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Digital Economy Bill Passed In the UK
Grey Loki writes "The UK government forced through the controversial digital economy bill with the aid of the Conservative party last night, attaining a crucial third reading – which means it will get royal assent and become law – after just two hours of debate in the Commons."
Yup, the UK is fucked.
There is a war going on for your mind.
Everyone that watched the debate last night was pretty horrified at how broken the "wash up" process was, and how obviously this bill was pushed through by the front benches without the support of the backbench MPs present. Labour were responsible for 97% of the MPs that gave a yes vote, because those Labour MPs that didn't would have faced severe consequences, perhaps even eviction from the party. Some rebel Labour MPs did vote against, Tom Watson leading them, this guy deserves serious respect for standing up for what he believes despite the pressure.
The election is coming and we need to take away power from these corrupt parties (the other two major parties are hardly blameless, although the Liberal Democrats did at least vote against). Support the Open Rights Group and also support the Pirate Party UK who are currently raising money to field candidates. You can donate to the Pirate Party here if you are so inclined: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/party/donate/
My MP voted for the bill, so I'm going to vote against in the next election, I'd urge people to do the same, find out if your MP voted and which way by going here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtoday/cmdebate/32.htm#hddr_2
There is a whole new market to be claimed in no-win-no-fee IP chasers spitting out takedown notices like machinegun bullets.
Time to vote for the pirate party guys.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
http://cheezburger.com/View.aspx?aid=3386761984 What a farce!
Wow, that sucks. Stay strong UK peoples.
It was carried by "189 votes to 47".
There are currently 646 MPs in the house of commons. Not that I'm cynical or anything but was this bill brought through the house at the beginning of a general election campaign for a reason?
America, Home of the Brave.
Peter Mandelson is evil incarcerated.
And their families, their friends, their secretaries, their PA's?
They need to feel the pinch of this insane law. And fast.
A "Three-strikes"-equivalent law for filesharers is still in (without trial), and the text of the bill can be ready to imply that it will be ISPs responsible for ensuring that their networks aren't used to infringe copyright - effectively mandating monitoring of all internet traffic at a much greater level than is currently done.
There is also a provision which allows the Secretary of State (with the approval of a court, to allow a tiny bit of balance) to require the blocking of any websites which are involved in the infringement of copyright. Or, indeed, may be used in infringement of copyright. When asked if this would include sites such as Wikileaks, ministers said yes, it would, as the material they leak is copyrighted by its original owners. They were quick to point out that they wouldn't use it to infringe on freedom of speech though.
Yep, I feel real safe with that reassurance.
Other aspects of the bill are actually reasonable, there's just a handful of provisions that are really quite shockingly draconian.
Dear dear, you believed something you read in the Guardian. Shame on you.
Actually the law has not passed, it still has to go to the Lords tonight. Not saying it won't pass there - it almost certainly will - just that the story is hopelessly wrong.
Slashdot - News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters, in ISO-8859-1 Has just realised that beta makes this signature redundant
The law is so brokenly bad that I have sympathy for everyone in Britain right now.
Essentially, from what I read (correct me if something changed in the final bill), a copyright holder can accuse you of pirating anything without evidence, and your provider must throttle/disconnect you. If you want to counter, you have to take me to court, at your cost, with real evidence that you didn't.
This is so mind bogglingly dumb I can't begin to fathom how they plan to enforce this without mass disconnections. Huge numbers of people with open APs or just kids in the house are going to find themselves without internet access. Antipiracy firms will make mistakes about IPs, but hey- it doesn't matter when you require no evidence.
Still, I was discussing it with many people last night who were "thankful that they were not British". Stuff like this is closer than we think with ACTA being pushed behind closed doors.
I know the Digital Economy Bill has some really far-reaching restrictions that could be imposed, but I can't say I'm surprised.
When you think about it, the US, the UK and most of Europe are 100% dependent on intellectual property now for their economic survival. Almost nothing at the consumer level is manufactured in these countries. All we produce is software, music, movies, video games and hardware designs. Protecting copyright when viewed through this lens makes a lot more sense now. It gives IP-related companies an advantage, but I'd say that's better than turning the entire country into an unemployed wasteland because companies don't want to produce material that's just going to get stolen.
