iPod users could be searched for pirated music!
There have been plans to have iPod searches conducted on an international level in the hunt for those with pirated songs.
News.com.au has outlined the claims from a leaked federal government discussion paper.
If this plan was to go ahead those caught with pirated music could face fines and even jail time.
Not only is this disturbing, but it is a huge invasion of privacy by all governments who would sign up to such a proposal. People don’t just store music on their iPods, but they have their photo collections amongst other things on there as well. In fact the plan even went as far as to include laptops in the searches! Forgot keeping your secret documents hidden. You may be forced to give away corporate secrets to the prying eyes of customs officials in the search for music pirates.
Why the governments need to take such measure is beyond imagination.
Music has and always will be copied from one computer to another. Friends share music all the time, and always have done. I remember my getting mix tapes from various friends and family. The industry is no different now than 15 years ago. The only difference is that the pirated music is accessible on a global level.
Anyway, the government does not need to look so far to find pirated music. A University of Hertfordshire study revealed that most people have over 800 copied songs on their iPods. Telegraph.co.uk published an article on the study last month (here). That could mean an awful lot of people facing jail time!
The only question I have is how will they tell which music is pirated?
You can read the full story here on the News.com.au website.
Photo Credit, Patrick Haney
August 1st, 2008 at 11:06 am
i’d have to agree… the fact that it’s an invasion of privacy is a complete breach of rights… no suprises there though…
that said, is there any kind of jurisdictional issues there? if you steal a car in the US, can you get prosecuted here (anywhere but US)??? isn’t that the same as ’stealing’ a song that was recorded in the UK, and getting caught here (anywhere but UK)???
If you want to get reaaally technical, you could ask yourself what would happen if a song was downloaded from the US, by someone in the UK, who got caught in AUS on holiday??? at the end of the day, the ‘crime’ details origniated in two separate jurisdictions and are being processed in a completely different country altogether…
basically my point is, i dont think they can really police it unless there is a global standard as viewing it as a crime, and a corresponding view of judgement. even then, it’s still simply a breach of privacy.