Nigerian singers plan to hook illegal downloaders

Following news that 84 per cent of all digital content downloaded in Spain is illegal, Nigerian singer Stella Monye has come up with a somewhat alarming proposal to deter internet users from illegally downloading the latest episode of Game of Thrones or their favourite Miley Cyrus track from pirate torrent sites.

In the past, content providers have ordered Internet Service Providers (ISP) to block pirate sites. British Telecom (BT) blocked Pirate Bay and Kickass Torrents in the UK last year. However, the process is expensive and lengthy often taking years to implement. By which time the pesky internet users have already discovered proxy servers which can keep them furnished with all the latest from the House of Baratheon.

African samba crooner Stella Monye has suggested a graduated response. Each time someone is caught illegally downloading content, she suggests authorities amputate one of the downloader’s fingers. If the miscreants have not learned their lesson, then one finger should be removed for each subsequent download.

“Cutting their fingers off will stop them, by the time you cut off two people’s fingers others will stop,” the popular singer Stella Monye told the News agency of Nigeria.

Amputations, the singer says, are doubly effective. Not only do they act as a deterrent, but already-punished pirates will not be able to re-offend either.

“If their fingers are cut, they won’t be able to use the hands in pirating the works,” Monye said. “They will learn and it will be faster in stopping them, without a drastic measure they won’t stop.”

In the past web blocking has been described as a potential abuse of human rights, but Monye’s anti-piracy solution pushes new boundaries.