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Business News Legal
Unions speak out in favour of tighter anti-filesharing measures
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 14 September 2009
Everyone seems to want to go public on the government’s latest moves to combat illegal file-sharing. Perhaps CMU should issue a statement. Typical. It’s practically the first time in the whole history of P2P, the record industry’s response to it, that I can see both sides of the argument. Damn it.
Anyway, the BPI, UK Music and Entertainment Retailer’s Association have spoken out in support of government moves to force internet service providers to take action against persistent online copyright infringers who do not heed warnings. The Featured Artists Coalition, Music Managers Forum, Music Producers Guild and British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers And Authors meanwhile have aired caution.
Well, this time it’s the trade unions, and they support more draconian measures against those pesky file-sharers, genuinely believing, I think that a failure to act will genuinely damage the entertainment industry and threaten their members’ jobs. I think we already knew that both the Musicians’ Union and acting union Equity supported more proactive anti-P2P measures, but last week they formally said so, with the backing of the Trade Union Congress.
Equity General Secretary Christine Payne said this: “The fact that so many jobs are under threat is seriously alarming. There has never been a more critical time to take bold action against those who are threatening the livelihoods of everyone working in the entertainment sector”.
