Piffey

Our friends across the Atlantic seem to get slammed with the worst of ideas from their legislators. First there was the Pirate Finder General with his near-unlimited power to hunt down music and film pirates. Now the content industries have found a way to force the consumer to pay collectively for the faults of a few miscreants — sounds just, right?

British ministers have admitted that a new bill requiring the suspension of broadband access to any connection that illegally downloads music will add around 25£ to each consumer’s monthly bill. Totalling this across the UK you’ll see that it amounts to over £500 mil or $800 mil when exchanged.

The new campaign, known as the Digital Economy Bill, would leave 40,000 households without Internet connections when it goes into effect. Broadband providers have lashed out at the government, but to little avail. Collective punishment for the one rogue in your apartment building’s shared Internet connection seems to be acceptable to British ministers of government.

“Impact assessments published alongside the Bill predict that the measures will generate £1.7 billion in extra sales for the film and music industries over the next ten years, as well as £350 million for the Government in extra VAT.”

(TimesOnline via /.)

For some reason the content industries have been capable of convincing the government that it will actually generate a tax increase. However, the UK is increasingly moving toward free public broadband in its cities (ex.  Swindon) which means people will just switch to downloading their files anonymously while commuting or enjoying a stroll in the park. Try again Big Content.

“BT also stepped up its attack on the plans, which it said represented “collective punishment that goes against natural justice”. John Petter, managing director of BT Retail’s consumer division, said: “Put yourself in the shoes of a small businessman who has a rogue member of staff. Your internet access could get cut off because of the actions of one individual. It really feels like the UK is out on a limb with these proposals compared to the rest of the world.””

(TimesOnline via /.)

Many have noted that the one idiot can ruin it for an entire office and that has to be the most important aspect — something UK lawmakers seem to be neglecting. While they may have an ‘impact assesment’ that claims one figure the simple fact is that people, once impacted, will lash out in the only way they can: choosing not to support the Big Content industry that is the root of their frustration.

Studies have repeatedly shown that P2P downloading actually increases CD sales and that the music industry has actually seen a rise in business in recent years. People are more likely to discover new music than ever before thanks to piracy and it has caused a rush to the record store.

Why then do industries continue to assault their consumers under the guise of lost profit? And at what point are we going to finally wake up and decide to keep the content industry at bay?

Ridiculous punishment plans that sweep over all consumers is obviously a collective injustice — no matter what the profit reports or impact assesments might say. Instead of attempting to draw consumers back to them, Big Content has instead decided to waste money on attacking their market. Can a failing industry really afford to alienate their customer base? This Bill, if passed, can only serve as a suicide letter from the content industry that is supposedly suffering.

UPDATE: Katie from the UK’s Open Rights Group left a comment below on how UK citizens can help get their MPs to listen and protect the people instead of the companies. You can reach her at katie@openrightsgroup.org or check out their website OpenRightsGroup to find out more.