I await SOCA's reply
I emailed Soca with the following
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Subject: Soca take down message on Rnbxclusives site as reported on the BBC
Hi
Never been to the site neither do I have any desire to do so.
I had an in-depth discussion on music and TV piracy recently and it was brought to my attention what the law states.
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended by the Copyright and Trade Marks (Offences and Enforcement) Act 2002, currently protects copyrighted materials. People who download copyrighted recordings without permission face civil actions. Downloading can also constitute a criminal offence if the downloader distributes the material.
By its wording, if someone was to use bittorrent (again never been to the site in question so don't know if it was a torrent site) then technically they are distributing as they have to upload at the same time as downloading.
But your site message stated:
If you have downloaded music from this website you may have committed a criminal offence which carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment and an unlimited fine under UK law.
That is simply 100% untrue if what I said about the copyright act is true. You haven't committed a criminal offence as the law stands and you cant get a criminal record. I know you used the word "may" but either they did something illegal or they didn't. And if its not illegal to download, then "may have done something illegal" is plain and simply wrong?
Could you please confirm whether what I've said is right or not, and if not please explain why not?
Many thanks