As copyright groups turn towards ISPs to send out warning letters to alleged music and movie pirates, a recent legal study finds that the letters aren’t enough to convince them to stop sharing files.
Just 33 percent of participants surveyed said they’d be willing to stop pirating content if they received a letter from their ISP. Almost 80 percent of people would be willing to stop pirating copyrighted material if they received a letter and had Internet service cut.
"A letter would not be enough," Wiggin technology partner Alexander Ross told BBC. "It does take an ultimate sanction" before file sharers will stop sharing files.
The final version of the digital media habits report, including the study carried out by Wiggin, will be sent to UK government officials sometime next week.
I found this to be an interesting study because the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said it has left behind sending out John Doe lawsuits in favor of getting ISPs to distribute letters to alleged pirates. Instead of being in a handful of unlucky people being sued for a couple thousand dollars, sending out letters and cutting service opens up the door for the RIAA to punish a much larger amount of people with less public outrage and backlash.
Several nations — including the US, UK, France, and other European countries — hope to experiment with eliminating Internet access for accused file sharers.
If you received just a warning letter, would you be willing to stop sharing files?
24 Comments
Before fast internet connections there used to be tape trading groups... all the same stuff... although mainly movies... allthough I still remember bootleg record stores...
Piracy has always been around in some form... Some of the best customers out there are "try before you buy" customers.... I've known many who will download a pirated copy of a movie until it becomes available to buy.... the studios waste more money fighting it than what they would gain if they just let it be... Apparently they just need something to write off... what about the MPAA or RIAA employees that would be out jobs if they quit?
Are those employees profiting from piracy?
It's a complete waste of time and money if you ask me....
I received a letter from my cable internet company back in January, for something I'd done a few months earlier. Scared the bejeebus out of me. Also pissed me off, because I got nailed for torrenting an episode of Stargate Atlantis, due to having missed it Friday night and the complete lack of repeats or SciFi.com availability. Nail me for something legitimate, I won't deny there wasn't something else there to get me on, but for being a loyal fan?
Did it affect my torrenting? When the letter says I'll be cut off if I'm caught just once more (two strikes you're out!), you bet your bippy.
I am not sure but I read somewhere last night about a new feature to the Opera webbrowser that allows downloading direct from one PC to another... not sure if this is going to make a difference or not but if your skipping the middle man it should allow people to share files with one another quite easily.. if they are encrypted it seems that would be even more secure... I don't know if any of this is possible, but it was one of the first things that came to mind reading the article... but it just feeds the fire even more to the fact it will continue no matter what...
On this album the central scrutinizer monitors everybodies activities. Will the ISP's be the new central scrutinizers?
Shortly after that, I read where they can watch your usenet downloading if you don't have SSL so maybe it was that.
SBC Yahoo DSL has never given me problems and I have always downloaded torrents, usenet, etc. I am back to them, it's the cable companies you have to watch. My friends have always gotten letters from cable providers. They just sit around and spy on people's internet usage. They probably watch you masturbate through your own webcam too.
Now thats an ugly thought
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