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Illegal downloading could soon get you 10 years in prison

Thomas Wellburn
July 20, 2015

The UK government could soon be taking a massive crackdown on illegal internet piracy, with a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in extreme cases.

There isn’t much of a deterrent for illegal downloading. The current penalty will only set you back two years in jail and that’s only if you’re a heavy distributor. While that side isn’t going to change, distributors of illegal content could soon find themselves going down for a much longer time than current sentences. Five times longer in fact.

New laws being discussed by the government could land pirates in jail for up to 10 years, with the suggestion that tougher sentences will act as a better deterrent for those who freely throw pirated content all over the inter-webs, so that average joe’s like ourselves can lap it up like candy. Police will be specifically targeting the worst offenders, so don’t expect to be caught out if you just get a few albums here and there.

To put that into perspective, it’s the same sentence you would receive for owning a gun or committing indecent assault. Ouch.

 

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