Internet service providers (ISPs) have started tracking illegal downloads, and most will punish users who they find illegally downloading media and programs.
Some ISPs are simply throttling violators (making their internet go slow). Some will terminate your internet connection. Some will even turn violators over to the authorities.
I would hope to see a lowering in price of online media due to this change, but that is doubtful. Even though a major reasoning for overpriced software and media was to compensate for piracy, companies that are cracking down hard on piracy will–without a doubt–still push the limits of what people are willing to pay.
I can forsee this develping into new avenues of piracy, like heavily encrypted file sharing or even marketplaces, stands in flea markets, or any unregulated shopping areas.
What does this mean? It means even higher costs for the average users who have never pirated and never will. Cost of software is based on:
[value of product] + [difficulty in finding an alternative to paying for it]
Now that the difficulty of finding an alternative has gone up, so will the prices. Companies are likely to market the prices as significant improvements, or blame the prices on whatever new avenues of piracy develop.
A recommendation: if in conjunction with these pirate crackdowns, developers and media suits actually lower their online prices, they would stand a chance of doing serious damage to piracy. If it’s easier to buy the legitimate media than it is to go find pirated versions, most people will go ahead and buy the real thing, minimizing the pirated media industry.