Musicians, Rock Stars Against Internet Ban For Downloaders

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Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney are just some of the big names that have come out against the music industry's plans to ban file sharers from the Internet.

In a statement published in The Guardian, the Featured Artists Coalition, the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and the Music Producers Guild, representing artists like McCartney, have called the so called "3 strikes" banning system "extraordinarily negative".

"We vehemently oppose the proposals being made and suggest that the stick is now in danger of being way out of proportion to the carrot," the statement read.

"The failure of 30,000 US lawsuits against consumers and the cessation of the pursuit of that policy should be demonstration enough that this is not a policy that any future-minded UK government should pursue."

The groups called for increasing profits through other means such as integration with video games, like the Guitar Hero series.

The British government claims that over 7 million people download files illegally in the country, but further BBC investigation showed that this number was calculated based on only 136 responses from a survey. It is not the first time (nor the last), that the music industry (and through collaborative governments) have manipulated figures to show piracy as a much more serious problem than it is.

More:

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/...0907-fdtd.html