Personally, I'd love it if someone woke up and realized that all of our eggs are in one basket, and took steps to diversify the economy...but I doubt that's gonig to happen. I'm for just enough of an import tarriff to balance things out and make manufacturing in this country make sense. Not everyone can be a "knowlege worker," the service sector is a crappy place to work, and we need manufacturing jobs for those who don't fit the office mold.
I honestly think free trade isn't a good idea when you have 300 million people with a grossly outsized standard of living competing with billions of others who live on way less. No one is going to give up their standard of living, so without some controls, we're totally screwed in the long run.
Democracy is such a farse.
The broadband tax was scrapped though. This was a proposed tax of 50p on every household with a landline, intended to raise around £170m per year to fund the development of a super-fast broadband network.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8606639.stm
The register say it has not done yet http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/08/mandybill_last_day/
I'm glad that at the least, clause 43 got taken out before the bill got shoved through Westminster. Registration needs to be better for copyrighted works (more like automobile registrations); "orphan works" laws aren't the way to go. http://www.stop43.org.uk/
AC wrote:
>Can someone explain this to us unfamiliar with British law & politics:
>out of all 646 MPs, only 189 + 47 == 236 of them voted Y/N?
>That's only 36.5% of them. What about the rest? All abstained from voting?"
Correct. Almost all 193 Conservative MPs abstained (in the UK parliament, didn't turn up == abstained).
Of the Conservatives that did vote, more voted against (5) than for (4).
Not that it would have made any difference, since Labour have a majority (this month).
Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com
See this list for who voted and how.
To contact details for them go to WriteToThem.
If they voted against, let them know that you appreciate it. My MP is Don Foster, who voted against. I've emailed him to thank him for doing so.
If your MP voted in favour, berate them for their obvious contempt for you, not just in passing this bill, but the manner of its passing.
If they didn't vote at all, ask them why they are such a spineless contemptible worm (in the nicest possible way) and ask them why you should vote for a person or party that has so much contempt for you that they couldn't be bothered to debate and vote on such a bill, and could allow it to be passed in this way. Point out that not voting in this case was tacit support for the bill and the manner in which it was passed.
Keep it clean and polite (nut-job rants will be ignored), but make it clear what you think of them and their kind.
As I pointed out to Don Foster, whatever the merits of this bill, the idea that it could be passed in this fashion just goes to show just how much contempt many politicians have for the electorate (as if we needed any more evidence).
And for christ sake, VOTE. I'm bored of people telling me they are not voting because "they are all the same". If you don't want to vote for one of the main parties, vote for an independent or a smaller party. If you don't vote at all then they don't care about you, it doesn't work as a protest.
"In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve" - Alexis de Tocqueville/Hunter S Thompson (and various others, take your pick).
Paul Leader
One other section of the Bill enables the "Analogue Radio" switch-off - all the main stations will have to broadcast on DAB only.
So a well known multinational will get some £10 per new radio in patent and other IP licences.
And note that is DAB, not DAB+
The internet has changed so much, i remember when you had to worry about too much information crowding the web. Now it's not enough or let's block it. What happened to the exchange of information and knowledge, sounds to me like "minority report", let's arrest you on crimes you haven't committed yet. Cause WE know you WILL commit them eventually.
Of all the things I've lost; I miss my mind the most. - Mark Twain
My number one priory has been keeping the Tories out, so I normally vote Labour, but now I won't. It will probably be LibDem now, or Green.
The UK's darknet communities will be getting a whole lot bigger now. Forcing things underground is not a good thing. If it's cheap enough and the service is good people will pay! If you know the money is going to those doing the work, not middlemen, people will pay.
I'm angry about this. Labour are no longer a left party. I want the UK to move towards a European/German style model, not American.
