You are all Pirates and will be hung...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/11/isp_file_sharer_orde r/

If you're using File-Sharing software, you must be a pirate.

ISPs in the UK must now hand over the names of these law-breaking scallywags.

Expect to see a lot of 12 year-olds in court really soon...

This looks like a civil rights infringement - what do you think?

Should anyone found sharing files be reported to the BPI?

Does the BPI have the right to know about any data that is shared? It's not just music that gets shared - I sometimes share pieces of code that I'm working on with others to get ideas from them. Plus, I often share out music that I have created myself.

I don't think the BPI has the right to know that I'm sharing MY OWN WORK

I couldn't care less if they do, but why should my ISP be required to tell the BPI about it? Do you think the BPI would listen to me BEFORE the court case?

/rant over

/edit: I'm not one of the 31 the BPI are currently after, my worry is that somewhere down the road, they might start to set their sights on more people... This looks like the potential opening of the floodgates.

Reed Lover wrote: Pixel Pirate wrote: Oh no! They're coming for me....! And me!!!!! I hope they dont make us share a cell Pixie. No offence mate but with your eyesight you wouldnt be able to watch my back in the showers.....

Since I only have a problem with bright white objects you could be right there....

Once upon a time the internet was all about the free exchange of ideas...and porn. That's all changed. Now they want you to pay for everything...including the porn. That's great if you happen to be the rightful owner of an idea, but not so good if you're a cheap bastard who wants everything for free (including porn).

It's also pretty alarming if you're concerned that the single most hopeful development in modern technology, providing for nearly instant communication and exchange in an unregulated environment, is slowly but surely coming under the control of the same forces which have rendered most of the planet subject to a monolithic, commercialized and violently enforceable orthodoxy.

I suppose that it was bound to happen since the start, but for a surprising amount of time the internet was a blissfully self-regulated situation, a testament to humanity's potential to operate succesfully within a loose system of self-governance.

Did I mention the porn?