I am just forwarding this email from the U.K. LUGMaster list, it is about the Open Rights Group that are currently campaigning against the Digital Economy Bill.<br><br>Gordon<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>
From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Alex Smith</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:alex@alexsmith.org">alex@alexsmith.org</a>></span><br>Date: 2009/12/16<br>Subject: [lugmaster] [Fwd: Digital Economy Bill]<br>To: "A closed discussion list for UK LUGMasters." <<a href="mailto:lugmaster@mailman.lug.org.uk">lugmaster@mailman.lug.org.uk</a>><br>
<br><br>Hello all.<br>
<br>
Apologies if this seems spammy, but I thought some of that might be interesting to your LUGs? Digital rights certainly seems to be an often discussed point at most of the LUG meets I've run lately ;)<br>
<br>
Best<br><font color="#888888">
<br>
A<br>
</font><br>Alex,<br>
<br>
For forwarding to LUGs mailman - thanks :-)<br>
<br>
---<br>
<br>
Hi,<br>
<br>
I hope you don't mind me contacting you; I work for the Open Rights<br>
Group, and we're currently campaigning against the Digital Economy<br>
Bill - specifically the clauses which allow for disconnection without<br>
fair trial and for the secretary of business (currently Peter<br>
Mandelson) to change copyright law without putting it to Parliament<br>
first. We're hoping to get LUGs around the country involved with the<br>
campaign, and I was hoping that you could pass on this message to<br>
email lists around the UK, rather than my cold-emailing them all<br>
myself.<br>
<br>
Many believe we are defending copyright infringement: to clear this<br>
up, we are not. ORG's concerns with this Bill have nothing to do with<br>
civil copyright infringement, except that attempts to deal with<br>
infringement are threatening to erode our basic human rights. We<br>
support copyright, but believe that it should never be placed above<br>
our civil liberties.<br>
<br>
ORG's stance on the Digital Economy Bill is simple: any law which<br>
proposes unreasonable punishments which would be dealt out to anyone<br>
suspected of copyright infringement with no proof at all is as unfair<br>
as it is possible to get.<br>
<br>
Disconnection is a disproportionate punishment, especially when given<br>
to families or businesses rather than the individual perpetrator, and<br>
could have severe consequences, putting people’s jobs, businesses or<br>
education at risk. To put this into perspective, if a child is<br>
suspected of shoplifting, it would be terribly unfair to ban an entire<br>
family from the town centre without any evidence - yet this is quite<br>
similar to what the bill proposes.<br>
<br>
Additionally, disconnection could mean the end of WiFi hotspots, which<br>
provide accessible Internet to the public, by making owners of the<br>
connection liable for any copyright infringement that occurs, even if<br>
they didn't commit it themselves.<br>
<br>
We also believe that nobody should be allowed to change these laws<br>
without Parliamentary debate (Clause 17), that censorship is wrong<br>
(Clause 11) and that our personal data should not be used to aid<br>
copyright enforcement agencies, especially when that data was<br>
originally collected for another purpose entirely.<br>
<br>
The fact is that our concerns with this Bill have nothing to do with<br>
civil copyright infringement, except that attempts to deal with<br>
infringement are threatening to erode our basic rights.<br>
<br>
We're asking UK citizens to get in touch with their MP and explain to<br>
them how unfair this is, and possibly to meet them at one of their<br>
surgeries to discuss the specific problematic points of the bill in<br>
detail. Talking to MPs is a much needed step because, whilst over<br>
30,000 people have signed ORG's petition against disconnection (which<br>
can be found at <a href="http://bit.ly/dontdisconnect" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/dontdisconnect</a>), we recognise that a<br>
petition doesn't go far enough. It's worked in that people are now<br>
talking about it in the media and to their friends and families, but<br>
we know we need to push the campaign forwards and persuade the people<br>
who will actually be voting either for or against the proposals.<br>
<br>
ORG believes that visits and letters from voters will help change the<br>
minds of MPs currently for the proposals; our representatives will<br>
then see that people care about their rights and, as their duty is to<br>
vote in accordance with constituents' opinions, we hope that they will<br>
then oppose the Bill.<br>
<br>
Any help is appreciated. For further information or help with talking<br>
to their MP, list members can contact me - <a href="mailto:katie@openrightsgroup.org">katie@openrightsgroup.org</a> -<br>
and I'll do my best to help. The only thing we can't do is the<br>
talking, as MPs will only talk to their own constituents - will you<br>
help us fight this battle for our rights, and do the talking?<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
Katie Sutton<br>
Digital Economy Bill campaigner<br>
<a href="mailto:katie@openrightsgroup.org">katie@openrightsgroup.org</a><br>
<a href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org" target="_blank">http://www.openrightsgroup.org</a><br>
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