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[Cyd0nia]

Imagine the feeling of your life, your career, family, friends, all being torn away as you get sent off to jail for downloading Avengers Age of Ultron.

Being as disappointed with it as I was, I'd spend the nights in my cell reciting the names of Kevin Feige, Joss Whedon, James Spader, and Robert Downer Jnr the way Arya Stark recites the names of Lannisters

 

[gatti-man]

I'd love to discuss this but so few people in this thread actually read the OP it's pointless.

 

[Ape Gone Insane]

The faux rage and lack of reading comprehension in this thread is amazing. Upping the maximum sentence for distributors is absolutely the right step. It tackles the problem at its roots and coupled with educational measures as well as offering more attractive soft options (day 1 digital releases, Netflix/streaming services), it's the best way to approach the problem, over say focussing entirely on downloaders as they have in the past with such wonders as the Digital Economy Act.

 

[Syriel]

Source

Also anything less than £200 is considered low-value so I'm sure stealing the same CD from a shop rather than downloading it will not get you 10 years in prison.

Well then, it is a good thing that no one is proposing a 10 year sentence for downloading a CD.

Maybe argue the topic rather than a strawman?

 

[Aureon]

I think this is against distributors and facilitators, not end users.

 

[Suen]

but what happens if you are a pedophile online pirate, do you still face 10 years in jail?

 

[daniels]

Idiots that join isis and come back crying like the idiots they are get less..

 

[blitzcloud]

Last time I checked, shoplifting was a crime.

In my country (spain), it would not be considered a crime but rather a fault, if it doesn't exceed a certain value.

Unless by piracy they explicitly mean making revenue off others copyrighted material, I think this is a bad punishment and completely tonedeaf to the times we live in.

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

Well as the UK can no longer get onto torrent sites. Problem solved

Unless we use proxy, aw yis. Fuck this government for real.

 

[FZZ]

Obligatory

I even turned off Java and disable my MAC address!

 

[Undead]

Well as the UK can no longer get onto torrent sites. Problem solved

What? since when?
My ISP isn't blocking them and probably never will.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

The punishment does not even remotely fit the crime. Here are some crimes that have lesser maximum sentences:

Female circumcision - 5 years
Racially-aggravated assault - 7 years
Abandonment of children under two - 5 years
Dealing in firearms - 5 years
Failure to disclose information about terrorism - 5 years
Administering drugs to obtain intercourse - 2 years
Incest by man with a girl under 13 - 7 years
Sexual penetration of a corpse - 2 years

I could go on.

Spoiler

Yay list wars.

So what punishment does fit? It is one thing to say it is stupid but another to come up with a solution. Especially as the intent of this it being made consistent with an existing, physical version of the crime. Or do you think that one is also too much.

You have not convinced me that seriously harming the revenues and careers of entire companies because you decided to leak something that you don't own (which if anyone fucking read the OP is what this law is aimed at) should get less than 10 years in the most harmful case (and you might be aware maximum sentences are rarely given out let alone served, that would be an interesting feedom of info request crimes, max time, time given and time actually served...).

It seems we really have a generation who has grown up thinking intellectual property is worthless. The law is trying to play catch up to this changing world and maybe being a bit heavy handed in places while negligent in others.