The BBC were reporting yesterday that there's a new government greenpaper, which, if (in the tiny possibility it comes into law) would allow you to be completely banned from the internet if you wer caught illegally downloading.

But at least they want to give you a three strikes and your out chance. Big whoopy do.

At the end of the day people aren't doing it for the lulz, they do it because there is a need to get hold of TV shows and the like and as places like iTunes have proved, people out there are willing to pay it for. Maybe not everyone, maybe not even a majority, but surely enough to make it financially viable.Surely it's not that difficult to offer up TV shows and the like for download for a reasonable price (like maybe £1 an episode).

I'd be willing to pay up to be able to download stuff like Pushing Daisies (which I'm waiting very impatiently for to air on ITV2 this summer). I'd even sit through the adverts.

(I know you can download Lost and stuff off the US iTunes if you're a US resident, (not so useful to UK-er's). And thanks to the unique way the BBC is funded I get to watch some stuff on the BBC iPlayer (which isn't available to people outside the UK). Even some of the US networks websites lets you watch streaming episodes.)

The idea of my ISP having a root through my internet files is a horrifying idea though. (It would be like my lovely postie opening my bank statements and reading through it before sticking it through my letterbox with a post-it note attached saying "maybe you should be spending less money at play.com")

I don't want some random person in a 'Contact Centre' on some anonymous business park going through my emails or my browsing history.

Plus employing enough people to actually make it feasible to have someone going through every bit of data you send could hike up the cost of your internet to £80-£100 a month, if not more than that.

I do hate the way these things are picked up by the government with absolutely no forethought - if they provided free/cheap legal alternatives more people would move over to them than use the illegal sites. That's just common sense - but obviously whatever thinktank put this green paper together doesn't think so.It'll be very interesting to see what comes out of this (if anything).