Streamyx is not equals to free illegal downloads buffet

So there was a report a couple of days, was this post on Lowyat.Net that basically warned off people using Bit Torrent to share and download illegal copies of movies, music or software, otherwise the government would be waiting just round the corner to slap them with an RM 250,000 to RM 500,000 fine. Let this be a warning, people.

Anyway, what really surprised me was the response by the readers. They (as in the general sense you get from reading the comments; not that every comment was like that) made it sound as if this would render the internet completely pointless - someone even said Streamyx would lose 50% of subscribers!

No guys, it doesn't. Are we trying to say that the whole point of Streamyx, broadband connections and unlimited packages (which get throttled anyhow) is for us to have access to pirated stuff in the comfort of our home? Come on, what's illegal offline is illegal online as well. That includes piracy.

Think the government can't track you? Don't be misled - I'm pretty sure the TMnet has logs of all the stuff you've downloaded, your emails, your photos, etc. etc. The only reason the government has not acted on all this evidence is because of the promised 'privacy' we get. But, don't think that they can't selectively start pressing charges with this evidence - and label it as a campaign to stamp out piracy. They could do this in an automated fashion - using algorithms to match bits passing through their servers to identify peer-to-peer traffic (that's what bit torrent is) and then pull this out and inspect the data transmitted.

You can get caught. You only don't because the Government has so far promised privacy to Malaysian internet users. Technically, we're perfectly capable of becoming like China where the Government overtly monitors your internet activity - it's not a matter of inability, its a matter of respectign the individuals privacy.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say the Government should invade our privacy and check us up all the time. I like my privacy. What I'm trying to say is that we need to do quid pro quo a bit here - don't do the piracy so the Government doesn't have to crack down on our privacy. Capiche?