Government internet regulation a good idea for the film industry?

This year’s G8 in France invited the top web entrepreneurs to discuss the internet and government regulation amongst the world’s richest countries.

Digital piracy has had a huge negative impact on the film industry because it has taken away profits from physical sales like DVD, Blu Ray and also rentals. With millions of illegal downloads daily worldwide, the entertainment business is suffering from huge losses. Investment in movies is much more selective, with fewer medium budget movies getting made.

Studios like Paramount are looking for alternative ways to beat digital piracy but ultimately government regulation is needed to stop widespread illegal file sharing. How would this happen? Will ISP’s start cutting people off from the internet, or should corporations sue individuals?

The problem is so widespread that the negative impact on the film industry is forcing retailers as well as filmmakers out of business. India and China are two markets with rampant illegal file sharing, that DVD sales are dwarfed by pirate copies.

Can governments truly stop digital piracy without touching on people’s freedoms? The internet, is after all, still very new, and regulation, on a global level, has never been done before.