Rather popular in France and Germany, and growing a lot in the USA and elsewhere:
I2P is a general-purpose network anonymizer with built in web, email and bittorrent. You can download other apps for it, too, like a chat messenger and a distributed filing system. There is also a version of eMule available for it called iMule.
I2P was made to host data services in-network, so it is something of a darknet. It shares some of the concept behind TOR, but outproxies are the exception and it is quicker (though not nearly as quick as direct Internet access). If you have some patience and can live with 25KBytes/sec then it should fit the bill for you and provide peace of mind.
In this case, if the Lords do block it, which is possible but relatively unlikely, AND there's no time left for the Commons to overturn the Lords' vote, which is possible and fairly likely as the Mandybill is the last of the wash-up bills to be debated in the Lords, then it will fail, as the current Parliament will be dissolved. Unfinished bills can be carried from one annual session of a Parliament to the next, but can't be carried from one Parliament to another. If the above, admittedly not likely, scenario takes place, then even if Labour do get re-elected with a Commons majority, they'd have to re-introduce the Mandybill from scratch.
Also, not applying to this bill I beleive, but generally any bill that begins in the House of Lords can be thrown out by the Lords and the Commons can't override this. That's why if the government has any sense they always start likely to be controversial bills in the Commons.
A very dark day indeed, I am an ex-pat and wasn't going to reregister to vote this election as i've been out of the country for a while but i'm off to get my overseas voter registation form witnessed as soon as i finish writing this comment.
My employer offers a home VPN service whereby I am always connected to our VPN and egress at various points around Europe. They don't particularly monitor this traffic and even provide on-net mirrors to most GNU/Linux distributions and run internal bittorrent trackers for legitimate internal filesharing.
I think I'm going to use that.
It's becoming quite sad when I'll trust my employer more than I will my ISP to keep me safe. Years gone by the idea of letting my connection filter through the corporation was horrifying. Now it's almost liberating.
It's a sad day for the UK.
Now there's one hoopy frood who really knows where his towel is!
That tears it, I am moving back home. You are welcome to join me, Norway is still free (nothing like this could EVER happen, the voice of the people is strong and does not stand for stuff like this). And our air is cleaner (and our women prettier ;p ).
Which leads you to wonder why the headline contains the phrase "with the aid of the Conservative Party".
Do you have a wikipedia link to backup this claim? What countries was involved?
How do you feel about the pirates off of Somalia? What if they give back the ships unharmed after just borrowing them for a bit? Is it only digital property that you feel should be freed from the constraints of ownership?
I could write a Wiki article about it if you want, but would that prove anything? It's a useful site, but shouldn't be treated as a one-stop shop for fact verification.
It's obviously not an issue that the Conservatives feel strongly about, otherwise all of them would have been told to turn up and vote in a particular way.
Therefore, the Conservative leadership did help this bill to pass, by doing nothing to block it. The headline is accurate.
That reminds me of something. Let me think. Oh yes, it's the Conservative voting record, where they supported every nasty little illberal and authoritarian thing that Labour wanted during the last decade. Some "opposition" they are.
The tao of democracy: the government you can vote for is not the real government.
Hope for a minority government like we have in Canada currently (or as you guys call it, a hung parliament
A hung parliament is not the same thing as a minority government. A minority government is a government that is formed by a single party, which does not have a majority. This is a possible outcome from a hung parliament, which is the state that occurs when no party wins more than 50% of the seats.
It is also, theoretically, possible to have a minority government without a hung parliament. If, for example, 34 Labour MPs decided that they thought that a Conservative government would do a better job, they could call a vote of no confidence, win, and then ask the Queen to invite David Cameron to form a government. He would then be Prime Minister, but would only directly control 198 seats. To actually pass anything, he'd have to persuade 125 MPs from other parties to vote with him. I don't think this has happened ever (well, not for a few hundred years - all sorts of insane things have happened in parliamentary history) and it is very unlikely to happen in the future.
A minority government is not the only outcome of a hung parliament. In 1974, for example, the hung parliament resulted in a vote of no confidence in the government and another election - I think 1974 is the only year in which there have ever been two general elections in the UK.
