In recent days, UK singer Lily Allen has spoken out against piracy making arguments as if this debate just started
"The internet is the most amazing thing, but it should be OUR thing, and ironically piracy is just playing into the hands of the corporations....
It's not fair to steal peoples material, I know it's art and it has no physical value but even Shakespeare had shares in The Globe Theatre. People will lose their jobs... Please, please, please...buy a c.d. or album off itunes if you really like it, and god help us, keep buying books . If we do this, i really think we can make a difference."
On Wednesday, Matt Bellamy. the lead singer of Muse wrote Allen a more sophisticated response and suggested a broadband tax.
"My current opinion is that file sharing is now the norm. This cannot be changed without an attack on perceived civil liberties which will never go down well. The problem is that the ISPs making the extreme profits (due to millions of broadband subscriptions) are not being taxed by the copyright owners correctly and this is a legislation issue. (more)
Radio stations and TV stations etc have to pay the copyright owners (both recording and publishing) a fee for using material they do not own. ISPs should have to pay in the same way with a collection agency like PRS doing the monitoring and calculations based on encoded (but freely downloaded) data. Broadband makes the internet essentially the new broadcaster. This is the point which is being missed.
"Also, usage should have a value. Someone who just checks email uses minimal bandwidth, but someone who downloads 1 gig per day uses way more, but at the moment they pay the same. It is clear which user is hitting the creative industries and it is clear which user is not, so for this reason, usage should also be priced accordingly. The end result will be a taxed, monitored ISP based on usage which will ensure both the freedom of the consumer and the rights of the artists - the loser will be the ISP who will probably have to increase subscription costs to compensate, but the user will have the freedom to choose between checking a few emails (which will cost far less than a current monthly subscription) and downloading tons of music and film (which will cost probably a bit more than current subscription, but not that much more)."
