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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!
And their families, their friends, their secretaries, their PA's?
They need to feel the pinch of this insane law. And fast.
No, we just wish he was incarcerated.
PS. I think the word you were actually looking for is "incarnate", but nice Freudian slip.
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.
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.
The register say it has not done yet http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/08/mandybill_last_day/
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
When you think about it, the US, the UK and most of Europe are 100% dependent on intellectual property now for their economic survival
Not true. We are dependent on the existence of an economic framework that makes the creation of non-physical goods cost effective. We are not dependent on a specific abstraction. Most software companies in the UK, for example, create software for specific customers on commission. This does not require the existence of copyright - their customer generally receives all of the rights to the code at the completion of the contract.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
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.
I wish he was incinerated.
It has to get through the House of Lords now, and there is a good chance that they will throw it out.