Slashdot Mirror
UK's Anti-File-Sharing Bill Could "Breach Human Rights"
Grumbleduke writes "The UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights has recently reported on the controversial Digital Economy Bill, which seeks to restrict the connections of anyone accused of infringing copyright using the Internet. According to the BBC, the committee noted the lack of details in the Bill as it stands, asking for 'further information' from the government on several issues. They also raised concerns that some punishments under the bill could be 'applied in a disproportionate manner' and said that the powers the bill granted to the Secretary of State (i.e. Lord Mandelson) were 'overly broad.' These echo the concerns raised in recent months by the Open Rights Group, a consortium of web companies including Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and eBay, as well as the UK's Pirate Party. The Bill is currently being scrutinized by the House of Lords, and if it passes there, will likely be forced through the Commons quickly, despite the opposition from the public, industry and members of parliament. The committee's full report can be found on the parliament website."
I can't believe governments are spending so much time and effort going after file sharing. The types of punishment being proposed are also completely out of proportion. Why not spend this much effort going after other widespread crimes such as rape and human trafficking? Also, shouldn't the government be spending a lot more time worrying about environmental damage and climate change? Our futures are at stake, yet the biggest problem seems to be people exchanging bits on the Internet.
You want rights? Alright - the day we defeat Eastasia, we'll start thinking about rights. Ooops, my mistake - Eastasia is our ally this month, it's Eurasia we have to defeat!
Buncha whiney sissies, who needs rights anyway?
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
It's certainly the issue that get us the most publicity, but as party leader, I'd be much much happier if the Pirate Party UK helped to change the bill for the better.
There are some insanely draconian powers in the bill as it currently stands, it sidesteps the right to a fair trial, and the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. It also makes the owner of a wifi access point punishable for allegations of copyright infringement, rather than being considered a common carrier, which will mean the end of free wifi in the UK.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
OK, I am going to have to stop you there with some reality. The Tories are cut from the same idiotic market fundamentalist cloth you are, sure, but that doesn't translate into smaller government, or economic success. Your neoliberal ideas are unmitigated bullshit.
Take Thatcher for instance: she came to power with a monetarist agenda, which almost immediately crippled the already struggling economy - and this was despite substantial oil revenues coming into the country at the time she took power. The only reason someone so blatantly incompetent was re-elected in 1983 was because she cynically manipulated nationalist sentiment over the Falklands war, and because the left were divided at the time. Much of the rest of her premiership was spent fudging her horrific economic record (lying about the whole monetarist thing, reducing unemployment stats by shifting people onto incapacity who didn't warrant it), ordering extrajudicial killings, and allowing the government budget to increase (which it had to in order to prop up the damaged economy she created. That is the actual economic record of your beloved Tories.
Oh, and trying to equate your economic ideas to those of political freedom is asinine. Business faces fewer regulations in China (hence the lead paint and shit) but that country is clearly less free than anywhere in Western Europe.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
Government increases its own power, without limit, until stopped by some other force. It's inherent in the word "govern" - which means to control. Government was, is, and always will be the control of the many by the few - that's what the word means.
This will change only when we stop accepting that we and our fellow human beings need to be controlled - to be "govern"ed - by some external force, and we each consciously take on our individual responsibility to contribute to society and create a new form of social organization.
The increasing power of government is exactly like the increasing pain of an untreated disease - its purpose is to do whatever is necessary to get the organism to wake up and respond. As long as the organism ignores the symptom, the only chance for healing is for the disease to increase the pain. The symptom is never the problem. Ignoring the symptom is the problem. The symptom is the call to heal.
So from a holistic or systemic view we can see the increase in the power (and abuses) of government is actually humanity's way of trying to call attention to our real illness: the unresponsiveness, and most accurately the unconsciousness, of the rest of the body politic - i.e., each of us.
Our only choice is whether we hear the call and respond.