In June 2009 with the passing of the HADOPI law, France became the first country to use legislation to tackle the issue of piracy in music downloads. The UK Digital Economy Bill, which passed somewhat controversially through Parliament earlier this year and includes provisions for banning illegal file-sharers and blocking websites that infringe copyright laws, is similarly designed to tackle internet piracy through the use of legislation. But how successful is legislation of this nature in reducing music piracy, and more importantly, to what extent does it encourage legal consumption? There seems little evidence so far that they are doing either.

The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) has revealed its analysis of global music consumption in 2010, highlighting an overall drop in physical CD sales of -14.2%, with an increase of only 5.3% in (legal) digital sales during the same period leaving a significant shortfall in revenue for the industry.

Consumer awareness and understanding of the concept of “net neutrality” is low. However, once the implications are made fully apparent, public reaction is very strong. It is therefore crucial that businesses and governments engage the public in a more open discussion.

Generally accepted to be one of the World Wide Web’s fundamental guiding principles, it appears that “Net Neutrality” may be under increasing threat from political, corporate and market forces. While debate continues as to its exact definition, “Net Neutrality” can be simply expressed as the view that “all internet traffic should be treated equally”; a principle that has resulted in freely available news and information, open digital platforms, globalised virtual communities, digital content sharing and the e-commerce revolution, amongst other things over the last two decades.