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Web Nuggets: Internet bans for illegal downloaders in the UK

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      CommentAuthorDoc Ocassi
    • CommentTimeFeb 12th 2008
     (982.1)
    Illegal downloaders 'face UK ban'
    The entertainment industry says illegal file sharing costs it millions
    People in the UK who go online and illegally download music and films may have their internet access cut under plans the government is considering.
    - BBC
    I suppose this will possibly speed up my internet connection, but if they can't look at what is being downloaded how can they tell a blockbuster from a home movie, ref. Apples DRM blunder.

    Also with the internet taking over from the postal service in certain aspects of a persons life, and the ubiquity of wireless networks, how feasible is this?
  2.  (982.2)
    This is something that the Open Rights Group is looking at.

    That said, the way I understand what I've been told of the report (on the ORG mailing list) is that they are considering...

    1) Banning any domain name with 'pirate', 'torrent', 'download', etc in the title.
    2) Banning any ports other than 25,80 or 433
    3) Banning any 'torrent-like data flows'.

    All of which just goes to show how utterly clueless the people who make such reports are as each of the above is unworkable. The other suggestion would be to try and force ISPs to spy on their traffic, which obviously goes against the Data Protection Act.

    At the worst people will just start using services like 'tor' a lot more.
  3.  (982.3)
    What amazes me is that a British government would ever condoning the implementation of an idea first suggested by the French...

    I've heard Tor has some compromised areas, but I'm not an expert. I am sure the high-end geeks will advise us on the best way to route around this proposed damage.
  4.  (982.4)
    I'm guessing they will keep internet gaming connections going if they start closing ports on people.

    My bittorrent strategy to outwit my previous ISP was to use port 7777 and encrypted connections. Suddenly their traffic shaping policy just didn't apply to me.

    There are ways around everything.
    • CommentAuthorsacredchao
    • CommentTimeFeb 13th 2008
     (982.5)
    It's strange, I have hundreds of gigabytes up and down on multiple sites, but I've never even been warned by my ISP, but I hear about people who are all the time. I guess I somehow defeat their pattern recognition software by going non-stop for 2 weeks at a time, then not at all for 2 weeks. I don't really know.
  6.  (982.6)
    a case of too little far too late. i'm almost certain that workrounds are already in place, so anything they do is ultimately futile.
  7.  (982.7)
    Music and film companies say that the illegal downloads cost them millions of pounds in lost revenues.

    The keep saying this and it keeps on being proven to be false. The industry is failing because the industry sucks balls. And an entire industry based upon moving about bits of plastic are going to suffer. But why adapt when you can sue?

    The content and proposals for the strategy have been significantly developed since then and a comprehensive plan to bolster the UK's creative industries will be published shortly

    Again, I call bullshit. This won't bolster any creative work, apart from ensure the income of money-people

    broadband firms which failed to enforce the rules could be prosecuted, and the details of customers suspected of making illegal downloads made available to the courts.

    Why is it that they want to cripple the communications industry for the sake of the entertainment industry?

    Some of the UK's biggest internet providers, such as BT, Virgin and Tiscali have been in talks with the entertainment industry over introducing a voluntary scheme for policing pirate activity, but no agreement has been reached

    That's because the majority of the entertainment industry are a bunch of lying scumfucks.

    Does anyone remember the "piracy helps fund terrorism" angle? I couldn't work this one out for ages, I guess someone selling pirated dvds isn't going to be on the side of law and order. Maybe there could be a link...

    But I've never paid a penny for downloading.

    Now, compare to the HERCULEAN amount of drugs the entertainment industry consumes. Where does all that money go? Are they going to be nice people?

    he BPI, the trade body that represents the UK record industry, said internet providers had "done little or nothing to address illegal downloading via their networks"

    Just like you've done little or nothing to make me want to spend £20 on rubbish

    "Now is not the time for ISPs to hide behind bogus privacy arguments, or claim the problem is too complicated or difficult to tackle."

