Your top ten comments on file-sharing

Think of the children
I think Talk Talk is quite right in its approach to keeping users connected until there is concrete evidence. In fact, I would go further and say it shouldn't happen until a conviction has been given.

There are several circumstances where the innocent will be made to suffer along with the guilty. Can you imagine what would happen if an ISP closed a connection because of an allegation and that connection happened to belong to a university campus, one of the emergency services or a business?

I have a 20MB connection to my ISP and three PCs around the house that my family use. I trust that my family are not abusing the system. If one of my children was sharing files and the connection was cut, then the rest of my family would also suffer even though they are completely innocent.

Your news story said: "The ISP is required to send alleged illegal fire-sharers an initial warning letter. This is the first time the customer will be aware that they have been accused of illegal file sharing." This letter will be sent to me as the account holder. Am I able to sue for such a libellous accusation?

I have just been through all the paperwork regarding my contract with my ISP, and I cannot find anything regarding this. I can only conclude, therefore, that such an action would be a breach of contract.

Would someone with a legal background like to comment on these last two points?

Kevin Beasley

Artists deserve to be paid
Yes, I do believe that illegal file sharers should be disconnected from the internet (for a set period, not forever) after receiving two warnings. I am only talking about those who share for personal use, not people who make money out of it – the latter should be dealt with under criminal law.

The price of music, videos, games etc (both downloads and hard copies) is falling all the time - I recently saw a copy of Saw II for £1.66. At these prices there is no excuse for stealing, which is exactly what it is. The artists, designers and actors deserve to be paid for the work, the same as the rest of us.

As it is, with music downloads particularly, the artist receives little money from them and illegal file-sharers will even take that away from them. Stealing is stealing, whether it be digital or physical. How many of these people would go into a high street shop and put a CD or a DVD in their pocket and walk out with it? I rest my case.

Nikki Hayes

Justice should be done
The accepted presumption is 'innocent until proven guilty' under British law.

Illegal file-sharing should be tackled through our justice system. The only way it can and should be proven is in a court of law. As I understand, ISPs already monitor high internet usage, which is normally file-sharing, and they restrict or sometimes close user accounts for this.

The media industry should look closer at the pricing structure for its products and instead of setting inflated prices they should sell products for the lowest cost possible. Why should consumers pay an inflated price when a product is first released if they are then able to pick it up for a bargain price later on?

Tony Brewerton

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