UK Government Abandons Piracy Legislation

arcticstoat writes "Following last year's reports of a scheme to 'ban' pirates from the Internet via ISPs in the UK, it looks as though the UK government has now decided to back down on the plan, saying that it hopes it won't have to apply 'the heavy hand of legislation'. The UK's Intellectual Property Minister, David Lammy, said that 'I'm not sure it's actually going to be possible,' as a result of the complexities of enforcing such legislation. Lammy also revealed that he had a different opinion on file sharers than many people in the music industry. He pointed out that there's a big difference between organized counterfeiting gangs and 'younger people not quite buying into the system'. He added that 'we can't have a system where we're talking about arresting teenagers in their bedrooms. People can rent a room in an hotel and leave with a bar of soap — there's a big difference between leaving with a bar of soap and leaving with the television.'"

Comments

First

[Hognoxious]

First outbreak of common sense by the Uk government? Pinch me!

Re:First

[Anonymous Coward]

First outbreak of common sense by the Uk government? Pinch me!

Well put! Brilliant addition to this story. Your insight is admirable! I especially enjoyed your proposed solutions!

Re:First

[Blue Stone]

>First outbreak of common sense by the Uk government? Pinch me!

Don't worry, our error will be corrected and normal service will resume shortly.
Thank you for your patience, loyal citizen (your lack of faith has been noted).
- Zanu Labour.

Re:First

[commodoresloat]

Actually, that's not possible, because pinching is considered harassment under UK law. Sorry about that.

Re:First

[eeyore]

[Looks outside at typical January day in Pudding Island]

Nah, too wet for flying pigs. Bit dark, too.
--
E

holy crap !!!

[unity100]

a sensible politician in UK ? i wouldnt expect to see that after last 8 years !

Wow.

[Xest]

I'm left speechless. It's as if someone with an ounce of intelligence has cunningly infiltrated their way in.

Someone in British government with a clue, this really should be headline news in every paper.

No doubt Jacqui Smith will implement emergency legislation and have him shot by firing squad ASAP on terrorism charges now however.

Re:Why not?

[Anonymous Coward]

> Why not? We do it here daily in the USA.

In Europe, we forgive and turn the other cheek ;)

I take it the devout christian states in the US have less severe sentences than the evil athiest states?

Re:Oh, I Was Kind of Looking Forward to It

[The Angry Mick]

In a recent story on catching Internet Criminals, it was brought up that the UK Government has to pay something like $300 per request when requesting user data from ISPs.

It seems kind of surprising to me that an ISP would try to charge the government anything for access to investigatory data. I'd think the government would just respond with an "OK, if that's the way you want to play it. Allow us to introduce you to our little regulatory friend; the "Federal Undernet Cooperative Knowledge and Unification Act" (aka: FUCK-U) that states you will give us this data for free, whenever we ask, and in whatever condition we desire."

Re:Holy Shit!

[Tubal-Cain]

Hey, don't mock him for rounding up the value of songs. Some numbers are just too small to comprehend.

I felt a disturbance in the Force.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's as if millions of RIAA lawyers suddenly cried out in terror... and were suddenly silenced.

Re:Oh, I Was Kind of Looking Forward to It

[Subm]

> Call me stupid...

You're stupid.