    The irony in this statement pretty much seals the fact that these bastards are very very desperate.
  8.  (982.8)
    Leaving music aside we are getting to the point where the entertainment and communications industries are one and the same in the UK.

    My ISP is Virgin Media, who also provide my TV. They own a pile of channels and a half stake in a pile more.

    BT and Tiscali are offering TV over broadband in some way, I've never looked into it really.

    Sky is pushing into broadband, and controls a metric ton of channels and the largest pay TV provider in the UK.

    Communications Vs. Entertainment is becoming a complex thing. As we get further into the convergence of both into a single industry I think they'll enact draconian measures to stop file sharing with or without government legislation. They'll offer enough incentive to get away with it and destroy the non-entertainment owned competition too.
  9.  (982.9)
    Or get the government to do it because suing your own customer base is a surefire one-way ticket to retardville.

    Once upon a time, everyone bought Elvis, because Elvis was all there was to buy.

    Now, I can find a new favourite band within five minutes of searching on Myspace. More often then not, they're playing pubs and flogging homemade CDs and these industries have no answer when they have a product nobody wants.

    The "creative industry" will be just fine without you, thankewverymuch. In fact, I doubt creative levels could get any higher.

    I want the traditional-bookbinding industry to sue and ban the use of PDF files, because only criminals and terrorists use them and they're costing the industry millions.
    •  
      CommentAuthorVaehling
    • CommentTimeFeb 14th 2008
     (982.10)
    Uppn first sight, this is just the typical panicky beating on everything in sight you see a lot of creatures do before they die. The important question is, how much damage can they cause before they collaps? Outlawing torrents per se, the way they seem to plan, is a good way to hurt a lot of independent publishers, a lot of whom have been using torrents to distribute their free music and videos. Which, of course is who they're really afraid of. So maybe there is a point after all? Just not the one they're claiming to make?

    Also, public domain. Again, lots of torrents. Begone, evil free stuff!
    • CommentAuthortobot
    • CommentTimeJul 11th 2010
     (982.11)
    i can see in the near future a very highly restricted data connection to each house which provides all services. with torrenting pretty much locked down totally.

    i can also see a second network of pirate signal developing (be it wireless or through your electicity supply),which will be rife with 'torrentz, warez, crackz and pron' within 6 months of the above happening.
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      CommentAuthorrickiep00h
    • CommentTimeJul 11th 2010 edited
     (982.12)
    Does anyone remember the "piracy helps fund terrorism" angle? I couldn't work this one out for ages, I guess someone selling pirated dvds isn't going to be on the side of law and order. Maybe there could be a link...

    But I've never paid a penny for downloading.
    Yes, there could be a link. And you hit exactly on it. There's a confusion of the word "piracy" here. Piracy has traditionally been selling knockoff goods, specific objects or artifacts. The pirate DVDs that you purchase off the street in Bangkok are that sort of piracy. The link is that when you download a movie they're equating it to replacement of the physical artifact that you would otherwise be buying and depriving the industry of that purchase, regardless of whether or not you paid anything for it. To them, it's the same thing, even though there's that little detail about there not being an actual object or transaction.

    Now, we could debate the merits of piracy, how much it actually costs the industry, etc, and apply that to every form of media piracy. But I think you'll find that the enormous (and superfluous) overhead in the music industry doesn't really apply to all pirated media. Like, say, comics. But really, I'd rather not do that. It's been done to death on these forums. I think a much better argument is the fact that they're using a sledgehammer to solve a scalpel problem. Cutting off all ports except three, total, for every computer in the UK? Good luck for all the people playing online games, using other data or protocols, and the people doing perfectly legal things with .torrents.

    Reynolds (upthread) is perfectly succinct when he calls the people trying to stop this "clueless." Especially when people speaking on behalf of the industry say things like
    "Now is not the time for ISPs to hide behind bogus privacy arguments, or claim the problem is too complicated or difficult to tackle."

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