Britain's new Internet law -- as bad as everyone's been saying, and worse. Much, much worse.

[mdhay]

The British government has brought down its long-awaited Digital Economy Bill, and it's perfectly useless and terrible. It consists almost entirely of penalties for people who do things that upset the entertainment industry (including the "three-strikes" rule that allows your entire family to be cut off from the net if anyone who lives in your house is accused of copyright infringement, without proof or evidence or trial), as well as a plan to beat the hell out of the video-game industry with a new, even dumber rating system (why is it acceptable for the government to declare that some forms of artwork have to be mandatorily labelled as to their suitability for kids? And why is it only some media? Why not paintings? Why not novels? Why not modern dance or ballet or opera?).

So it's bad. £50,000 fines if someone in your house is accused of filesharing. A duty on ISPs to spy on all their customers in case they find something that would help the record or film industry sue them (ISPs who refuse to cooperate can be fined £250,000).

But that's just for starters. The real meat is in the story we broke yesterday: Peter Mandelson, the unelected Business Secretary, would have to power to make up as many new penalties and enforcement systems as he likes. And he says he's planning to appoint private militias financed by rightsholder groups who will have the power to kick you off the internet, spy on your use of the network, demand the removal of files or the blocking of websites, and Mandelson will have the power to invent any penalty, including jail time, for any transgression he deems you are guilty of. And of course, Mandelson's successor in the next government would also have this power.

What isn't in there? Anything about stimulating the actual digital economy. Nothing about ensuring that broadband is cheap, fast and neutral. Nothing about getting Britain's poorest connected to the net. Nothing about ensuring that copyright rules get out of the way of entrepreneurship and the freedom to create new things. Nothing to ensure that schoolkids get the best tools in the world to create with, and can freely use the publicly funded media -- BBC, Channel 4, BFI, Arts Council grantees -- to make new media and so grow up to turn Britain into a powerhouse of tech-savvy creators.


Lobby organisation The Open Rights Group is urging people to contact their MP to oppose the plans.

This plan won't stop copyright infringement and with a simple accusation could see you and your family disconnected from the internet - unable to engage in everyday activities like shopping and socialising,' it said.

The government will also introduce age ratings on all boxed video games aimed at children aged 12 or over.

There is, however, little detail in the bill on how the government will stimulate broadband infrastructure.

Source: 'Government lays out digital plans' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8366255.stm) ~ bbc.co.uk


Source:'Britain's new Internet law -- as bad as everyone's been saying, and worse. Much, much worse.' (http://bit.ly/5UUcBH) ~ boingboing.net

if like me you disagree with this please sign the petition (http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/dontdisconnectus/)


Anyone else want to move to America?

[yeldar2097]

What the bloody hell?

This is ridiculous. I think my father has a meeting with this Mandelson chap in a few days actually...Maybe I'll tell him to give him a good thrashing :twisted

I'd move to the US without hesitation - shame the parents don't agree with me...

Edit: @andy (below): Ok so it's not just me being stupid, that's a relief.

[andy]

that petition is gone =/

[mdhay]

Found it:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/dontdisconnectus/

[andy]

thank you, signed it :)

[YouAreFubar]

Signed. :+

[SaturnReturn]

@mdhay - Please try and make it clearer that the words are not your own next time you quote something from an external site. I know you posted a link, but I'm sure they'd rather we read their article than your posting of it. It's also less annoying that way as people won't read it all, and then go to the link, only to find they're reading the same thing twice. I edited it to show where the content came from. Those 'boingboing' folk didn't actually do a great job of quoting the BBC themselves.:rolleyes: The link to the BBC article is also there, as the other one really provides less than half the story.

I also fixed the original link to the petition in the first post, so that nobody misses it. I get the feeling maybe you were in a hurry earlier and forgot part of it. ;)

[Lance]

To add to what SR said, it is good practise to never quote an article in full, which can violate copyright laws, but just to quote a brief snippet of it to get the trend of its content, and to write something of your own that comments on its relevance to us, and give the link to the full article.

