I struggle to see the difference between using a VCR to record a film or program off the TV or using P2P. After all you lend your videos to your friends. Isn't this exactly the same?
I think the music and movie industries have an excessive obsession with their outrageous incomes (I mean is an actor really worth $20 million dollars for 90 minutes of film?). Perhaps if they stopped making rubbish people would go to the cinema and buy legal copies. I'm not condoning piracy but I think in many ways they only have themselves to blame after ripping off their customers for so many years.

Mark, Pecs, Hungary

As far as I am concerned the Downloading of TV programs from torrent sites can not be considered a criminal act. If I record the program on my Sky plus box or Tivo box or if I record it to a DVDR or VCR how is this different than Downloading it as say an AVI file to my PC to watch at my conveinence. Where does the law begin and end on such matters. Also if I buy MP3's from an Official site can I send those MP3's to a friend via Skype or is that also illeagal.

Do I not own the product that I have purchased and is it not my right to either back it up to my PC or make what I have purchased available to others as it is now my property.

The actual Downloading of films is another matter. What if the file I am downloading is an R5 file from a pre released disc supplied by the studio for the specific purpose of pre awareness, am I not accessing a file for the purpose it was intended.

Does the law intend to imprison or fine the alleged 9,000,000 user at any one time en masse......

Jim, London, England

A hell of a lot of albums contain "filler" tracks. I don't think the music industry in particular can complain really. If we go back a few years artists were signed with a potential long term plan by the majors. They were nurtured and encouraged to be creative before anything else. The cynical people that now control the majority of labels just seem to want the artists in and out asap and to make as much cash(their only reason for doing what they do it appears these days) as possible. If a single or two go well then throw up an LP to cash in a bit more. Fill with drivel and don't worry about the people who live for obtaining their next one, why? Because each song was carefully selected and it's order on the album aswell. This was because the artist had something to say and could say it and cared about the listeners experience, an LP was a whole package, rare now! If artists were allowed to do this again maybe people wouldn't mind paying cos they wouldn't feel they were being ripped off

Banksy, Nottingham,

Most albums have one or two good songs, thats it. And they aren't cheap either. You cant get your money back at the theater because the movie was bad can you? Hollywood and the music industry have been ripping people off for decades. How can you say someone is illegally downloading, when all I get is a lower grade copy of the original? Who owns the copy? The record company? The film studios? No, they own the original. No one owns the copies, and therefore it shouldn't be illegal.

Jason, Calgary, Canada

So I missed an episode of a TV programme the other night (which would have been free to watch or record), I download it instead and I'm now a criminal? Is there any danger that somebody in authority might just get a grip?

Mert, York, UK