Pirates beware, the UK is considering making their punishment for piracy significantly worse. The sort of piracy being discussed is not the kind that involves ships. Piracy is a term used to describe the act of stealing digital goods from the internet. Many countries have anti-piracy laws in effect, but the proposed UK law will be a considerable increase in the severity of punishments handed to convicted pirates.

As Engadget noted, the UK’s current law allows for a maximum of two years imprisonment for piracy. The current punishment is already considered to be fairly harsh by many.

As the BBC reported, Intellectual Property Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe said that piracy hurts consumers and businesses.

“The government takes copyright crime extremely seriously – it hurts businesses, consumers and the wider economy both on and offline,”

The proposed change would come in the form of an amendment to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

“With advances in technology and the popularity of the internet, more and more criminals are turning to online criminality and so it is imperative that our prosecution system reflects our moves to a more digital world.”

The companies affected by piracy are obviously happy at the prospect of increased sentences. Even with an increased sentence, piracy will likely not disappear. Piracy remains a crime that is difficult to convict people of.

TorrentFreak noted that Eddy Leviten, Director General of the Alliance for Intellectual Property, said that the change would be a welcome one.

“This consultation is very welcome as we feel there is a clear anomaly in the way that online copyright infringement by criminal enterprises is treated by the justice system,”

Piracy, over the last several years, has become a popular way to watch movies, listen to music, and get access to computer programs. Since it became popular, entertainment companies have been negatively impacted financially by piracy. Profits have been cut significantly due to those who refuse to pay and instead steal. Copyright holders have been pleading with governments to strictly enforce anti-piracy laws.

Though the United States already has comparable anti-piracy laws in place, few are prosecuted for piracy. Those that are prosecuted are usually more involved in piracy than just downloading a pirated file. However, when an illegal downloader is caught, the fines are excessive.

The UK consultation is yet another victory for the film and music industries. As pirating becomes more sophisticated, it will become harder to catch online pirates.

[Photo by Descrier / Flickr]