[Harvai]

Far out, and I thought Australia's immenent firewall was going to be a kick in the pants! That doesn't sound in the least bit fair or in the best interest of the general public


...as well as a plan to beat the hell out of the video-game industry with a new, even dumber rating system

A whole bunch of Aussie gamers are kicking up a big stink about this down here, what with the ban of Left 4 Dead 2, and the OLFC giving us a lobotomised version of it instead..

[djKyoto]

L4D2 got 'dummed' down a lot. However it was an awful edit with glitches everywhere and made the game worse as a whole (nothing like GTA4's edit).

[Dark_Phantom_89]

It's a shame really. A lot of people have lost faith in our government and this is going to make their already bad opinion of it even worse

[OBH]

never heard of this. what a joke.

luckily im not a prolific downloader, but even so, i dont like it....

[blackwiggle]

It's a lot of windbagging by the politicians.
We have been getting the same here in Australia.

They can't control the internet in the UK for the same reason they can't control it here.

It NEEDS the cooperation of the ISP's in the country.
It's a cut throat industry as it is,trying to regulate it like this is a joke.

Pretty hard to get that when they decide that their business model has been so compromised that they have to re route all accounts via a proxy server,be it Canada,west Indies etc,that will happen if the goverments are stupid enough to evoke this ruling.

There has been better suggestions,one involves that a % of you monthly download fee goes to the Film & Music industry,If an Artist ever saw ANY of that money would seem extremely doubtful to me,seeing as both industries are full of shamsters.

[mdhay]

Thanks for cleaning up the OP, SR.:+

[Koleax]

There has been better suggestions,one involves that a % of you monthly download fee goes to the Film & Music industry...
Which tramples over the idea people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. This just assumes that anyone who's going to use the internet is going to steal from specific companies.

Sad that it actually is a better idea than what was written in the OP.

[RedScar]

Move to Canada!
We have moose!

[Lance]

And Norway has alg. um... I think. :)

[OBH]

Personally im in agreement for something to be done about internet piracy, regardless of how you look at it stealing is stealing. I just feel they'll never get rid of internet piracy until producers give their consumers more routes to their products besides over-priced high street prices. iTunes are the only example i know making a success this way (though there are no doubt others). Plenty of people i know insist on looking to see if any tunes they're after are available for pennies on iTunes before looking to get it elsewhere. This approach should be used on a far broader scale.... in my opinion at least :)

Nintendo DS is search a hilarious example of piracy. I dont have one myself, but it is the EASIEST thing to copy ever. No one needs to buy a DS game -- ever. Its wrong, but you cant blame people for not paying for something that is so, so easy to obtain for free.

[Task]

No.

Sure, theft is theft, but going to measures like this (or any extreme measure at all) in a totally vain attempt to stop internet piracy?
How about trying to stop real piracy (http://www.nato-pa.int/Default.asp?CAT2=0&CAT1=0&CAT0=0&SHORTCUT=1986) first?
Or, you know, anything where actual real lives are involved? And not just a corporate bottom line?

Attempts to pass laws like this are really just indicators of how far big business has their hand up the arse of the government involved.

At least, that's my take on the whole issue.

You're totally right about iTunes being an excellent way to stop piracy by providing the product at a reasonable price and being usable. More solutions like that are always good things!

[Koleax]

Nintendo DS is [such] a hilarious example of piracy. I dont have one myself, but it is the EASIEST thing to copy ever. No one needs to buy a DS game -- ever. Its wrong, but you cant blame people for not paying for something that is so, so easy to obtain for free.

I'm not familiar with the situation on the DS. So I really hope this isn't a case where there's little copy protection, and because it's so easy to copy, you find there to be no blame? If anything that increases the blame, because when there's more copy protection that usually creates problems for the paying customer, giving people more reason to steal a version without the protection. Piracy should be examined for its superior customer service experience. Seriously.

