As someone who loves a good fight, I’ve really been enjoying the debate over Peter Mandelson’s proposed overhaul of the penalties for illegal online file sharing.

The proposals – hot on the heels of Mandy’s meeting in Corfu with media mogul David Geffen – include fines of up to £50,000 for persistent offenders, and the possibility of cutting off or restricting their Internet service.

Now, there are countless legitimate objections to Mandelson’s proposals: it’s near-impossible to track down and punish file-sharers who hijack other people’s wifi connections; there is almost no way to prevent false-positives; the law-makers and the creative industries need to think of new business models before they start calling for changes in law… etc etc etc. My friend Tom Watson, a former cabinet office minister, writes an intelligent and though-provoking piece on all that and more here.

And yet, despite having so many legitimate counterpoints to choose from, as I sift through the arguments from those opposing the proposal, I keep seeing the same weird – and just plain wrong – sound-bites.

Read on at the Telegraph…