Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason united with over 100 British musicians in an attempt to fight online piracy, particularly the menace of music downloads. Great names in the music industry like George Michael, Annie Lennox, Lily Allen, and Ed O’ Brien (Radiohead guitarist) were part of the discussion that lasted over 2 hours. Singer Lily Allen, who had been disparaged earlier for her views on piracy, was also present in the meeting. She however was not available for an interview.
An earlier debate on whether illegal file-sharers should be penalized had resulted in public dispute and scathing criticism by the media. Initially many people had decided that the best solution to check online piracy was to suspend the internet account of the user involved in such illegal activity. Because the internet has become a basic need for most of us, and with the advent of mobile broadband and free laptops, it can be accessed whenever and wherever a person wants; many now consider broadband access as a ‘utility’, this makes the thought of people not being allowed access extraordinary.
However, now many believe that a better idea is to track down the offender and stifle their bandwidth. Actual implementation of this method was also discussed in the meeting, wherein the artistes proposed sending two warning letters to the offender before taking action. However, if the defaulter persists even after these two warnings, then the only solution left would be to choke his bandwidth.
Bandwidth restrictions will only affect only file sharing, and it will not have any detrimental impact on the regular functions of the internet such as surfing, mailing etc. An earlier view echoed by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson of temporarily suspending connections of illegal users as the last remaining option also found general acceptability in the meeting.