Does anyone remember Steve Jobs' presentation when he announced the iTunes Music Store? He treated piracy like a competitor, like it was another company offering a competing service. He went through a list of cons to the music pirating experience, like low bit rates, poor quality rips, slow transfer times, general uncertainty about what you're going to get, and even bad karma. He never used the word "guilt" or admonished his customers. He said pirates are to be treated like potential customers. It was so simple an idea, and so revolutionary, I don't think it has really caught on yet, but it is an approach that was proven successful. Even wildly successful.

I don't like to pirate things. When I do, it's either because it's abandonware and it is simply not available otherwise, or because I like the alternative even less.

[OBH]

The DS is apparently so simple to copy games. Then you get a cartridge including a memory stick and you can fit on hundreds of games (depending on size of memory stick of course).

@Task
:+ 100% agree on focusing on real piracy affecting real people.

[blackwiggle]

There are two Main reasons why piracy exists at the moment and are the main group,that if they had other options,would buy legitimate goods.

1] Kids that want the music/films but are too young to have a credit card so can't purchase it,so it's a "catch 22" for them.

2] People who distrust financial transactions online.

A lot of this can be directly linked to a Music industry that didn't move with the times and thought it was immune,or could throw it's weight around to cease downloading altogether.
Where in fact a complete turn around has occurred,mainly due to the foresight of Apples iTunes that knew what to charge per song [Unlike Sony's failed effort of asking a premium for the substandard artists on it's label only,what a farce that was :pirate]

Then you have a subsection of ideologically driven people who's motives/beliefs are either.

1] Against big corporations [music labels/film studios/software companies],your classic anarchical uber geek.
2] Believe that all Music/Films are fair game and should be able to be shared freely amongst each other.
3] Get a kick out of the supposed Kudos of being the first person to put a Film/Music up on a torrent site.

It's too late to stop piracy,it's not like you have to change something from Analogue to digital,it's just a few clicks and it's done.

No amount of legislation will stop it now,it's just too hard to implement and impossible to police.

[Koleax]

But I don't fit into any of those. :P I mentioned abandonware and superior product.

These people who distrust financial transactions online, are they still paying their bills through snail mail? Even physically swiping a debit card at the grocery store is an online financial transaction. The only difference is that the grocery store will print their receipt, whereas at home they receive a verification code. Of course, they would also have to distrust every bank in the world that borrows from a central bank to secure deposits.

Then again, maybe that's progress.

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

I remember that in one episode of Top Gear,they "left" the show(they did not really)over the fact that,in US,you just get a fine for exceeding the speed limit a lot($700,not so sure)while in Britian,you go to jail.
Me,I find that piracy is a very serious problem.Sometimes,when you buy pirated software,you get PC problems,so,sometimes,the legal way is the best way.
Me,being a Singaporean,I like the realtive safety of Singapore.I feel that some laws are there to prohibit some things.

Quoted from Advance Wars: Days of Ruin/Dark Conflict(depending on region);
Lin:A society that does not punish murderers is a society where any one can be murdered,a society of sleepless nights,where people live in fear of those around them.When faced with that,it makes sense to band together and prohibit murder
Like she said,some laws are meant to prohibit some things

[ACE-FLO]

I dunno what to think about these new laws. It seems to me that, ever since there was a hint that internet was to become a household luxury, there were fears that electronic media such as music, movies and games were going to be available for 'pirate' downloads. I think the govt's and watchdog organisations (from their respective countries) should have anticipated this possibly with more effort, possibly even part funded by the companies who were most at risk of piracy. To date, little has been done to regulate the internet to the same standard as we enjoy in other media such as TV and radio. However, everyone knows that regulating the internet is a mammoth task to say the least. It's forever expanding, and can never really, be regulated as such. lol. But any laws which prevent piracy on the internet, are a good thing... still, it won't stop it from happening. Sad, I know, but it's gonna carry on. Imo, if you really wanna do your part to stop internet piracy, all you can really do is not download pirates ;)

[abukii]

The thing to ask is, are they regulating the 'internet' or the individual servers on which the "internet" resides. Its absolute bs what Im reading in the original post and Id move to another country. I thought it was ABSURD for ISP's to cap downloads...now this??!! WTF?

