UK backtracks on ISPs as Copyright Cops plan
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Big Music plans to compel British ISPs to act as corporate censors and online copyright cops have met a serious stumbling block.
UK culture secretary Andy Burnham (right) wants, “dramatic Net censorship measures, including online X-ratings, a mandatory time-limited ‘take down’ requirement for sites such as YouTube, and new libel laws, p2pnet reported last year, going on »»»
New standards of decency need to be applied to the web, says culture secretary Andy Burnham in The Telegraph, which goes on:
He is planning to negotiate with Barack Obama`s incoming American administration to draw up new international rules for English language websites.
The Net is, quite a dangerous place so ISPs need to offer parents child-safe web services, the story has him saying.
ISPs such as BT, Tiscali, AOL or Sky, “could also be forced to offer internet services where the only websites accessible are those deemed suitable for children,” said the story.
Burnham also said the government had “serious legislative intent” to “compel internet companies to cut off customers who ignore warnings not to pirate material,” says Times Online, continuing »»»
However, in an interview with The Times, David Lammy, the Intellectual Property Minister, said that the Government had ruled out legislating to force ISPs to disconnect such users.
Speaking ahead of the publication of a report on the future of Britain’s digital industries, Mr Lammy said that there were very complex legal issues wrapped up in enforced disconnection. He added: I’m not sure it’s actually going to be possible.
According to the Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG, the Big 4 record labels, major ISPs in the US and Britain are close agreeing to police the Net.
However, the claim has been seriously discredited in North America, and in Britain, “Plans to combat internet pirates were stalled after a consultation by the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) showed there was no consensus between ISPs and the music industry as to how to deal with the seven million British internet users who share files illegally each year,” says the Times story, adding:
“The BPI, the body that represents the British record industry, wants all ISPs to sign up to a ‘three-steps policy’ by which repeat offenders are disconnected if they fail to stop sharing copyrighted material. Lord Carter, the Communications Minister, is to reveal his thoughts on the problem of illict file sharing in his Digital Britain report. The document was due to be released today but, because of a ministerial quagmire, is expected to be released on Thursday.
“Suggestions have emerged that Lord Carter will order the founding of a rights agency, funded by a levy on service providers, to address the problem of piracy, or that he may suggest additional charges on customers’ broadband bills to compensate the music industry.”
UK ministers, “intend to pass regulations on internet piracy requiring service providers to tell customers they suspect of illegally downloading films and music that they are breaking the law, says the draft report by Lord Carter,” said the Financial Times 10 days ago.
“It would also make them collect data on serious and repeated infringers of copyright law, which would then be made available to music companies or other rights-holders who can produce a court order for them to be handed over.”
Now, Times Oline has a “senior” figure music industry figure stating:
“The relative cost of stealing a bar of soap from an hotel might be small, but if it came to seven million people nicking the soap each year, which is what we have in the music industry, I’m sure that hotel chain would do something about it.”
ISPs, though, “welcomed the news”.
In the US, federal judge James P. Jones recently decided files downloaded don’t automatically equal sales lost, and a new study conducted for the Dutch government concluded the economic effects of filesharing are positive, exactly matching an earlier Canadian government report.
dramatic Net censorship measures – Dear Andy Burnham: On X-rated Net sites , December 30, 2008
The Telegraph – Internet sites could be given ‘cinema-style age ratings’, Culture Secretary says, December 27, 2008
Times Online – Music pirates will not be disconnected from the internet, January 26, 2009
seriously discredited – RIAA claims of ISP support: equine excreta, January 6, 2009
Financial Times – Internet piracy regulations planned for UK, January 16, 2009
economic effects of filesharing – P2P file sharing good for Big Music: Dutch study, January 20, 2009
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January 26th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
7 million British internet users? Wow, better not piss that bunch off. They are just like everyone else in the country. Regular folks who go to work, pay their bills and choose who gets to be in power come election time. Hard to believe a government cares so much about what is in truth only a very tiny segment of industry rather than the needs and wants of the masses, which is where their power base truly lies.
