« What Is Spyware? | Home | Aardvarks Receive More Spam Than Zebras »
Are Torrents Worth the Hassle?
By John F | August 23, 2008
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed.
Recently a woman from London, UK was fined £16,000 [$32,000] for sharing software via a file-sharing network. By the letter of the law, she was found guilty and fined. Much like somebody caught speeding in a car, you do the crime then you may have to do the time.
What you may be thinking is yes, so what? Well, a lot of people are downloading and sharing files all over the world. It’s just so damn easy. Maybe you’re one of them? Most people have broadband these days, and some of the speeds are in excess of 8MB. So downloading an album could take 5 minutes and downloading a film or TV show episode could take around 15-25 minutes.
ISP’s are now cracking down on customers who download a lot. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that people who download a lot of data are possibly downloading movies or software. Now some people will be genuinely downloading, but most won’t.
The ISP’s are under pressure from the music, film and software industry to prevent their networks and customers from downloading data that is copyrighted and should be purchased and not downloaded for free.
Now, this is where most people and human nature takes over. The average person thinks, “Hmmn, should I buy that album in the shop at £12.99 [$24.99] or should I download it for free and then burn it for free?” This is where the music, and other industries have gone wrong in my opinion.
They have been for years, charging too much money for CD’s, DVD’s and software. Now the consumer has a chance to fight back, albeit using ‘illegal’ means, they don’t like it. As, we all know, the Internet is pretty much a free for all, and nobody is policing it at the moment, and hopefully never will.
So the music, film and software industries are aware that of what is happening, but much like nailing jelly to the wall, it’s proving extremely difficult. People now have easy access to technology that enables them to download pretty much what they want, when they want.
Yes ISP’s are throttling heavy users bandwidths and some people are receiving warning letters. The well informed out there [geeks to you and me] will find a away round the system and then the information will find a way onto the Internet for all to see.
The consumer determines the way a market ultimately turns. I hope the music, film and software industries start to take notice and respond in a positive manner. I realise they don’t like people ‘stealing’ their precious data [it's only 1 & 0's at the end of the day], but they need to look at the real reason people are downloading so much for free.
Being free makes it accessible for so many people, but most people would be happy to pay, if the product they bought was of high quality and what they wanted. Not a product that has been rammed down their throat, made to look amazingly good and then ultimately disappoints.
So what should a person who does download a lot of music, films or software do? Well, that is down to your own conscious and how much money you have available in your bank account in case you do get found guilty.
In general people won’t stop downloading while prices are still stupidly high and also rubbish music, films and software are still being released, admittedly along with some good releases also.
Topics: Computer Privacy Usefulness, Computer Security Usefulness, Free Software Usefulness |