Google, Facebook, ‘3 strikes’ concerns
p2pnet view P2P | Advertising:- The Great Unwashed, that’s you and me, have been “expressing grave concerns” about the Hollywood-cum-Big Music ACTA and Three Strikes scams ever since they were first mooted.
The lamescream press corpse ignores us.
Yet let online advertising companies Fa$ebook and Google do the same and it’s instant news.
Our concerns centre on personal and data privacy — on keeping it out of the hands of the likes of Fa$ebook and Google .
Theirs centre on improving their bottom lines on behalf of their owners and shareholders which, to an extent, means somehow mining peoples’ personal and private data, whether they like it or not and, it’s often said, whether they know it or not.
“Lib Dem peers are seeking to amend the Digital Economy Bill to allow site blocking for copyright infringement”, p2pnet quoted Open Rights Group’s Jim Killock as saying at the beginning of the week, stating, “This could lead to unwanted blocking of sites accused of copyright infringement, including sites like Youtube, and a massive chilling effect as any site with user generated content could easily fall foul of provisions like this.”
The ISPA (Internet Service Providers Association) joined in saying it was “outraged” by the House of Lords decision to approve Amendment 120A to the UK Digital Economy Bill which would allow the High Court to grant an injunction calling for ISPs to block sites with a “substantial proportion” of content alleged to infringe copyrights.
“This would open the door to a massive imbalance of power in favour of large copyright holding companies,” Killock warned in the Telegraph. Individuals and small businesses “would be open to massive ‘copyright attacks’ that could shut them down, just by the threat of action”, he stated.
“Whilst we appreciate the concern of opposition front benches to clause 17, we regret that this amendment has been hastily constructed and rushed through at report stage without due consideration of the implications or consultation with the interested parties that would be affected” said ISPA.
Now, “The government has been defeated in the House of Lords over measures to tackle online piracy after opponents said the plans could hamper digital innovation”, says the BBC.
“Ministers want the power to change laws on online copyright in future without the need for further legislation”, says the story. However, “The Lords said the “blanket nature” of the clause was “objectionable”.
But “their chosen replacement – giving courts the right to block internet sites which are infringing copyright – has also prompted criticism”, it says, going on:
“The government argued that the new Digital Economy Bill should include the power to amend copyright law to ensure legislation could cope with more technically advanced forms of piracy in the future.
“But Google and Facebook were among the firms to express ‘grave concerns’ about the provision, saying it could allow ministers to ‘increase monitoring of user data even where no illegal practice has taken place’.”
Both companies have been ‘monitoring’ (to be polite) user data for years, claiming they have only our best interests at heart, and that they need access to the information to “improve users’ online experiences”.
“Junior innovation minister Lord Young of Norwood Green said blocking websites was an ‘enormous step’,” says the BBC, going on:
“He said it would be hard to block sites offering illegal content without also blocking legitimate material, and agreed that sites linking to other sites – such as search engines – could be adversely affected. ‘I don’t think it would be sensible or appropriate to adopt this approach,’ he warned during the debate on the bill.”
However, Geoff Taylor, fromnt man for Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music’s BPI, “welcomed the amendment and said the ISPA’s claim it could lead to ‘blocking based on accusation’ was unfounded, tjhe story adds.
Guess who’s making the accusations …
Continue to stay tuned.
..… and identi.ca
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
p2pnet – ISPs ‘outraged’ over new copyright threat, March 4, 2010
Open Rights Group – Lib Dems seek web blocking: ask them to stop, March 2, 2010
ISPA – ISPA Outraged by Amendment on Network Level Blocking to Digital Economy Bill, March 3, 2010
Telegraph – YouTube ‘under threat’ from Digital Economy Bill changes, March 4, 2010
BBC – Lords force rethink of government’s online piracy plans, March 5, 2010
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