This is a hot topic for discussion nowadays, and I have tried to capture my thoughts on my blog.

How to protect yourself from the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill Shoel's i-log book

Have a read through and let me know what you think or if you have questions.

Personally, I think its only going to impact mom-n-pop downloaders. The whiz-kidz will have moved onto the next thing already

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And in English??

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hey!
thats the plain english version!!! the legal jargon is so weird in the original (on the govt site)

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Yeah it wasn't too bad - My head's just in another space (well 6-7 other sites) right now & trying to figure out what to feed the man for dinner...& I was being lazy...

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You're right that this isn't really going to catch anyone pirating large amounts of anything. After all they were smart enough to figure out how to get what they wanted for free long before the businesses and government did.

To get rid of piracy, I have a few suggestions:

• Stop charging ridiculous amounts for sub-par content (real life and online)
• Make your content readily accessible online at a reasonable price
• Get rid of DRM. DRM fails and anyone with spare time and the urge to Google can remove it anyway. You're fighting a losing war here

As for prosecution I'm keen on:

If you get caught, you have to pay. Not some amazingly retarded million dollar figure like the US courts have been handing out. I'm talking what it would've cost you to buy it legally online, plus administration and legal fees.

Groups like RIAA and the MPAA should also be made to face criminal charges if after they sue someone for piracy and win, but can't prove the money was passed on to the person(s) they represented. If Joe Average can be jailed for downloading songs off the internet, I feel it's only fair that the same deal applies to fraud.

Overall I know this is part of a big scaremongering campaign. Governments act like bum boys for big corporations who whinge, moan and push for exhorbitant fines and unreasonable jail sentances. Far easier than spending money and brain power in innovations.

Of course governments are also using this time to throw a choke chain on our freedoms. Increased restrictions, tighter controls, heavier surveillance. To think, I used to laugh at conspiracy theorists when I was a kid.

Mind you my observations won't mean anything if we don't do something about it. If we just sit and bleat and moan and try find ways to get around roadblocks instead of meeting them head on well, we deserve what we get. Maybe these events will give citizens around the world the impetus to stand up and get their governments to kowtow to them instead of the other way around.

what they are likely to do (to reduce piracy) is hike internet data charges
theoretically, if a movie cost more in dollar terms to download than to buy, users would switch to buying the same.
so say hello to smaller data caps (500MB anyone?) and higher per datapack prices

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A little tidbit on how idiotic the idea of three strikes really is:

Piracy Rises In France Despite Three Strikes Law | TorrentFreak