File-Sharing Grandmother Gets 3 Years’ Probation

Scottish grandmother Anne Muir, a 58-year old nurse from Scotland, has been sentenced to three years’ probation by the Ayr Sheriff Court, after being convicted of of illegally sharing copyrighted material.

The sentence follows an investigation by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which also included Strathclyde police. Muir pleaded guilty to distributing 30,000 music files, worth an estimated £54,000, by making them available to others via a peer-to-peer file sharing application.

Muir was convicted despite the efforts of her defence team, which claimed that she had not used the network for any financial gain, but to build up her self-esteem after suffering from depression for a number of years. She will now receive psychiatric counselling.

Flouting copyright laws

Strathclyde police raided Muir’s Ayrshire home on 27 June 2008 and seized her computer, which was found to contain 7,493 digital music files and 24,243 karaoke files. Following the conviction, district procurator fiscal for Ayr, Mirian Watson, said that Muir was a prolific user of a particular file-sharing network based in the UK.

“Illegally flouting copyright laws is tantamount to theft and not only deprives legitimate companies and artists of earnings, but also undermines the music industry as a whole,” said Watson.

However, the conviction provoked a sharp retort from the Pirate Party UK, which pointed out that the data collection methods used by the record companies had repeatedly been shown to be unreliable in the USA.

“This case smacks of allowing the courts to be used as private company enforcers, and that fact should have been challenged by Mrs. Muir’s lawyer,” said Loz Kaye, leader of the Pirate Party. “This is yet another example of the way that less well-off people are disadvantaged in the courts by being denied access to competent legal representation.”

ISPs appeal against Digital Economy Act

The news comes amid ongoing opposition to the UK’s controversial Digital Economy Act (DEA), which was rushed through parliament in the closing days of the previous government. The Act passed its judicial review in April, compelling ISPs to send warning letters to Internet users who are suspected of illegal file-sharing. Persistent offenders could also see their Internet connection suspended.

However, BT and TalkTalk claim that the DEA is disproportionate, and that it infringes users’ basic rights. The two companies have chosen to seek an appeal on four of the five grounds addressed in the initial High Court case. These relate to the EU’s Technical Standards Directive, the Authorisation Directive, the E-Commerce Directive and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive.

“BT and TalkTalk believe that the DEA measures aiming to prevent online copyright infringement are inconsistent with European law,” said the two ISPs in a statement. “Quite apart from the potential impact on their businesses, BT and TalkTalk believe the DEA could harm the basic rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens.”