The State of the Internet in England

[village midget]

About 15 minutes ago a bill was passed in British parliament. It was rushed through at the last minute before parliament dissolves for the coming election. It was allocated 2 hours discussion time. It is "The Digital Economy Bill".

Apparently it is designed to stop piracy, but it also allows total censorhip control for our government, and affords the prime minister the right to change copyright law without consulting anybody. It has not had a lot of mainstream press coverage, understandably it has been kept low-profile. Basically the government are now forcing our ISPs to monitor and report each of our individual households' internet use. Like phone tapping. Like the KGB.

The threat is that if you download illegally you can be banned from using the internet. Cut off. So if you run a business from your home and your child downloads an mp3 you are finished. Also if you have a virus, or your line is used as a third party for anything illegal, even without your knowledge, you will be cut off from the internet. I don't feel agrieved about piracy, I feel agrieved over my civil liberty being taken away.

Obviously it's possible to use a proxy and obviously our government leaders are so unaware of how the internet actually works they don't see that this bill will not make piracy go away.But it is offensive, already the most watched country on Earth (CCTV) we are now subjected to being monitored in our own homes. All of us are treated as criminals, guilty until seen to be innocent. Because one of our MPs got friendly with a major music industry billionaire. I want to emmigrate.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/apr/07/digital-economy-bill-internet

This is probably the last time I will be able to use Youtube, and you can bet wikileaks and ll the other wonderful things the internet brings will be quietly taken away too.

Discuss; Britain's asshattery, privacy, how you would react if your government did this, ideas for winning revolution...

[Stuch BSc]

So don't do anything illegal. You know... like you should have been doing.

[village midget]

Why is it assumed that I was doing anything illegal? That is really the point, millions of people use the internet and never infringe copyright or pirate a single byte but this bill treats everybody as a criminal.

[The Bank Executive]

village midget

Why is it assumed that I was doing anything illegal? That is really the point, millions of people use the internet and never infringe copyright or pirate a single byte but this bill treats everybody as a criminal.

Welcome to America.
We feel the same way....seems the legislation is worldwide because America just got a legislation passed to get regulation of the net underway.

BYE BYE NET NEUTRALITY!

[village midget]

exclaim apart from the massive invasion of privacy (which surely must be against some element of your constitution?) the whole thing seems so alarmingly open to political abuse (censorship).

[The Bank Executive]

village midget

exclaim apart from the massive invasion of privacy (which surely must be against some element of your constitution?) the whole thing seems so alarmingly open to political abuse (censorship).

It is.
It goes under the Freedom of Speech and Expression plus there is also a Net Neutrality Act which was passed to keep government hands off of everyone on the internet. So those have all been broken or override by our Congress. Seems our Congressmen must have given your Parliament a call.

[Arkady Andreyevich]

But, but...stolen music sounds better! cry

[redroosters]

People of Britain, rise up against your oppressors. The loss of your digital worlds to the Crown can easily transition into killing things in retribution for that loss.

[Arkady Andreyevich]

redroosters

People of Britain, rise up against your oppressors. The loss of your digital worlds to the Crown can easily transition into killing things in retribution for that loss.

Were you a burning monk in your past life?

[redroosters]

The Bank Executive

village midget

Why is it assumed that I was doing anything illegal? That is really the point, millions of people use the internet and never infringe copyright or pirate a single byte but this bill treats everybody as a criminal.

Welcome to America.
We feel the same way....seems the legislation is worldwide because America just got a legislation passed to get regulation of the net underway.

BYE BYE NET NEUTRALITY!

They passed Cybersecurity '09? ********, I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN. Health care is a lie.

[redroosters]

Arkady Andreyevich

redroosters

People of Britain, rise up against your oppressors. The loss of your digital worlds to the Crown can easily transition into killing things in retribution for that loss.

Were you a burning monk in your first life?

Perhaps. It might explain a lot.

[Arkady Andreyevich]

redroosters

Arkady Andreyevich

redroosters

People of Britain, rise up against your oppressors. The loss of your digital worlds to the Crown can easily transition into killing things in retribution for that loss.

Were you a burning monk in your first life?

Perhaps. It might explain a lot.

Pyromaniac? ninja

[village midget]

Arkady Andreyevich

But, but...stolen music sounds better! cry

there is some investigation going on, (according to my housemate, so no sauce, but he's an intelligent straight-edged fellow) which speculates that people who pirate music are more likely to become consumers of hard copy because they try out things they woud otherwise not risk their money on, and file sharing networking leads to recommendations etc....anyway, it's not really about the piracy. it's about the fact that our internet is now tapped, and that our government can censor what is information is available to us. don't we look down on china for doing this sort of thing? didn't we take up arms against various eastern block leaders for treating their citizens like this?

[The Bank Executive]

redroosters

The Bank Executive

village midget

Why is it assumed that I was doing anything illegal? That is really the point, millions of people use the internet and never infringe copyright or pirate a single byte but this bill treats everybody as a criminal.

Welcome to America.
We feel the same way....seems the legislation is worldwide because America just got a legislation passed to get regulation of the net underway.

BYE BYE NET NEUTRALITY!

They passed Cybersecurity '09? ********, I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN. Health care is a lie.

That is clearly what I heard. I heard alot about it from The Young Turks.
We need a revolution as well....

[redroosters]

Arkady Andreyevich

redroosters

Arkady Andreyevich

redroosters

People of Britain, rise up against your oppressors. The loss of your digital worlds to the Crown can easily transition into killing things in retribution for that loss.

Were you a burning monk in your first life?

Perhaps. It might explain a lot.

Pyromaniac? ninja

Yep. I'm a particularly big fan of incense.