7 million 'criminal' downloaders in UK

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7 million 'criminal' downloaders in UK
29 May 2009

According to the BBC, more than seven million people in Britain are illegally downloading copyrighted materials. Given the numbers involved, these cannot be all students. While many of these "criminals" do not know what they are doing is illegal, many others simply don't care. And this is the reason that fully one half of the Internet traffic in the UK is down to infringing transfers of copyrighted works (music, video, software, games, books, photos).

According to PC Pro, the same study, commissioned by the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP) for submission to MPs concerned with copyright issues, claims that this illegal downloading costs the UK economy £12 billion pounds a year.

Intellectual Property Minister David Lammy praised the report, echoing its dire claims about illegal downloading's effects on the economy. He tells the BBC, "This is not an issue confined by national boundaries and I am sure
that other [EU] member states and their copyright industries will find this report of use in the development of policy."

Such claims, however, are not new and should be taken with a pinch of salt given that (a) it is impossible to say that all £12 billion of those pounds
would have been spent on the legitimate purchase of the copyrighted materials in question had the "illegal option" not been available and
(b) whatever the case, those £12 billion pounds would have been spent elsewhere in the economy and so technically would represent no loss at
all to the economy.

Still, given that the UK prison system can currently hold only about 80,000 inmates, it would be impractical to incarcerate the seven million or so people
who are, knowingly or unknowingly, committing copyright infringement. Even if none of these infringers was ever sent to prison, the report
concludes that, "[i]f all who undertake unauthorised downloading, uploading and sharing were prosecuted, up to seven million Britons would have a criminal record."

:source: Source: Neowin.net

Yeah, bit of a non-story really. There's not a current net user alive that hasn't, at some point, downloaded some form of copyrighted material.

Prosecuting downloaders will never work, especially not where newsgroup users are concerned.

All of these exaggerated stories are put out in the media to justify WHY it is necessary to take away our digital freedoms.

Look at the Massive Corporations that have had complete control of their industries for decades. Our freedoms are a threat to that control. They will continue to lie, bribe, and intimidate until they regain that control. Once we lose our current freedoms, they are gone forever.

im one of them' 7 millions

:cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hairbautt

[i]f all who undertake unauthorised downloading, uploading and sharing were prosecuted, up to seven million Britons would have a criminal record.

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This is just not true. You only get a criminal record if you are found guilty of a crime, which means a criminal prosecution. The majority of sharing comes under civil law, which doesn't afford a criminal record.

Currently, the only criminal type of sharing is when you share something that has not yet been released (pre-release). All post release stuff is considered civil in nature, and it is down to the rights holder to start legal proceedings, not the police.

The only time the police will get involved with post release sharing is when someone decides to sell copies for a profit, which then becomes criminal in nature.

Like all good spin, the sole object of the story is to frighten people into thinking they may do jail time.

Good points, Fox. Thanks!

im glad they dont act like this in the US .