More hype and hyperbole from yet another group of wannabe power mongers
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081119-antipiracy-group-pushes-for-jail-time-for-online-infringers.htmlThose guilty of online copyright infringement deserve criminal sentencings that are just as harsh as those who've been busted for commercial physical piracy, according to a UK-based antipiracy group. The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) is pushing the UK's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to adopt modifications to current copyright law that would punish online infringers with 10 years of imprisonment, "to bring parity with commercial dealing in pirated works."
The IPO is currently in the process of considering changes to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 based on the independently-conducted Gowers Review of Intellectual Property.
This groups agenda is clear and largely the same as all the other groups out there that seek a blank cheque from the consumer, to blur the line between commercial and personal copyright infringement in a patheticly clear effort to then ask the government to criminalise millions and foot enforcement costs, something that is bourne by the companies themselves at the moment.
The weak intellects employed at such organisations are looking to emulate the RIAA's mainly successful campaign to confuse politicians over the wording of new laws and in general mislead the public that downloading is a crime, it is not and has never been a crime in most countries when done for personal use, uploading however is an offence but regardless, piracy as a term has traditionally only been employed when reffering to commercial level counterfieting activity, calling consumers pirates is a clear cut attempt to mislead news organisations and the public at large, should we expect anything different from those who make their living on the backs of those doing the real work of creating.
