The British government has recently attempted to punish “Soccer Moms” and six-year-old girls, so it’s about time they started going for the real criminals: dastardly file-sharers. Over the summer, the government has explored various possibilities for punishing file-sharers, such as throttling broadband speeds or blocking access to download sites. The music industry has been egging them on in this regard with UK Music, an umbrella body representing the British music industry, saying it was "pleased that government is proposing accelerated and proportionate action to meet their stated ambition of reducing illegal file-sharing.”
Unfortunately for label executives, however, the people who actually make them money have pleaded with the government to not punish file-sharers. Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien, a member of the Featured Artists' Coalition (FAC), said: "It's going to start a war which they'll never win." This was backed up by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors who’s Chief Executive, Patrick Rackow, argued "The industry has to look forwards, not backwards. There is a huge problem here and we've got to find a solution to it. I don't know what this solution is, I don't think anyone does. There are more positive ways of dealing with this without totally upsetting your consumers." Quite.