Yet another perpetuation of the vast mythological story that is mis-named Illegal downloads appeared today on the BBC News site. Were these the same advisers that said that the Y2K bug (another mythological creature) would bring universal disaster?
First of all I would like to know the evidence for this assertion. Under British law an act cannot be deemed illegal until it has been proven in a duly constituted court of law. Have there been seven million successful prosecutions for copyright violation using Internet downloads? I think not.
My second issue is the “cost to the economy”. How is this cost established. One wonders what vested interest these so called advisors have.
It is these silly assertions based on vague assumptions and flawed logic that results in a complete loss of credibility for these advisers. But for the media to simply parrot these unsubstantiated assertions without question is a gross abrogation of their responsibility.
I am not saying that many people are acting in a way that is contrary to the law but these over exaggerations and generalisations are not at all helpful to the debate. If the music industry wants to address this issue then they have to stop treating every broadband user as a criminal, stop using pejorative language, stop these gross exaggerations and deal with the issue in a rational and sensible manner. No one is going to treat them with respect until they stop these school ground bully boy tactics and treat people with respect.