Domestic trade calls on Government to copy French President Sarkozy’s strongarm approach to illegal downloading
The UK’s anti-piracy laws are feeble and place the entertainment retail sector in grave danger of further closures and economic damage.
That was the opinion of some of the games industry’s most notable figures this week, as the domestic trade called on the Government to emulate France’s new legal clampdown on illegal downloaders.
The French bill, passed into draft law last week, will see illegal downloaders of games, music and movies sent two warnings, first by email and then by recorded delivery.
Following these cautions, the offender’s details will be passed to a judge – who has the power to cut off internet access and issue heavy fines or even prison sentences.
The UK Government is working with internet service providers on plans to bring in a similar ‘three strikes’ approach – but has so far avoided mention of court action.
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“Nintendo applauds France for approving this legislation,” Nintendo’s European anti-piracy boss Neil Boyd told MCV. “We hope that other Member States will see this as an example of a country attempting to significantly reduce illegal file sharing and recognising the important collaborative role that ISPs can play in doing so.
“Rights holders, ISPs and consumers have a common interest in recognising that internet piracy is a serious problem with consequence for those who break the law.”
HMV CEO Simon Fox added:
“The impact of piracy and illegal file sharing on content owners is well known, but there has been less attention given to the impact on retailers and indeed on the High Streets of the UK. It is difficult to believe that piracy and illegal P2P downloading did not contribute to the demise of national entertainment retailers such as Zavvi, Woolworths and Music Zone. The impact has been particularly pronounced for many hundreds of local independent stores.”
He added: “We therefore support the active steps being taken by the French Government to crackdown on piracy and illegal file sharing, and would encourage the UK Government to press forward with similar legislation.”
The new chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association Paul Quirk claimed that internet piracy ‘is bleeding our industry dry’.
“Too often the debate over illegal filesharing is portrayed as an ideological battle, but for us this is a commercial matter,” he said. “Illegal file sharing is damaging our businesses on a daily basis.”
A THIRD WAY?
Not every member of the industry is certain France’s heavy-handed treatment is the best route forward.
Namco Bandai UK marketing manager David Miller told MCV:
“As a publisher, the reflex action is to support the [French] legislation, but do we all really still believe that it’s either realistic or in the best interests of an industry (and a world for that matter) going through a genuine revolution?
“I think we are becoming aware of two uncomfortable truths. Firstly, the upsurge of the infrastructure of piracy, fuelled by Moore’s Law, the ubiquity of broadband, the proliferation of peer-to-peer and torrents, increasing storage and general access and ease of use. And secondly that Generation Y is growing up in a culture that just feels differently about media consumption. Is it right to criminalise young people for that?
“The developers, publishers and service providers that can embrace the new economic paradigms and the opportunities presented by the digital revolution will thrive. And by that I mean free, freemium, ad-funded, microtransaction and subscription.
"The bottom line is that in the long-term, we will all be required to view the marketplace as an ecosystem where only some of the players exchange cash some of the time – rather than the old fashioned idea of just a buyer and a seller.”
Comments
please do
yes please, but something to remember is alot of people who download say it because gamea are too expensive,but most do it because its easy and they think its not illegal
unfeasable
This law is bollocks. If you can't see why then you're blind.
@2 why..explain..?
I applaud the french.... in fact I'd cut people off 1st or 2nd time, not give them the 3 strikes.
Piracy is stealing..... simple. Not to mention the strains on the networks thru the torrenting. If only legal traffic was allowed then how much faster would everything be for every legitimate user?
Piracy is practised by scumbugs, don't know it's illegal? Pull the other one...
Can't See the Wood for the Trees...
@JB - That's a shortsided consumerist view if ever I heard one. Young people today have grown up with the illusion that they have the right to share, copy and distribute any copyrighted works they so desire. This is simply not the case, as no thought is paid to the artist (or artists in the case of gaming) who are required to make a living from these works.
If children grew up with the idea that they can PHYSICALLY take whatever they wish as they see fit, criminality would escalate to uncontrollable levels.
This 'pirate party' idea of a shareware world is ridiculous to those who understand the level of skill and hard work put into any copyrighted work of art or entertainment. For example, M$' XNA has shown that individuals simply cannot provide IP's that are as creative or meaningful without the expertise of a premium level developer behind it. Do we expect them to work for free? Utterly ridiculous notion if u ask me.
And before anyone says it, I consider myself a young person in my early twenties-just one with enough sense to understand that you get what you pay for.
Slight error...
Has Sarkozy been demoted from President to Prime Minister as written here...?
Anyway, there law is a move in the right direction... otherwise, it won't be long before pirates have nothing new and exciting to steal.
Fundemental flaw
While I understand that actions need to be taken to curtail piracy, there are several fundamental flaws.
This law will be revoked within a month of the first test case. Why? Because as has been shown on several other occasions, this type of legislation will fall flat on its face against other European laws – especially those governing the rights to unhindered access to the internet.
Also, the current batch of anti-piracy campaigns simply fail to deal with the problem. Take that God-awful FACT advert on DVDs – you know, the one with the girl downloading a movie in seconds – let's face it. If that was possible, the music industry would have been fucked years ago – not because piracy would have killed it, but because failure to adapt to the changing level of technology would have, in a similar way to what happened to the music industry.
The simple fact is that any law that sees users cut off the net is doomed to fail. It won't work.
Now, while I understand the copyright owners' case, there are grounds for them to rethink their stance against sharing and copying. It's been around since the early 80s and while that doesn't make it right, it does beg the question of when are the rights holders going to accept that their current actions are failing to work, and seek alternative resolutions to the problem.
That's 30 years – what other industry has fought change for 30 years? None. It's time for the media producers to wake up and come up with genuine prevention technologies, rather than restrictive technologies like DRM which only serve to push people towards the pirate versions, which don't have the restrictions.
*sigh*
@ 3 & 4
Yes piracy is illgal, yes there needs to be practices in place to counter it, (although I've yet to see any evidence produced showing me a crippled entertainment industry due to piracy that warrents such drastic measures), but cutting off people BB is fundmetally flawed. Anyone with a modicum of inteliigence can see that... or so I thought.
Guys, you're clearly not looking at the bigger picture. Get down off those high horses of yours and get some perspective.
how would you feel
i cant count the ammount of times ive been asked for an r4, and over 40 of my ds lites were sold with the customer then asking me can i have an r4 with that, this customer will never return to my show, they dont need to all the software and new releases are available for him for free, people of course do know really deep down its illegal but as one customer said to me so i drink driving and i still do that, so it using your mobile phone while driving but i still do that, its one of these laws that people just dont see as important enough to stick to.
This is so insane and drives me crazy, i didnt know we lived in a society where we pick and choose which laws to abide by.
laugh out loud
Henry, don't sell R4 cards then you div!
lol
Stream a dream.
It’s all about streaming these days! Always one step behind with these laws that won’t mean shXt by the time their put into action, you’re all doomed! –
points
1. Fundamental changes need to be wrought by the music, media, and games industry with regards to artists rights and copyright in general.
2. laws protecting consumers need to be revised in conjunction with the point above.
3. Education about piracy needs to be more prevelant. Users need to stop using the argument about rich big business not being affected by piracy due to their levels of profit, victimless crimes etc.
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@jb 2 & 7
Still waiting for the explanation Mr get a clue.
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