Mandelson: shying away from 3 strikes deal?
p2pnet news view Politics | Music:- It seems UK peer (no, not that kind) Lord Mandelson is close to deciding the better part of valour is discretion in the UK chapter of the online file sharing farce, in which he’s front and centre.
In other words, it looks as though he’s about to weasel out.
Mandelson thought he was onto a good thing when he embroiled himself in the British end of the entertainment cartel Three Strikes anti-P2P, anti-file sharing, anti-consumer screw-up.
But it’s becoming a major scandal for both himself, and the British government he represents.
With spurious claims that some seven million Britons are file sharing criminals and thieves in the background, Mandelson, secretary of state for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), ordered legislative measures be, “beefed up to include sanctions such as fines and cutting off of Internet access,” said Billboard recently.
Under them, Hollywood and the Big 4 record labels, principally, strive to can gain control of how, and by whom, product is distributed online, with governments acting as taxpayer-funded corporate copyright enforcement overseers, and ISPs working as their police units.
However, internet service providers aren’t quite as enthusiastic as Mandelson, who was apparently egged on by movie David Geffen, and the former is also on the receiving end of heavy flak from corporate performers of the ilk of Paul McCartney and Elton John.
Now, it’s time for him to head for the hills.
A TimesOnline story focusing on the Lily Allen debacle says, “The peer himself gave only lukewarm support to the proposals yesterday, fuelling speculation that the Government will abandon them.”
Does French entertainment cartel employee Nicolas Sarkozy know about this? – one wonders.
If he doesn’t now, he soon will amd meanwhile, Mandelson says temporary suspension of people accused of being filesharing pirates is “an option”.
Until now, the plan has been to simply boot them offline, and no messing.
But, “We are talking about a temporary, possibly short lived, suspension of persistent unlawful file sharers after many written notifications with a chance to appeal,” he says in the story, adding:
“It does not get more modest or more fair than that. But we have a responsibility to put these options forward for people to debate.”
In other words, if and when the corporate entertainment industry three strikes deal ever gets implemented, nothing will happen.
Stay tuned.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
major scandal – Big Music vs The Invisibles, September 25, 2009
spurious claims – 7 million Brits are file sharing criminals !?, September 5, 2009
Billboard – U.K. Govt Rebuffs File-Sharing Reports, August 17, 2009
quite as enthusiastic – UK anti-file sharing move angers ISPs, August 26, 2009
corporate performers – UK ‘Three Strikes’ plan under heavy fire, September 4, 2009
TimesOnline – Blow for music industry as Lily Allen says Peter Mandelson’s plans too draconian, September 25, 2009
entertainment cartel employee – 3 Strikes Sarkozy, corkscrews and Vivendi, September 25, 2009
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September 25th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
But, “We are talking about a temporary, possibly short lived, suspension of persistent unlawful file sharers after many written notifications with a chance to appeal,”
“Persistent unlawful file sharers” have already read the instructions at http://www.kioskofpiracy.org/ and have their hardware ready.