We’ve all seen the arguments for and against the creation of a levy which would compensate the music industry, and I definitely agree with the against (I was for but that was 10 years ago, before the entertainment industry made a mockery of the justice system and showed just how greedy and corrupt they truly were). Chief among those arguments is that no company should be supported and held aloft by the government. There are just too many down sides. While reading this article it popped into my head that perhaps there is a middle ground. Instead of disconnecting users who pirate copyrighted material, why not add a small extra surcharge on known offenders internet bills. It would of course be time limited and be taken off should a user be shown to discontinue their (so called) bad downloading habits. The hardest part would be the burden of proof, but that is going to be an issue no matter what plan you come with. Of course, it may also require monitoring a customers internet usage which brings up privacy concerns as well. If the entertainment industry is made responsible for monitoring offenders (which I think they should be at least partly responsible for and not the government) we would also need fines for abuse of this system. There must be accountability from all sides.
In any case, any plan they come up with is going to be a real pain to get up and running and truly be a quagmire indeed. However it must eventually be done for everyone’s sake. The industry (any industry) does have a right to at least try to protect their livelihood within reason, and the public must also be ensured of their rights to freedom and privacy, especially from tyranny such as frivolous lawsuits. The internet is not going away and I don’t think disconnecting people outright based on flimsy evidence and say so is any kind of solution. The whole concept of the internet and how it was designed was to prevent the whole of it from ever going down. Britain could disconnect their entire country if they really wanted to and it wouldn’t make any kind of lasting impact, especially to the kind of people the copyright cops are trying to target (which as we know are already doing badly thanks to DHCP).
January 26th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Highways are extremely dangerous places for children to be wandering around unattended. Therefor, I suggest we reduce the speed limit to that which a toddler could be reasonably expected to be able to avoid.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
time for hackers of the world to unite id say
January 26th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
oh and this should read. GOVT takes OVER FOR PARENTS and says NO PARENT IS GOOD
January 26th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
yea problem with soap bar analogy is that its flase totaly.
A) its not a physical loss as in the origianl bar a soap is still htere i just mad eme a copy
B) id not be able to afford the soap anyhow so my copy is not a true commercial loss as say somehow you stop me copying. ALL THAT MEANS IS I DONT GET MY COPIED SOAP. IM NOT BUYING SO YOU GAIN NOTING OTHER THEN DRMING OUR INTERNET
THATS RIGHT DRM COMES TO THE INTERNET ITSELF
January 26th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
thats why it says ‘HOT’ on coffee at macdonalds, because people are too stupid to realize coffee is hot.
thats why its the law some places to wear your seatbelt, because people are too stupid to do it themselves.
thats why there is a drinking age limit in most countries, because people are too stupid to exercise constraint.
thats why street signs for hospitals are pictures in amerika, because people are too fucking stupid to read.
thats why cars have automatic transmissions, because people are too stupid to learn how to drive a stick.
it absolutely amazes me sometimes how the human race got out of the stone age.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Chronoss for the hundredth time I canât understand your diatribe. Type out what you want to say then re-read, then capitalize, then spell check, then re-read. I think if you reflect on 99% of your posts you will realize you sound like a retard during your rants, but Iâm sure you have something substantive to say sometimes.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
@ CHRoNoSS
Hi: Please get in touch – p2pnet @ shaw dot ca
Cheers! And thanks …
January 26th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Time to dismantle our government and create a true democracy, one which allows the people to vote on important issues, one which isn’t controlled by the elite few who seek to further their own interests and those of big business ahead of the people. It’s time to say enough is enough, and we no longer wish to be ruled by an army of bureaucratic crooks.
January 26th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Never mind this nonsense labour. Stop giving away all the f**king taxpayers money to the clowns that run the banks.
