It's been nice knowing you, folks

UK parliament rushes through ridiculous bill.

The Digital Economy Bill is a controversial piece of legislation. It's supposed to "strike the right balance between giving creative artists more protection and giving consumers a fair deal". A lot of it is all right, but it's a massive bill with some downright dubious clauses. Like this one:

Quote :

Under the terms of the bill, internet service providers will be obliged to send letters to any of their subscribers linked to alleged infringements.

Copyright holders will be able to apply for a court order to gain access to the names and addresses of serious infringers and take action against them while ISPs would be able to suspend accounts of offenders.

Crucially, without trial. Without a clearly-documented process for ensuring that innocent people are not punished. That's right, the UK just got rid of the right to a fair trial.

And then there's this bit, added in yesterday during the rushed debate:

Quote :

Earlier the government removed its proposed clause 18, which could have given it sweeping powers to block sites, but replaced it with an amendment to clause 8 of the bill. The new clause allows the secretary of state for business to order the blocking of "a location on the internet which the court is satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright".

The Labour MP John Hemming protested that this could mean the blocking of the whistleblower site Wikileaks, which carries only copyrighted work. Stephen Timms for the government said that it would not want to see the clause used to restrict freedom of speech – but gave no assurance that sites like Wikileaks would not be blocked.

So, even if I don't lose my internet without trial, WGW could be blocked. Again, they're very vague about what constitutes copyright infringement. Fanfiction could count.

I leave you with this. It's been nice knowing you.

ETA: Leftponders! You should worry, too. There's now a precedent for similar measures.

Once again, Zozo beats me to the punch!

It still needs to go through the Lords, I hope there's someone in there who uses Twitter... But I doubt it.

I wonder if this would have gone through had the entirety of parlement not been busy fitting tires on their battle busses.

WD40 wrote:

Once again, Zozo beats me to the punch!

It still needs to go through the Lords, I hope there's someone in there who uses Twitter... But I doubt it.

I wonder if this would have gone through had the entirety of parlement not been busy fitting tires on their battle busses.

Unfortunately, probably. Pressure from the pissed-off distributors, etc.

Twitter was a blast yesterday. I was following a Lib Dem MP who was tweeting constant updates of his despair at the proceedings.

ETA: Another good article on why this is a bad idea. I'd forgotten the bit about possibly killing public Wi-Fi.

The UK obviously is competing with Australia.

Urrrgh, this is even worse than the FRA craziness we've been living with in Sweden for a while. That's about a government agency being allowed to spy on people's internet habits and gives companies/copyright holders the right to demand suspected ISP adresses to be given to them.

On the upside, none of the internet providers have been the least bit cooperative, and there's been two or three cases taken to court in the one year it's been in effect - as opposed to the government's estimation of about 400 cases. It's a huge flop, and thank God for that.

That is all.

Verandering wrote:

The UK obviously is competing with Australia.

Australia is the UK's ex-con little brother, after all.

Brit WGWers, I feel for you, but I'm honestly not surprised about this, given that the UK has a law which means you can possibly be fired or blacklisted from work if you've done ONE porn movie or have a fetish that is considered 'embarrassing'.

WD40 wrote:

Once again, Zozo beats me to the punch!

It still needs to go through the Lords, I hope there's someone in there who uses Twitter... But I doubt it.

I wonder if this would have gone through had the entirety of parlement not been busy fitting tires on their battle busses.

You guys have battle busses?

You know, if you had those in the 1770s you may have stood a chance.

If I ever needed proof that the American colonists made the right choice when they decided to bail on the British Empire in 1776, Parliament has just handed it to me on a silver plate. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Chris91 wrote:

If I ever needed proof that the American colonists made the right choice when they decided to bail on the British Empire in 1776, Parliament has just handed it to me on a silver plate. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

If Australia is our ex-con little brother then the United States is our insecure cousin who will most likely follow our lead in the near future, so you had better hope that proof of yours has a fly in it.

Just Chipper wrote:

Chris91 wrote:

If I ever needed proof that the American colonists made the right choice when they decided to bail on the British Empire in 1776, Parliament has just handed it to me on a silver plate. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

If Australia is our ex-con little brother then the United States is our insecure cousin who will most likely follow our lead in the near future, so you had better hope that proof of yours has a fly in it.

Actually, if the last ten years have shown anything, it's that you've been following our lead. So yeah, this one's all on you.

gaijinguy wrote:

Just Chipper wrote:

Chris91 wrote:

If I ever needed proof that the American colonists made the right choice when they decided to bail on the British Empire in 1776, Parliament has just handed it to me on a silver plate. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

If Australia is our ex-con little brother then the United States is our insecure cousin who will most likely follow our lead in the near future, so you had better hope that proof of yours has a fly in it.

Actually, if the last ten years have shown anything, it's that you've been following our lead. So yeah, this one's all on you.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I hate my government.

Leave me be... in my delusions.

Verandering wrote:

The UK obviously is competing with Australia.

I wasn't going to bring this up and steal the UK's thunder over this, but Australia's already had shown we don't appreciate these sorts of laws:
iiNet Slays Hollywood in Landmark Piracy Case

Well that bytes (get it, lol, cuz im a goff it's a computer term) for you guys. What is to stop, for example, parents from having their internet disconnected because their teenager, unbeknownst to them, had downloaded every major motion picture in the past five years?

Chaltab wrote:

Well that bytes (get it, lol, cuz im a goff it's a computer term) for you guys. What is to stop, for example, parents from having their internet disconnected because their teenager, unbeknownst to them, had downloaded every major motion picture in the past five years?

Oh, but don't you know? Parents always know what their kids are doing. Teenagers aren't sneaky--not one bit. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Edit: Would this law mean that corporations would have their Internet cut off because employees are downloading copyrighted materials?

I found the best way to lie was to be sarcastically, defensively honest.

"Yeah, Mom, every time we go out we're renting a motel room and having lots of hot, nasty sex."

Nihilist wrote:

I'm still convinced she's stupid though. I can fill volumes with how stupid I think my mother is

You are a horrible person. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Quote :

I found the best way to lie was to be sarcastically,
defensively honest.

I can relate to that. <.<

I just realised my 4TB of porn is all copyrighted.

myeerah wrote:

I found the best way to lie was to be sarcastically, defensively honest.

"Yeah, Mom, every time we go out we're renting a motel room and having lots of hot, nasty sex."

omfg i do that

so much

"yeah, 'cause i'm just so irresponsible"

( )

Knorg wrote:

I just realised my 4TB of porn is all copyrighted.

*Looks at his 1.5 TB of porn*

. . .

I AM NOT WORTHY!!!!!!! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Talk Talk are resisting!

Sue it's only one company but yay a company on our side!

Cool. If I weren't with TalkTalk already I'd switch over.

Hopefully they'll hold their ground, but right now I don't see how it isn't in their interests to carry on doing what every other ISP has been doing up until now.

The Labour government has always been about curtailing freedom of speech (and by extension freedom of thought). I suspect that the illuminati are behind this.