Most Britons against P2P file share ban
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Most people in Britain believe anyone accused of sharing entertainment cartel ‘product’ online without permission deserves the right to go to trial.
The movie and music studios, with the labels to the fore, are trying to browbeat governments around the world in to implementing a 3 strikes policy under which alleged copyright transgressors received two warnings and if they fail to stop whatever it is they’re said to be doing, they’re thrown off the net.
Furthermore, the entertainment industry wants governments to act as taxpayer-funded agents, with local ISPs performing duties as copyright cops with their own clients as the targets.
But, “Plans to force internet service providers (ISPs) to disconnect suspected illegal downloaders have been roundly rejected in a new YouGov poll, the first time public opinion has been tested on the issue,” says the Guardian.
And in a finding which will certainly make politicians sit up and pay attention, with younger voters, “the threat of internet disconnection for online copyright infringement might be a vote-changing issue,” says the story.
Nearly 70% of those surveyed said people suspected of illegal downloading, “should have a right to a trial in court before restrictions on internet use were imposed,” it says, pointing out only 16% were in favour of “automatic curbs based on accusations by copyright holders such as musicians, as is proposed by the business department.”
“This poll shows people rely on the internet, and an overwhelming majority think that access should only ever be withdrawn as the result of court action,” the Guardian has Jim Killock (right), executive director of the Open Rights Group which commissioned the YouGov poll, saying, going on.
“Nearly a third would be much less likely to vote for a party that supports disconnection proposals.
“Clearly Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, is out of step with public opinion and should think again.”
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Guardian – 70% oppose internet ban for filesharers, poll shows, October 19, 2009
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