The music industry needs to fu**off and die in a corner, very quietly.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
” Chronoss for the hundredth time I canât understand your diatribe. Type out what you want to say then re-read, then capitalize, then spell check, then re-read. I think if you reflect on 99% of your posts you will realize you sound like a retard during your rants, but Iâm sure you have something substantive to say sometimes. ”
Hello Chronoss Stalker.
I understood what he said perfectly.
For those too stupid to understand .. such as you …
The soap analogy is a bad one, as is ANY analogy realting to physical theft because
A. If a bar of soap is stolen, the original owner no longer has that bar of soap to use or sell,
thus is deprived of the benefits of having said soap. If a COPY of the soap is made there is
no loss of property, thus no ‘loss’ to the soap owner.
B. If the person who copied the soap couldn’t afford it anyway, they would not have bought the
soap in the first place, ever, therefore no loss of sale can exist.
It’s the same old shit wrapped up in a soapy wrapper instead of a CD case, Automobile body. Gas pump,
or how ever many other physical analogy have been made.
It just doesn’t hold up.
Feel better now ?
Chronoss said the exact same thing with fewer wasted words, and the rest of us got it just fine.
What’s next ? You gonna hide in the boot of his car ?
That didn’t work out well for Paula’s stalker.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Your handle says it all you must be on the same wave-lenght. Or maybe meds?
January 27th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Just who is ripping who off?
The music industry goes from vinyl to tape to cd to dvd.
The film industry goes from film to tape (both betamax and vhs) to vhs to dvd.
All the time the public are having to change very expensive equipment because they cann’t play/view the new stuff.
But this is acceptable to the industry moguls. It keeps the money rolling in. That is why they are charging full wack for 30 and 40 year old music and films.
No government is going to stop them because they have the law on their sides. Also, governments rely on large donations to run campaigns to persaude the public they should be in office to look after the interests of the people giving them money.
Rip off is right. Nine bob notes and bent come to mind on this one.
January 27th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
“Your handle says it all you must be on the same wave-lenght. Or maybe meds?”
Looks to me like YOUR handle is much more indicative of a troubled mental state than
hippie’s. That’s probably why you’re an Internet Stalker. I understood Chronoss without
any , heh , Confusion
Internet Stalkers are pretty much the worst type of coward, not even having the guts to
follow their victim around in person.
Perhaps YOU should look into ‘Meds’ to alleviate YOUR problem.
January 27th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Dreddsnik, “birds of a feather”
January 27th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Precisely.
Which must be why you fololw Chronoss everywhere he goes.
That must be why you obsessively attack him ( not his opinion ) in
every thread he posts in.
You want to be like him.
You want what he has, which in your eyes is the
respect of most of the regulars here.
If you can’t have that, you attack him, try to cut him at every post, every turn,
because you can’t be like him, will never be like him, and will never be considered
seriously in this forum.
It must really suck to be you, to NEED validation so much that you
have to stalk anonymously on the net.
I feel sorry for you, really, and i’m done feeding you now.
Chronoss, wisely never feeds you, and I hope Hippie stops feeding you too.
Without that attention, hopefully you’ll starve and the deep NEEDINESS you feel wil
eventually destroy you.
Have an interesting life.
January 27th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Dreddsnik, well you you certianly put me in my place, yes I will never be like my hero chronoss, excuse me while I crawl back under my rock.
January 27th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
“B. If the person who copied the soap couldnât afford it anyway, they would not have bought the
soap in the first place, ever, therefore no loss of sale can exist.”
You are correct with the above analogy , but only up to a certain point – people who can afford soap are now saying why bother paying for soap if I can get it for free even though I can afford it .
No one is being ripped off , you DONT have to have the latest dvd or bluray , its freedom of choice to leave it on the shelf . Youre ripped off if you have to pay to much for essentials like food or clothes .
That is the truth of the matter , waffling deliberatley naively (at best) and pig ignorantly denying the truth of the matter just makes you sad individuals if you cant see the truth .
January 27th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
With the world economy collapsing though , Im rather mystified that my crappy Government is spending so much time on this , probably someone in the House of Lords is “helping” it along into statute .