Downloading in North America has become an epidemic. In the United States, there is a legislation called the DMCA — The Digital Millennium Copyright Act — which permits ISPs to track users based on their illegal downloading activities. According to this act, users downloading movies, music, software, or any other type of copyright media without permission may be flagged by their ISP, sued, and prosecuted. Currently, the Canadian Government is pushing to pass a similar legislation entitled C-32. If the legislation passes, Canadians, much like their US Counterparts, may be flagged by ISPs and prosecuted under law for copyright violations in the not-too-distant future. But who should be held responsible? Many argue that the individual(s) uploading or downloading the content are the ones who deserve to be punished. So what does this mean for sites which blatantly play host to the hordes of Internet pirates lurking — sites like PirateBay, SoulSeek, Torrentreactor, and even YouTube? Only time will tell.
