Ares News: Anti-Filesharing Politicians Hated
In recent filesharing news : TalkTalk has attacked the UK Government's plans to cut off 'illegal filesharers'. The plan, says TalkTalk, is not only contrary to the freedoms that we have come to expect in the UK, but also would be pretty much impossible to police effective. To add to the Government's woes, a recent YouGov poll has shown that a vast, vast majority of people are resolutely against the control of 'illegal filesharing' in this way. A tiny 16% of people agreed with the Goverment's stance.Politicians have a difficult time trying to garner support at the best of times. When they're trying to introduce something universally disliked as anti-filesharing legislation, they quickly find out that this dislike is strong and enduring.
Pirates Ahoy!
The problem with 'illegal filesharing' is that it doesn't actually effect pirates; pirates are those that take the filesharing and paid-for distribution of copyrighted material beyond the level that many people find acceptable. These pirates are the ones that the record and movie companies want to stop; they are also the ones that are likely to find a quick and efficient way around the ban should it be enacted.
If you have a situation were the targeted criminals -- pirates, aaaarrr! -- are able to side-step the detection measures, then you will likely see people who are downloading one or two music tracks a month being hit by overly draconian punishments. This has happened in the past when Sony and Disney have gone after filesharers only to find they are targetting old people and young children, neither of which does their brand image any good at all.
The analogy of "using a sledgehammer to crack a nut" has been used, and it seems strangely apt on this occasion.
TalkTalk: All Talk?
TalkTalk, one of the UK's largest telecoms providers, is vehemently opposed to this, and any related, legislation. What they would gain from this is unclear, though it may be motivated by a need to prevent the huge amount of work that such legislation would impose on them. If you were to believe the cynics then the fact that the firm was founded by two prominent opposition party donors may have something to do with it.
Legalities
The procedure for illegal filesharers as identified by the ISP would be as follows. To start with there will be a 12-month period where filesharers will just be asked, by letter, to stop. Ofcom hope that this will be detterent enough, and will reassess the figuresd in April 2012. If, after this point, the amount of filesharing is not reduced by the target 70% then the provisions of the bill allowing imposition of bandwidth restrictions will come into play.
Should we be worried? Probably not. Even if it does come to the point where people are being punished for filesharing, then it will be a high-profile high-volume few who are targetted and made examples of. I still predict that this will not include the 'serious' filesharers, who will continue to be several steps ahead of any Government or ISP monitoring. Watch this space!
Filesharing Made Easy
Anti-filesharing campaigners cite applications such as Ares Vista as being responsible for the recent surge in P2P activity. Ares Vista's recent makeover has certainly made it even easier for everyone and anyone to download whatever media they want to.
To download Ares Vista , go here. Alternatively, go to this Ares Vista download site. Join the club!
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