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10 Years in Prison For Online Pirates a Step Closer in the UK (torrentfreak.com)
The UK Government's Digital Economy Bill has moved a step closer to becoming law after its second reading in Parliament. With unanimous support, the current two-year maximum custodial sentence for online piracy is almost certain to increase to a decade, TorrentFreak reports. From the article: Due to UK copyright law allowing for custodial sentences of 'just' two years for online offenses, anti-piracy groups such as the Federation Against Copyright Theft have chosen to pursue their own private prosecutions. These have largely taken place under legislation designed for those who have committed fraud, rather than the more appropriate offense of copyright infringement. Physical pirates (CDs, DVDs) can be jailed for up to 10 years under current legislation. During the past few years, there have been lobbying efforts for this punishment to apply both on and offline. That resulted in a UK Government announcement last year indicating that it would move to increase the maximum prison sentence for online copyright infringement to ten years. They also urge Google to do something about growing incidents of piracy.
10 years for piracy? Force them to pay for the pirated content, plus a fine. Why prison at all?
Also, what about google? Why should google "do something"? Not their table . . .
Let's put lots of young people in prison on long mandatory sentences for petty crimes. Sounds genius!
Mike @ The Geek Pub. Let's Make Stuff!
Will be missed
Signature v3.0, now with 42% less memory usage.
“However, I wish to stress to hon. Members and to members of the public that this is not to catch out people who download music and unwittingly download or stream something illegal. I want to make that clear in adding my support to this measure. As far as I understand it, it targets the criminals who make money from distributing music to which they do not have the rights.”
We'll see about that. If it's anything like in the states, one offense and you'll be charged with piracy. Like when you're caught with a - ONE - joint, you are charged with intent to distribute.
The law will be abused.
Get a VPN, damnit. The media companies and government don't know shit about how the internet works. Let them write all the stupid laws they want and try and keep quiet about how everyone is circumventing them.
PrisonerA: "What are you in for?"
PrisonerB: "I was caught with a potted plant in my home."
PrisonerC: "I couldn't remember my password."
and now,
PrisonerD: "I consumed propaganda without also paying for the privilege."
And many more! Western civilization has gone bonkers.
10 years? For 10 years I can mow down an MP with my car. Or kidnap his kids and rape them repeatedly before cutting off a limb or two. Or after, if that's more my fancy. I could also blow up the effin' Parliament (of course while nobody is inside, else it could mean a longer sentence).
No, wait, blowing up the Parliament carries a lower sentence.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I am a tech professional and major nerd. When I was growing up and teaching myself different software and operating system, I had the tendency to find them on "sharing" websites. (only because I was dirt poor and only looking to learn the tools)
Could this kind of severe punishment have an unintended consequence of causing a potential younger tech professional from wanting to move to the UK? I know a lot of tech people who "share" movies and such (I have since grown out of it, but I don't begrudge someone who does). I think it is kind of part of the millennial culture. I could be wrong.
It's too bad we didn't call it the "all-around really radical reticulation" so our third-level domains would traditionally start with arrr.
But that's 10% of their profit.
"online pirates" don't make a profit, so someone decided increasing prison penalties beyond what actual pirates receive would act as a deterrent. Who wants deterrents like that though? This isn't Singapore. Caning someone until unconsciousness isn't a proper penalty for publicly chewing gum.
This would result in Mass Incarceration of young people. Copyright infringement is basically a thought crime. I wish that we could see more picketing and mass protests of this sort of thing all over the world. Because "Intellectual Property" is effectively worthless. Unlike Physical goods, its not finite, and can be reproduced limitlessly. To keep a few very rich and powerful people in power, we are willing to institute a massive wave of fascism, which will end in destroying free speech and communication in the western civilized world.
The first time this happens, the ensuing shitstorm of protests and riots will make Brexit look like a pleasant afternoon. By the end of it, the copyright mafia and their flunkies will all be lying at the base of the wall.
What about the burden of proof? ISP's do a poor job of keep track of equipment so they end up with the wrong person just from that.
What about the proving that file is pirated and not an Professor's Lecture's that has the same name as an artist?
10 years for piracy?
Actually until 1998 piracy used to carry a mandatory death sentence in the UK under the 1837 piracy act. This was one of the few crimes which still had it after the (almost) abolition of the death sentence in 1965. Mind you it did have to be committed on the high seas so it only applied to those downloading content while on a ship at sea.
licensing adjustment visits where they say you need to license each system in your office even if they don't use that software at all.
Or on your VM you need to pay for all the cores in the host even if Oracle is just using 1/4 of them.
Why not life? You're pretty well fucked after serving ten years and having a record, so why not just remove all pretense that this is in any way about justice.
