Entertainment cartel UK 3 Strikes Plan stalled
p2pnet news view P2P | Politics:- Efforts by the Hollywood and Big Music to have their Three Strikes anti-P2P business plan forced into law in Britain before the next elections look doomed to failure, for the moment, at least.
Conservative shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt (right) says he doesn’t believe the Digital Economy Bill will get through Parliament before then, “even with Tory support,” according to Times Online, which goes on:
“The Conservatives back most of the proposals, which include disconnecting persistent internet pirates,” the so-called ‘graduated response’ developed by Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music, and Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom, NBC Universal and Sony Pictures, it says.
And it’s just been revealed that secretary of state Peter Mandelson, who’s representing the entertainment industry in Britain, is demanding changes to the bill.
They’d mean he, or his Tory successor, another unelected official, would be free to do anything they wanted without parliamentary oversight or debate or, as long as it was in the name of ‘copyright protection’.
Or as the story puts it, “The Bill will also contain a controversial last-minute amendment that will give ministers the ability to change copyright law to combat file sharing. The clause will grant ministers the right to update the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 in response to new technlogies as they appear, which has led to accusations from online campaigners that it would give future governments too much ammunition against pirates.”
Stay tuned.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Times Online – New Digital Bill unlikely to become law before election, warn Tories, November 20, 2009
demanding changes – Biggest copyright sting in history, November 20, 2009
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November 21st, 2009 at 11:45 am
Link to the Times article is broken.
November 21st, 2009 at 11:58 am
^^ Fixed. Thanks.
Cheers!
November 21st, 2009 at 12:09 pm
“change copyright law to combat file sharing”?
I think they mean ‘changing copyright law to combat copyright infringement’.
The easiest way of doing that is to abolish copyright, not to criminalise citizens who fail to respect the corporation’s privilege over them.
There are various approaches to abolishing copyright:
1) Enact such draconian enforcement that you foment a rebellion.
2) Provide a more lucrative alternative.
3) Help people understand why the privilege of a reproduction monopoly is unethical and should be abolished.
The corporations are doing an excellent job on the first approach, however it’s a rather inhumane one, and their objective is to obtain control of the Internet (not simply to prevent ‘counterfeiting’ or file-sharing).
I and others are working on the second, more humane approach, developing revenue mechanisms that operate without copyright. However, it’s not easy homesteading an alien and unpopulated territory that most people believe to be an inhospitable wilderness existing beyond the edge of the world (as Jon appreciates only too well).
Not many are engaged in the third approach. QuestionCopyright.org and AgainstMonopoly.org are a couple that spring to mind. Perversely, the Pirate Party still supports copyright, but if the corporations keep it up (via ACTA, etc.) then even the Pirate Party might realise that principle should come before popularity.
November 21st, 2009 at 2:02 pm
“Theyâd mean he, or his Tory successor, another unelected official” The “Secretary of state for xxx” can be any member of Parliament. That means it can be a member of the house of Lords, like Mandy, who is unelected, or can be a member of the house of Commons, who is. He has two positions, an honourific of “First Secretary of State”, which has no actual power, but his actual job is “Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills” which is where this proposal comes from.
Andrew
November 21st, 2009 at 8:40 pm
“it would give future governments too much ammunition against pirates”,
And against innocent people wrongfully accused to be pirate who would be most of what they catch since the real pirates know how to avoid detection.
The only way to make sure to never appear on the enemy radar screen would be to discontinue your IP provider subscription.
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:13 am
What is an “internet pirate”? Why should Peer-to-Peer be illegal? Will this mean that if I own 2 or 3 notebooks linked together through a P2P-router I cant share my photo’s. Why stop there, ban open-source software, ban email traffic, ban all network linkage. This is ludicrous and ridiculous. They moan about ‘not enough innovation’! What do they expect! What pills are these people taking!!