Jail For File-Sharers Does Nothing to Increase Music Sales
There can be little doubt that given the chance the entertainment industries would like to see super-tough copyright legislation introduced worldwide. The idea is that with harsh legislation comes fear of serious repercussions, prompting a decision by the music consumer to purchase rather than pirate.
On October 1 2012, Japan introduced brand new legislation targeting users that not only upload (distribute) music without permission, but also those who merely download. There were no half measures on punishments either, with infringers facing up to two years in jail.
With those using P2P software to obtain music naturally being the most vulnerable to monitoring, the effects on those networks were both immediate and dramatic. According to data gathered by the General Association of Copyright for Computer Software, populations of three key file-sharing networks plummeted as the law was introduced and have since failed to recover.
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