Nazi war criminals serves five years or less.
Apparently IP piracy is more severe in scope than industrialized murder of six million.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
Prisoner 1: "What are you in for?"
Prisoner 2: "I posted a low grade copy of "Spock's Brain" to YouTube."
Prisoner 1: "What!? Are you mad? How many views did you get?"
Prisoner 2: "Zero."
Prisoner 1: "How long is your sentence?"
Prisoner 2: "They are giving me 'The Chair' tomorrow morning."
Prisoner 1: "Dude, I'm sorry. That sucks."
Prisoner 2: "Yeah... well, my brother-in law did the same thing; only it was "Threshold".
Prisoner 1: "Star Trek Voyager? The Wacko Amphibians??"
Prisoner 2: "Yeah. That one. He died in a drone strike, an hour after it was posted."
Prisoner 1: "Who killed him?"
Prisoner 2: "It's a toss up between Trekkie's and the government. I'm leaning towards the government."
Prisoner 1: "Well... I'm out tomorrow. I guess killing 12 people isn't what it used to be. Your president really means business in clearing this Cuban prison."
The sign above the door reads 'Guantanamo Bay'
I know its US vs UK, but Brock Turner (http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/06/us/sexual-assault-brock-turner-stanford/) received a 6 month sentence for raping an unconscious woman, yet someone else could spend 20 times that length of time imprisoned for copying a file?
And people wonder why we question our faith in the police, government and the system!
Ninjas don't carry tic tacs
WTF?? So, what if someone downloaded 10 movies or 10 songs?? Does he get 100 years!?!?? Life in prison for downloading Harry Potter! OMG!
When will these type of crimes become proportional FFS??
Here's some average jail times for crimes in the UK to put this into perspective:
Administering drugs to obtain intercourse Sexual Offences Act 1956 s4 2 years
Abuse of trust: sexual activity with a child Sexual Offences Act 2003 s16 5 years
Burglary with intent to commit rape (non-dwelling) Theft Act 1968 s9 10 years
Distributing copyrighted material Dumbass Act 2016 10 years?!
Who is "demanding justice" in this case to require 10 years for "piracy"? It's not for the people...you know, the individuals that make this democracy thing work.
A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
Thankfully the USA has the 8th amendment forbidding cruel or unusual punishment. So we won't see such a bill here.
So not only do they have no idea what to do, clogging up their legal system with an ineffective solution, but they're also begging Google to fix things for them? Wow. I am positively thrilled that I left the UK if that incompetence is the best they can do. I would not wish to pay for some pirate's ridiculous jail sentence, rather than having them pay for their own crimes. Well, unless they are making the "content creators" pay for all of that. But we all know that would never happen.
Somebody said: "Death to the politicians that support it".
View a video or song, and 10 years.
Oh, mind you, most of us have bought the same album in different formats repeatedly. So if you bought that album on vinyl, cassette, and CD. You didn't buy it, per the record labels you just bought a license.
Well, fine....where the hell is my damn license? And if I have a license, why does the media matter?
UK is a maritime nation, we can't allow bandits interrupt maritime shipping routes and commerce. Piracy on the high seas should be punished with a stiff jail time. They used to hang for that, so 10 years is rather civilized.
...and he only had to stay in prison for three of the six months. He's out, now.
Raise your hand if you care what happens in that Brexit-loving, surveillance-to-the-gills, farse of a country
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship- or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area. Theft is the taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. It is copyright violation, calling it anything else shows your agenda to make something sound worse than it is.
You are confusing actual piracy with what this actually refers to, copyright violations.
No I would never do that because you aren't even detained, let alone imprisoned for 10 years, for actual piracy under UK law because they are worried you might try to claim asylum.
Don't be and Online Pirate.
"And people wonder why we question our faith in the police, government and the system!"
I don't question that, but a lot of people(especially here) seem to think the government is the solution to everything and that private institutions and individuals are corrupt and the source of all our problems. Mostly it seems based on the idea that government officials are not motivated by money and therefore acting not in their own interest(both of which I generally consider to be false except for a few rare exceptions).
Perhaps they should start with the Crooked Politicians Bankers Lawyers and Corporate Officers who steal billions and get a 2 year suspended prison sentence and a slap on the wrist or house arrest on their estates in their mansions FIRST
Torrenting a few porn movies is worse than rape. At some point ideas like 'fair', and 'proportional' were euphemised and defined out of the window.
John_Chalisque
Land of Hope and Glory
hohoho!
No one is stupid enough to believe that the government officials aren't as corrupt as those in the private sector. The difference is that we still have some amount of power to hold government officials accountable for their actions. Whether or not we actually use that power is a different topic of debate.
