Government says ISPs don't have to cut off pirates

Back in July, there was much excitement when it was suggested that ISPs might start sending letters (ooh), throttling bandwidth (oooooh) and ultimately ceasing to provide illegal downloaders with an internet service (ooooooooooohhhhhhhhh). But today, the Intellectual Property Minister has quite rightly pointed out that it would be practically impossible to monitor or enforce.

And how did he break this news? Through the medium of a soap-based metaphor of course! Specifically, he said “People can rent a room in an hotel and leave with a bar of soap – there’s a big difference between leaving with a bar of soap and leaving with the television.” This has prompted outrage from the BPI, who have come back with “It is an insult to talented musicians and creators around the country to compare their work to a complementary hotel soap.” How long will this soap slanging match continue? I’m hoping for a good couple of weeks, personally.

There’s still hope that the Government, the ISPs and the BPI will come to an amicable solution, although without having any repercussions for the consumer, it’s hard to see how the BPI is going to come out with anything at all (except a good knowledge of soap). Still, the important thing is that it’s good news for the consumers, and in times like these, we could use a bit of good news.

[via The Metro]