The third - and most likely - alternative in a hung parliament is a coalition government. This is what happened in the Welsh Assembly in 2007. The current Welsh Assembly Government is a Labour-Plaid coalition, meaning that the ministerial posts are held by members of both parties. The government has a majority of the seats, but is not made from a single party.
Note that a hung parliament is not the same as a hanged parliament, which is probably a more useful outcome.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Because the conservatives have enough seats that, given the attendance rate for the debate, they could have blocked it. They chose to not bother turning up, so it got through. Apparently running the country is a very low priority activity for Conservative MPs, which probably isn't the message that they want to be sending out just before an election...
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
Try and get air time. You can't. That's control of the delivery channels. When Prince broke with the labels, he disappeared, no air time. The labels need a monopoly on the delivery channels to prevent real music. The way the media shutdown Dixie Chix over politics is a lesson in both the level of control and of the political nature of today's media.
A new paragraph or sentence would make clear that the RIAA / MPAA whine about reviews is a separate item.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
>When asked if this would include sites such as Wikileaks, ministers said yes, it would, as the material they leak is copyrighted by its original owners. They were quick to point out that they wouldn't use it to infringe on freedom of speech though.
That's worthless rhetoric - the US gov hold the copyright and it will be illegal in the UK fo the gov to prevent the US gov from having Wikileaks cut off from UK access. Unless they change the law.
On an unrelated point: I'm wondering when Mandelson is taking receipt of his new private island and lear jet courtesy of the record companies.
"it doesn't work as a protest"
It absolutely works as a protest. The reason governments are able to govern in so-called democracies is because of a thing called mandate ("an authorization given by a political electorate to its representative" - The Free Dictionary).
If you vote, no matter who you vote for, you are giving the elected government a mandate. If you withold your vote, you deny the government a greater mandate. At some point (don't ask me at what point that would be), when the turnout for an election is so low, the elected government loses legitimacy - only then will we stand a chance of seeing some real change and real democracy.
It has to get through the House of Lords now, and there is a good chance that they will throw it out.
First of all, this is more about control of the people than about copyright. Copyright is used to exert certain control over people.
Second, what makes you think that disconnection from the internet is not the ultimate goal? Political activists (or other non-desirables) can now be disconnected based on imaginary or planted evidence.
Coupled with country-wide internet site filtering that's coming soon to every nation, such laws are about ultimate control of the population and restriction of information flow (though the laws are under the guise of protecting something different).
Look at how the Federal Reserve act was rammed through on Christmas when most of the members were absent. This act was for a clear, distinct cause (though masked).
Just by looking at how few MPs were present for the passage of this bill, you know it's about a lot more than enforcing intellectual copyright.
One would be too naive to take this at face value.
This is the same kind of "reassurance" we were given about terrorism legislation which has been used to detain dog walkers and screw over Iceland.
No, we just wish he was incarcerated.
PS. I think the word you were actually looking for is "incarnate", but nice Freudian slip.
I think you mean Faustian slip.
Going straight to hell for that joke!
[UID-HeinzIntel]
It's Wash-up. Parliament is prorogued for the election at the end of today's proceedings. At this point the only things that can get through are those where the opposition agrees to let them through without spending time debating them. The Tories could have stopped this dead simply by insisting on debating any part of it, instead of just letting it through.
This way they get a bill they might have liked, with the side-benefit of being able to blame the other side when anybody objects to it.
Remember this the next time ICANN comes up again. Remember this when you go to ask "why can't the United States give up control?" This. This is exactly why. We may not be perfect, but free speech is paramount in this country.
Would they be sued into oblivion and possibly forced to take down their servers in the process? Absolutely. Would the US set up their own blocking mechanisms? No. This is ridiculous. Blocking "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" ? Seriously? I mean our government is pretty retarded sometimes but even they wouldn't get away with THAT. Remember countries like Australia, China, and the UK are part of the UN. Remember that when you think of handing them control. They all have a say. I'm not one of those "AMERICA FUCK YEAH!" type people, but this is one of those times where I truly believe something is done best here.
