Old_Honky - 3:58 pm on Jan 18, 2012 (gmt 0)

File Sharing is a more efficient way of distributing music than using itunes and its ilk. There is a simple way to monetise it so that the copyright holders and the greedy record companies don't loose out. Each country should set up a licensing system so that individuals wanting to download music must first purchase a licence. I would be happy to pay a fiver a month for something as good as the fantastic Audio Galaxy used to be.
The licence fees could be divided between copyright holders in proportion to the number of downloads (this could be estimated) and paid as a royalty.

Then those of us who enjoy searching out obscure pieces of music and jam sessions etc. and are not that worried about super high quality, could do it legally and the masses who are content to download what itunes offers in a fidelity so high that only dogs and cats can really appreciate it, can do so.

I heard a discussion about SOPA on the radio yesterday as I travelled, I am concerned that it is open to abuse and it is run by Americans who can almost at a whim (no legal investigation and no court order)close down a UK site without warning and then the site owner has to go to the USA to appeal the decision. That's bad enough, but imagine in a few years time when "scope creep" means that someone with a particular religious viewpoint or sexual repression could close down a site they consider immoral or offensive without understanding what it is about... I have a site called "Filthy Beast" It is a harmless little site about a band I was a member of in the 60s but when you investigate the stats you find that some of the visitors have been searching for something quite different. Mistakes are easy to make and a draconian response is not easy to unravel afterwards.

My vote is to keep the internet free and uncensored. If you don't like something just move on.