Future Shock: UK teenager jailed for 5 years for downloading one movie

Preface: Before reading the article please understand that it is a work of fiction, and is in support of the Open Rights Group.

I posted it here for information and discussion only.

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Hindsight is a wonderful but rare thing. Act today by supporting the Open Rights Group’s initiative to have the government determine a sensible threshold for criminal liability in the Digital Economy Act.

Following changes to UK copyright law, an 18-year-old girl has been jailed for five years after downloading a single movie. Copyright holders successfully argued that under the Digital Economy Act, her actions exposed them to a massive "risk of loss" when she downloaded and shared the movie.

It’s January 2018 and after enjoying a meal with her family, recent school-leaver Rachel Owen walks to the mat to pick up an envelope addressed to her father. It’s from the family’s Internet provider and she opens it expecting to see the latest special offers.

Instead, she’s confronted with a nasty surprise. Her ISP says that it has handed over her father’s personal details to a foreign copyright holder after it monitored the family’s IP address sharing a movie online.

Having read that copyright holders usually settle these complaints for a few hundred pounds, Rachel comes clean with her angry father. Five months later in May 2018, the inevitable letter arrives.

Read the full story here.