At some point in time, we’re sure most of us have been guilty of piracy, whether it be download just one song or downloading gigabytes worth of songs and movies. However it seems that the punishment for online pirates could soon be much harsher over in the UK. It seems that the government is currently considering increasing the harshness of the punishment for online pirates.
As it stands, it seems that the maximum penalty in the UK for online pirates as far as jail time is concerned is 2 years. However if the new plan is approved by the government and comes into effect, the prison length could be increased to a maximum duration of a whopping 10 years. Ministers claim that this will put it in line with the punishment for copyright infringement of physical goods.
There have been groups representing the film and music industry in the UK who feels that the punishment for online copyright infringement isn’t serious enough to deter pirates. The punishment is also mainly targeted at the big-time pirates, like those running websites that host pirated content, those who distribute it, or package it, or leak it before a release.
This means that if you on occasion download a song or two, you probably won’t be hit with the 10 year jail time penalty. However if this does come into effect, it might deter users hosting your pirated content from hosting it, which could ultimately help reduce piracy in the long-run, since the lack of supply could affect the demand over time as well.