The first amendment is the first one for a reason. We may not always do it in the best way but honestly? We still do it better than most other countries. The keys to the internet should be held by the country least likely to censor the shit out of it. I do not trust the UN or any other body to do that and I do actually believe in the UN for other things. This is one of those things though that cannot be compromised on. The internet must stay free. If the US ever were to threaten that, THEN I would be 100% for giving control over to whoever will mess it up less.
"Those who would sacrifice essential liberties for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - BenF
Please share this link with everyone you can find who cares about the Digital Economy Bill, because it is just too funny.
(Short version: In a written reply to another MP, government minister and leading proponent of the DEB thinks the IP in "IP address" stands for "Intellectual Property".)
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
..is just beta territory for the New World Order....coming to a U.S. state near you!
"Yes, I have a Disaster Recovery Plan. It's called my Resume"
After a mere two hours of debate, this farce has passed. I sense big media funding behind this one. Neither of the two main political parties in the UK will get my vote (and I was committed to one until now). They're both as bad as each other.
...because censorship is not a government-only phenomenon.
Here in the USA, corporations are free to monopolize the things we rely on and they use those monopolies to exert social and economic control. If they need a method of control to look 'proper', they'll push legislation through using their bought-and-paid-for politicians. But much of their control doesn't need this window dressing because large multinational corps are defined as "private" which makes their censorship and other exploits A-OK and even non-existent to many of us.
Censorship is often an abuse of power, but the power in this country resides mainly with corporate CEOs and boards of directors. It amounts to an inverted police state, where most functions of a repressive government (incl. voting, ever-expanding prisons, and even judiciary in the form of compulsory arbitration) are provided by the service sector. And with virtually everything else in our lives having been monetized by the service sector, private corps have become the ideal way for government (whether public servants or contractors) to spy on us.
And I shouldn't have to remind you this is the land of the BSA, RIAA and MPAA, organizations that hire people to raid your home or business and break into your computers when they've written you down as a suspect. Now they are pushing other countries hard for a secret and draconian IP treaty called ACTA. These people are rank authoritarians who view Internet freedom as a threat to their profits and privilege which I might add are based on their ability to handle our private information and creatively interpret history and current events unchallenged.
Intellectual Property enforcement has become the ultimate way to silence malcontents (and keep tabs on us) without the stain of totalitarian censorship and surveillance.
http://img131.imagevenue.com/aAfkjfp01fo1i-2060/loc477/52504_DigitalEconomyPoster_122_477lo.jpg
...and I'm expected to vote for one of these parties in May.
Beef, American beef is maybe second to some Japanese super pricey beef but we have bison here too.
Are you aware American cattle are fed shit. Literally. Manure. You see, they don't completely digest the hay they are given, so on many farms, the cows are fed their own shit. Waste not, want not!
Next, I want you to ask yourself, Where does e. coli come from? That's right! They're feeding you shit too. Fortunately for you, if the shit is cooked long enough, it won't make you sick. So eat that shit with a smile! Best shit in the world!! Think about that next time you order that burger from the dollar menu. :D
How did the shit get there you ask? You've never set foot on a modern day American farm, have you? You should see the barns with the inclined floors. They don't shovel shit, they flush the floors with wastewater. Imagine standing on the beach, having the water rush by your legs, half way up your calves, splashing all over you. Now imagine you're a cow, and the water is filled with shit. Get the picture?
That is just too funny... ROFL. "Best beef in the world." You made my day! ;D
(in the UK parliament, didn't turn up == abstained)
This is true, but I wish members would abstain properly (go through both doors in a division) if they don't have an opinion. Not turning up is IMO a sign of them not doing their jobs properly at all.
How in hell could the "government in waiting" (i.e. the opposition) not show up to at least voice their opposition?
Because their front bench also supported the bill for one; only the back benches opposed the bill & they were whipped.
If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
I wonder how long it will take until Scientology starts to disconnect its critics for supposed downloading of copyrighted material.
I mean "disconnect" from the internet...