Its amazing what a simple conversation can trigger, and yesterday was no exception.

In talking with a friend about the Digital Economy Bill, they said the following. “I don’t see what the problem and the fuss is all about...it’s STEALING. They are theives, they should just be cut off”

Well that sentence IS the whole problem and the executive and the judiciary fully appreciate the problem that is before them I have no doubt. Now there may be some difference between the US and the UK in what I am about to say and I am no expert in US Law, but I think some of these problems will be common.

First point is that ‘Copyright Theft’ is not Theft in the correctly applied sense of the word. There are two remedies in law, one where the The State choose to prosecute those that have hurt the society and then the remedy where the offended recovers their losses (Civil & Criminal)

In British Law, you cannot steal Information. If I take a piece of paper from your office, then I am guilty of theft of the piece of paper but not the information that is written upon it. If I steal a Data CD then I am guilty of the theft of the CD but not the content written upon it. If I enter your office without license and take a picture of the piece of paper or copy the CD then I am guilty of an unlawful entry & an intent to commit theft but in relation to the image and the CD Data...those are mine and if you wanted them back, you would have to take the action to recover through the civil court system.

Equally, If I take a movie from the internet via a torrent, then I have not stolen it. I may have permanently deprived the distributor of the fee from the sale but what is contained in the torrent is information in the same way as the example above and therefore cannot be stolen. OK this is over simplified and I am perhaps guilty of fraudulent activity or deception, but you get the problem that the law makers have to overcome and it’s a huge hurdle. Data is not real in the sense of a possession and removing data doesn’t stop the person from having it again...permanently which is the definition of Theft.

The Digital Economy Bill is not the solution however, the removal of peoples services without a review process and at the hands of a single Secretary of State or Government department is an echo of the worst times of Nazi Germany in the late 30s and is the thin end of the ‘Dictatorship’ Wedge.

YES, there is a problem. YES it needs to stop and YES the content owners should not be the ones chasing the elusive ‘criminals’ through the civil system but the lazy way out is the removal of internet service and blighting a whole household because an errant child wouldn’t learn their lesson (and it is mostly the under 25s) or treating all of your society and customers like they are criminals.

Either, take the the time to pass criminal legislation that formally alters the law and includes the judicial process (and it’s the cost of this within the courts that the governments are afraid of) OR let it go and realise that embracing P2P as a marketing tool and letting people have your content and give freely the ‘value’ that they see for it, is the way forward.

Now as to stealing WiFi, thats ABSTRACTION and another blog entirely.

Ewen Rankin