This might not be all bad.
The law's moving on from a situation where the music industry can bring a civil prosecution against the people they want, to this being a criminal issue.

This has a few benefits. Firstly, the degree of proof required for criminal proceedings is greater. Secondly, Government is less likely to start fining random people (cf Grandmother served with piracy), and finally, the fact that this is a criminal issue may mean that anyone can force an investigation.

This may sound like a bad thing, but it means that (for example), with proof, I personally can invoke this piracy law and pressure the authorities to investigate anyone who may have broken the law. This includes companies like the RIAA who (what with their access to huge libraries of music) probably have large numbers of staff with pirated music collections.

One of the reasons intellectual property laws are bad is because they can be selectively targeted at those that do not control the media. If you remove the ability to control that targeting, then you're a step closer to making everyone realise how stupid and destructive the laws are.

Wow. My local rag on boing-boing.