Death...death by boka boka.
Its more the threat. Pay this fine or you'll get ten years, if you have it you'll pay.
So why put people in jail if there not violent and a danger to the population?
Control!!!
Those convicted aren't going to be purchasing media for the next 10 years, nor likely thereafter out of spite.
Even if it does function as a deterrent, many are going react with a similar "fuck you" to the establishment and find other entertainment. (Not only pirates, but principled people protesting this outrageous injustice.) Media outlets will become a target of vandalism/arson/etc., which will also provide entertainment with a lesser sentence if caught.
The only paying customers left will be worthy of scorn, and may themselves become targets for retribution in various ways. (Likewise with a lesser sentence if caught.) Will there be enough shameless and foolish people left to support the industry?
Do we have any real power? Seems to me that through media manipulation and manipulation of the weak minded through repetition, denial, and other tactics even a 100% proven crook has a really good chance of not just running for president but actually winning.
At least people have to give corporations money voluntarily for them to have power. I have never cast a winning vote in an election, so I think I actually fare better better if corporations controlled everything except courts/police/military. At least I could stop buying things from corps I don't like, which gives me more power than I have now.
3 years suspended sentence for assult, 6 years for murder and only 2 for rape.... but 10 for pirating.. glad to see they have their priorities right..
World.
Don't be and Online Pirate.
Or simply kill the movie studio and MPAA/RIAA heads.
You'd likely get less than 10 years for that at least in time served, so why not? Same with Lords & MPs who are in favor of this expanded sentencing for copyright violations.
Off with their heads (which seems rather a popular pastime in the UK since the influx of young men from the ME ramped up)!
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Abolish copyright. Now.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Its UP TO 10 years, rather like those sales that offer UP TO 20% off. Ie, you'll be unlikely to get the maximum tariff.
AND, its targeted at people who have an online sales model that is similar to those who pirate physical copies of CDs, DVDs and Blurays for sale at car boot sales and seedy market stalls.
Finally, in the UK we've not yet got to the point where FAST and their chums can place cases before individual magistrates and judges who are known to favour their standpoint.
I'm not saying that its a GOOD law, but its not worth frothing at the mouth over.
Such a vauge term, if they mean copyright inf ringers then they are going to have to increase the size of their prisons massively to accommodate a 3rd of the counties population. I should probably give up copyright infringement and become a murderer as a past time so i'm less likely to go to jail for a decade.
I can tell you how this will play out.
1. Companies lobby law-makers who don't know much about anything.
2. A law is passed as a result of the lobbying.
3. A law maker's family member or them themselves is arrested for violation of the law.
4. Suddenly the lawmakers realize what a stupid law they passed and start to take steps to distance themselves from it, weaken it, cancel it, etc.
The same thing happened with music services. The "MP3 Locker" services are no different than what a lot of services now do, and suddenly they are legal now. Before they those kinds of services were show down. The difference is that now law makers have iPods, etc.
All you have to do is think about a high level politician's son or daughter being arrested for downloading some tv show or something and sentenced to 10 years. They will of course fight it, and even if the law isn't completely cancelled right away, the defense will likely involve mentioning things like how it isn't actually 100% possible to tell who occupied an IP address, much less who downloaded what.
What the actual fuck?
So you are telling me that a person who put up a Torrent of copy righted material is twice as bad as someone who abuses their position of trust and sexually abuses children?!?
One person didn't steal a thing, shared something perhaps they shouldnt have, mostly to people who wouldnt have bought the content anyway but possibly a small percentage may have so thus deprived Whichever MegaCorp of some massively insignificant amount of profit.
The other person commits one of the worst acts possible to a child, mentally and possibly phyically damaging that child for life.
Yes sure I totally see the reasoning behind that, as long as your totally corrupt and don't give a damn about people or socity or human decency.
I know the child abuse one carries a max sentence of 5 years Id need to read up on other crimes but 10 years that just about as high as it goes (short of life without parole). Perhaps its time to look to emigrate and get the hell out of the UK.
No PC games, no BluRay, DVDs only asked for as christmas presents, throwing out internet (use the free connections at the library), movies only rarely, and then purely as a social activity that doesn't include alcohol. No TV, no renting, nothing.
Giving up TV and most movies really helps: you don't even know what's on, so you don't even miss it.
And I've been able to cut back so far on expenses I'm retiring early.
And all of this is preventing piracy too!
Fuck 'em. Find out how much your "IP" is worth when nobody wants to buy it, assholes.
Great. Just plant som fresh piracy materal at known serial rapists and phedophiles, and they will get proper sentences.
was a warning, not a guide!