Wyre Forest Lib Dem speaks at national conference (From Halesowen News)

I find the Liberal democrats stance on this issue to be astounding (if wholly expected). A major political party condoning was is major theft. The music industry body IFPI has reported that over 40 billion songs were illegally down loaded in 2008. The music industry is thus only making just 5% of the money it could potentially acrue. This is about £2.4 billion out of a pot totalling £48 billion. ... and its not the 'wicked corporate barons' that miss out, but the hard working songwriters with missing royalties and the young up-and-coming bands who can't get a record deal who really suffer.

I’m afraid you miss the point, Harryurz.

I have totally selfish reasons for wanting to protect artists’ copyright. I earn most of my income from copyright material and have, as I’ve said, had it pirated. Notably, a book I wrote some years ago was pirated and translated into Italian and is even now on the net at my expense.

Past soundtrack albums and songs I’ve produced or written have also been shared freely, again to my cost. I just don’t believe that allowing the say-so of an industry to cut people off from the internet is the way to protect my rights.

The internet was not designed for commercial use, it has been adapted that way but giving policing rights to corporations, who have little care for either the customer or its suppliers, is no way to operate.

Everyone I know who works at the creative end of the media is appalled at this threat, from writers to musicians, film makers and record producers.

The estimated losses you talk of are only half the story. The entertainment industry has never found it easy to pay out royalties. I have yet to receive a single penny of royalties from the publishers of my book, who say there are none, despite it going into second print and being the best-selling music book in Mojo magazine. As this publisher is owned by one of the most powerful companies in the world with a reputation for strong arm litigation, I cannot sue for my tiny 4% share.

I am also in dispute with an American production company, who took five years to pay my royalties and even then deducted spurious percentages under titles such as “service charges”.

The record industry still accepts one percent sampling audits for radio play income because it averages out to the right amount of income for them, while denying any accurate audit rights to their artists.

I would question that even a tiny percentage of the music downloaded illegally would have translated into income or that much if any of the actual money accrued would have filtered down to the songwriters and up and coming bands.

However, although the bill going through Parliament appears to be about illegal record and film downloads, behind it lies a desire for control of the web by major news companies, who don't like their stories being shared and debated on-line. This bill is actually an attack on freedom of speech, rather than a protection of artists' rights.

Yes, the copyright of artists should be protected and I don’t deny the rights of record and film companies from making a healthy profit but this is not the way to do it. Too many people will get punished unfairly and it will turn the internet into a corporate tool rather than the free and creative space it was designed to be.

Neville Farmer
Parliamentary Candidate
Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

I agree, the internet is a great free and creative space; and as both a published author and part-time worker in the music field I can see your point of view. But like all freedoms we enjoy, if people go and deliberately abuse it, they should be fully aware that those freedoms may be taken away if they get caught.The internet should be subject to the same rules of law and order. If I shoplift a book from WH Smiths, I do it in the knowledge that I could get arrested...access to the internet should be no different.

No-one is saying that illegal downloading should not be punished - just that this proposal is over the top and ridiculous, and my shoplifting punished by house arrest analogy illustrates that.