PEOPLE who illegally download music would have their telephone and internet services cut off under a radical new plan proposed by the music industry.
Fed up with falling sales, the industry - which claims Australians download more than one billion songs illegally each year - has been discussing tough new guidelines with internet service providers (ISPs) since late last year.
Record labels, music publishers and other copyright holders are involved.
The value of CDs sold in Australia between January and March this year fell by more than 20 per cent - from $100 million to $80 million - compared with the first three months of 2006.
This is despite big-selling albums from Australian Idol winner Damien Leith, Justin Timberlake, The Killers and Snow Patrol.
The remarkable plunge mirrors the US experience.
Last week, however, recording industry body ARIA put out a press release attempting to put a positive spin on the state of the industry.
Overall, CD sales revenue in 2006 fell by more than five per cent, yet ARIA focused on the growth in legitimate digital downloads, and the strong showing last year by home-grown acts.
The industry is now targeting those who repeatedly download music without paying.
Sabiene Heindl, general manager of the music industry's piracy unit MIPI, said record labels could trace people who illegally downloaded music via so-called peer-to-peer websites such as LimeWire.
They could also identify which songs were being illegally swapped.
"We can tell the ISPs the time and date people were engaging in this conduct, and what song was being downloaded," she said.
"We had a meeting a few weeks ago with the Internet Industry Association (about the new guidelines) but we're yet to hear back.
"We've put forward our proposal and we're hopeful they will come back with something positive."
The music industry is lobbying for a "three strikes and you're out" policy to enforce their copyright.
"Under this system, people who illegally download songs would be given three written warnings by their Internet service provider.
If they continued to illegally download songs, their internet account would be suspended or terminated.
Those with dial-up internet could face having their phone disconnected.
Ms Heindl said research showed 18 per cent of Australians engaged regularly in file-sharing, downloading an average 30 songs a month illegally.
From: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21 ... 21,00.html
basically it workes in a catch 22, i aint gonni waste
lol
by the slowest boradband then pay some dodgy geezer to double its speed 
lmao
