cyd0nia

Banned
Dice said:
I don't understand laws like this for anything where you are not a danger to other people. Give people fines, probation, community service, mandatory corrective/guidance programs, a big stain on their record for employers, whatever other things that can function as deterrents and recompense for whatever the perception of what was lost by their actions was. But straight up taking away years of their life locking them up in a box? That's just vindictive. So far as 10 years? That's deranged.
Click to expand...

Stealing intangible things and watching them 2 days before they're transmitted in the UK - robs massive corporations of further riches. The penance is 10 years of your life.

Its a stupid idea, and would be a waste of prison cells in an already crowded prison system.

Plenty of fucking crooks in London who should be rotting in jail instead of running our banks and systems of government, and covering up paedophile scandals.
 
R

Rabid Wolverine

Member
Good one. Striking fear into the public.

And when Mr Pirate hacks into someones Wifi and downloads copyright material and they suffer with all the legalities. Nice one looking after the people.

Fuck this shit.
 
B

broadwayrock

Member
Ventilaator said:
......



I think this is the first example where nobody read the OP, including the person who posted it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this 10 years figure is going to be for the very first person who leaks of a huge blockbuster onto the internet, not the many people who download it down the line.
 
C

Cyd0nia

Banned
Ventilaator said:
......

I think this is the first example where nobody read the OP, even the person who posted it.
Click to expand...

It's still stupid. Even if they target the originators of pirated material - there are means for these giant monolithic corporations to seek redress - its why kim dotcom is facing extradition, and the pirate bay founders are jailed. I'm sure whenever leakers are identified they are essentially blackballed from the industry they work in and have their lives satisfactorily ruined. But that's not enough -- these assholes have to fuck around with law itself, lobbying for legislation, that puts people in overcrowded prison systems for stealing intangible things or making them available to people who wouldn't have paid for them anyway.

There's a shoulder shrugging amorality to people involved in piracy, sure - but in the grand scheme of things - this is not the kind of thing I want my government to focus on or care about. They are too busy trying to snoop on people and control people, while simultaneously stripping away benefits, and welfare for the old and needy, and placing strain on every public service we have - including the NHS and the justice system -- they just need to back the fuck off and stop meddling in things they will never be able to fully control.
 
P

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
"Why do these people keep downloading files and not feeling bad about it when here we are, kindly threatening them with decade long jail sentences for not making us richer?"
 
S

Skyzard

Banned
I just don't understand, how did that sleezeball get it. At the very least after the student loans stuff.

Fucking insanity.
 
Vigilant Walrus

Vigilant Walrus

Member
In the case Steam, they eliminated a lot of the piracy going, because the value is so much. The userbase keeps growing, the feature set keeps expanding, and the platform holders (Valve) are not trying to shut down the competition, with some of their products even being featured on competitors stores.
For many people it is way to cumbersome to pirate when it has become convenient. There is also a lot fewer restrictions with region locking than on film and music services.
Why is it not being reported that GoG and Steam are amazing and much more fair distribution platforms than something like Itunes? It should be scremed from towers. Make it like Steam. It's a deal consumers can't refuse! If there was super and winter and back-to-school sales and regular offers, people would horde collecting TV Shows, movies and albums just to satisfy their OCD. You just have to bring the price down to a lower point that the consumer agrees with. That would fix it. People wouldn't bother with torrents. And the big media companies would make more money in the long run by fostering happy consumers.

If I subscribe to Netflix, the offering in my country is astronomically pathetic. There is so little content compared to the US queue, that the service doesn't make sense. Services like Spotify is literally twice as expensive as in the US, things made available to purchase on US Itunes won't be purchasable sometimes, for six months. It's that sort of arrogance, and refusal to offer a better value or better pricing that really shows how little of a fuck these companies give about the consumers.

I've downloaded movies I own on DVDs or BR, because my internet is so fast, it's easier for me to take the 10 minutes to download a 1080 copy of a movie I already own instead of being tortured by having to shuffle through the crappy menus, obligatory stupid "You-wouldn't-download-a-car" and annoying adam sandler trailers. The idiocy is outstanding.

Save us Taylor Swift!
 
R

_Ryo_

Member
There are assholes that can mess up an entire country's bank system and economy and put millions of people in debt and only face a measly fine. And people that rip or download a movie can face up 10 years in prison.

Think about that.
 
P

| Praxis |

Banned
_Ryo_ said:
There are assholes that can mess up an entire country's bank system and economy and put millions of people in debt and only face a measly fine. And people that rip or download a movie can face up 10 years in prison.

Think about that.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking, I'm thinking.

Going to buy a high powered rifle...
 
G

GeordieMark

Member
_Ryo_ said:
There are assholes that can mess up an entire country's bank system and economy and put millions of people in debt and only face a measly fine. And people that rip or download a movie can face up 10 years in prison.

Think about that.
Click to expand...

To be fair, whilst this is a fucking stupid idea, the 10 year tariff they are referring to would only be for the most prolific of uploaders, especially those sharing movies and music pre-release.

Like I say, still a dumb idea, but lets get our facts straight.
 
S

Symphonia

Banned
As this is targeted at heavy downloaders, RETRACTED COMMENT. Still, pretty fucking ridiculous if you ask me. A decade in jail for someone downloading films and a year or so for a rapist? Good job, Britain, so proud to call you home.
 
P

Pezking

Member
The proposed measures are mainly targeted at the distributors of pirated content - the people creating copies of movies, sometimes before release, and uploading them to be downloaded by thousands upon thousands.
It's not, the police are clear to point out, aimed at small-time downloaders - although there are other ways and means to prevent that too.
Click to expand...

Still completely ridiculous, but at least nobody wants to put you in jail just for downloading a song.
 
J

Jedi2016

Member
I think they're missing some fundamental understanding of how international law works. The people they're targeting with this aren't even in the UK... UK law doesn't apply. This is nothing but an attempt to make it look like they're doing something to appease the rich fucks running the studios. Instead of working on laws that would actually help normal people. I guess we know who's really running the show, don't we?
 
MisterFalcon

MisterFalcon

Member
Dizzy said:
10 years. I've seen violent crimes get less time.
Click to expand...

That's because the theoretical maximum sentence is presented here as the default sentence. No one will get 10 years for downloading a CD and I doubt even the ringleader of a multimillion pound piracy ring will get that, the maximum is almost never given.
 
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