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Sukphreet Singh
Blog | Virgin Media's Warning Letter for File Sharers15 July 2008 The ploy by BPI ('formerly' British Phonographic Industry) to rope in Virgin Media to send warning letters to internet files-sharers, appears at first sight to be gimmick by BPI to get attention for its anti-piracy efforts, while for Virgin it may be an unsustainable balancing act because it may be accused of 'passing the buck' by failing to withstand undue pressure from a lobbyist and getting involved in a misplaced attempt to 'educate' file-sharers. On deeper introspection, it forebodes a trend. The contention of BPI (the UK recording industry's lobby group) that Internet Service Provider (ISPs), such as Virgin Media, have created their business models out of exploiting 'other people's music' may hold some truth – assuming BPI refers to music industry investments, not literally music. Nobody should free ride on someone else's investments. But instead of sending warning letters to individuals subscribers, ISPs should work with record labels and other creative investors to create sustainable business models so that buying music or videos on the internet becomes an easier, less time consuming and cheaper option than hunting for the ever elusive 'torrent' or 'file-to-share' which might come loaded with annoying advertisements or hidden viruses, thus ultimately harming your computer. Let's first talk of the ISP's balancing act. An ISP's business hinges on getting as many internet subscribers who subscribe to a high bandwidth connection with an unlimited or a very high upload/download limit. This enables ISPs such as Virgin Media to increase capacity, provide more connections and hence make more profits. And you don't need a high bandwidth connection (with the zillion gigs of download limit on offer by ISPs nowadays) if all you want is to do is check your email, order some pizza or plan your evening on the local dating website! But you do need a high bandwidth connection if you download or upload music or videos, hopefully legally - but as the current business models of content providers aren't very good at it – usually through file sharing software or torrents. So, in the long run, how far will an ISP bend to please lobby groups such as BPI by sending warning or threatening letters or even banning its bread and butter customers – the high volume file-sharers? Now to the question of 'educating' file-sharers; an individual file-sharer is not the person in need of an education. Targeting a teenager, who shares a few songs a week for personal use (simply because she and her mates cannot easily, instantly, cheaply and legally buy it online) and who does not make any business out of it, is a disproportionate response to the problem of music piracy and does not help spread the message of the industry that it is a bad practice. We are not talking of a simpleton who buys a Rulex watch in a car boot sale but dynamic and aware individuals who know how to navigate their way through complex technology to share files or use torrents. They can at least be recognized of knowing that individual musicians are not harmed or left without bread on the table by the sharing of a few files. They are also aware of whose interests are served by recording industry mouthpieces such as BPI. Piracy is a multi-billion pound underground industry worldwide - it is this network that groups such as BPI should be concentrating their efforts on (I hasten to add that they already do this rather effectively). From a societal, rather than business point of view, we are yet to see any substantial empirical proof that piracy disadvantages creative individuals (musicians, authors, etc.) and leads to a decline in creative content – all we have is the vociferous rhetoric of some industry mouthpieces (here I make the distinction between creative individuals and creative industries). Traditional intellectual property rights (IPRs) laws and their strict, and increasingly disproportionate implementation, may not be the only way to foster creativity in individuals – one of the stated aims of the government and legal bodies when they present the piracy problem to society in general. One may find it difficult to argue that implementation, awareness or even sympathy with the IPRs regime, more than UK, exists in a developing country such as India. Still, 'Bollywood' – the nerve centre of Indian film and music – not only attracts and fosters ever-growing creative content, but produces more than 1000 films a year to provide employment to tens of thousands of individuals – something the UK film 'industry' hasn't been able to do for a long time. That's food for thought for anyone who directly links IPRs to fostering creativity. So, what we are really looking at is the attempt by some business groups to coerce individual users into a corner to protect their own interests. Should we allow that to happen? Or leave it to the market to find suitable sustainable solutions? Of course, efforts by the BPI to contain institutional and organized piracy are welcome, but making scapegoats of a few hundred individuals who do not financially benefit from what they are doing - simply sharing a few music files or videos - is abhorrent. Let us not forget Virgin Media in this unfortunate cacophony. The least they could have done is respect the privacy of its paying internet subscribers and divulge their surfing habits only under review of a court of law, and that too only in issues of national security. They should never toe the line of some industry lobby group's 'policy' in day to day business matters. That is a dangerous trend we need to arrest. We as a society can choose to make a law against individual file-sharers (similar to the highly controversial 'three strikes' policy being tested in France) but its ultimate benefit for our society need a closer scrutiny. Comment on this Blog |
 
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