People should not be criminalised for the file-sharing of copyrighted material if they are not profiting from doing so, the European Parliament has recommended.
At the end of last week the parliament voted through two reports on the cultural industries. Both contained amendments that were directly related to the ongoing argument between the content industry and internet service provider. In this conflict, the ISPs are claiming they should not have to disconnect those users who are persistent file-sharers, but the content industry is calling for a « three strikes and you’re out » rule in order to protect intellectual property.
The argument encompasses not only the prospect of users being « banned » from internet use but also the deep packet inspection techniques that would have to be employed in order to catch them.
http://management.silicon.com/government/0,39024677,39187851,00.htm