*edit* I cant sign the petition because Im a USA resident. Sorry, but I did try:(

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

Imo, if you really wanna do your part to stop internet piracy, all you can really do is not download pirates ;)

Well,you can also help by not buying pirated software and go for Genuine(Properly Licensed) products,like what Microsoft is trying to tell consumers to do.

[AG-wolf]

1] Kids that want the music/films but are too young to have a credit card so can't purchase it,so it's a "catch 22" for them.
2] People who distrust financial transactions online.

Then you have a subsection of ideologically driven people who's motives/beliefs are either.

1] Against big corporations [music labels/film studios/software companies],your classic anarchical uber geek.
2] Believe that all Music/Films are fair game and should be able to be shared freely amongst each other.
3] Get a kick out of the supposed Kudos of being the first person to put a Film/Music up on a torrent site.

I pirate things, but it's not for any of these reasons. I don't have some kind of anarchist techno-hippie bullsh*t motivation... I just don't have $700 to drop down on a piece of software at a whim, I don't have $50 every time I wanna try a new game (that would add up VERY quick). I legitimately purchase the games that I genuinely want to own... if I bought any game I have pirated, it would first of all have been bought used, and thus the original company who made it wouldn't see a penny of mine anyway. But aside from that, there's nothing I've pirated that I actually play frequently enough... it was like a novelty for a little while, then I was done with it.

The real issue is price and perceived value/quality ratio. Figure out a better balance and the price will go down. Not every Tom, Dick, and Harry are out there downloading crap; the Average Internet User is some middle-aged newbie or suburbanite family who don't know their *sses from a hole in the ground. I can't imagine there are enough people pirating things to put a dent into any company's profits... you should have seen what I had to do to get my Wii soft-modded, no casual consumer would ever jump through that many hoops just to play a few games without paying for them, heck even I almost gave up halfway through, willing the just go buy the game I Wanted to play to avoid the frustration.

There has to be some effective middle-ground somewhere, and the industry needs to figure it out soon. THey've made this whole system of buying a physical product at a store and it has the be a whole production with marketing and package design and vying for shelf-space with competing companies and getting your sorry *ss to spend money on gas to drive somewhere to spend money on crap. They could do away with the middle-man and develop digital download kiosks but their potential consumer base isn't educated enough to understand the benefits. There is no practical digital delivery system yet; other than iTunes (and its clones) and Xbox Live Arcade, no other company has set up an intuitive digital marketplace that actually invites people in who are completely unfamiliar with the whole process.

I think I'm just gonna stop buying things other than necessities at this point :P

[Lance]

}I'm drunk at the moment. Please take that into account whilst reading the following comments{:

One's cash position really determines necessities. My average annual income for 2006 and 2007 was 450 USDollars. That's right,, I made less than 1000 dollars total during those two years. So I bought nothing. I was 3 months late on every one of the few necessary unavoidable payments I had, so.. yeah. This totally affected my attitude to piracy and legitimate expectations of financial remuneration for content copyright holders. My needs and desires came first above the producers. Think about a 'starving artist' who needs software in order to produce work that can earn money. Should they be denied the means to live in order to maximise profits to a giant international corporation? In my poverty of those years I mentioned, I would say no. And in fact, in my more prosperous current time, though still below most people's definition of poverty line, but no longer suffering [because my house is paid for], I'm still inclined to be against intense protection of corporate copyright. Individuals are more important, but it should be something they really nEEd before they could be justified in breaking copyright.