[Watford] Digital Economy Bill

[Alain Williams]

The Digital Economy Bill could be forced through parliament in 2 week's time without proper debate.
Amateur photographers, small businesses and community groups could be affected by
this bill which has been heavily influenced by big media interests and
largely ignored public concerns.

There is a march in Westminster this wednesday, you can also write to you MP.

See:

	http://www.openrightsgroup.org/campaigns/disconnection

I append what I wrote to my MP (below), which she will prob ignore --
one of Blair's Babes, she tends to say that since she is in the cabinet that
she is not allowed to use her brain for independent thought -- or some words
of much the same meaning.



What I wrote, reproduced to give others ideas and to urge you on:

****************
Dear Claire Ward,

I am writing to you about the Digital Economy Bill that is being pushed
through Parliament at the moment. I am concerned, this bill is not
being given enough time in debate in spite of many industry experts and
others such as the British Library.

If there is not time now, then it is better to wait until the other
side of the General Election than to rush through bad laws.

At first glance it sounds as if this bill is doing the right thing:
protecting digital rights holders but a closer examination shows flaws
in both this motive and the bill's implementation.

Since, I suspect, that this is not an area where you have devoted much
time let me help you.

This 'fireside chat' by Lawrence Lessig is worth listening to the end;
yes he is from the USA but they have similar problems to what we have
here. The basic message is that rights and enterprise of individuals
and small companies are becoming increasingly hampered by the will of
the multinationals: who are able to push through legislation by virtue
of greater financial muscle.

   http://blip.tv/file/3283837

These multinationals, in the form of banks, are responsible for the
financial cesspit in which the UK economy is currently mired.

This is, in some way, related to my recent letter to you asking you to
help defend individuals from the increasing power of the state.

Regarding the implementation of these aims: the Digital Economy Bill.
This is flawed in many ways and is likely to have unintended
consequences:

* Free Wifi points in pubs and cafes are likely to disappear. I rely on
these to keep on top of when I am traveling.

* My kids friends occasionally bring their PCs to use at my house. Am I
going to have to stop this ? If so: how do I do this ?

* The bill says that someone can be cut off from the Internet upon an
unproven allegation. There are plenty of instances of erronious claims
by copyright holders that individuals have done something that they
should not. It will be up to the individuals to prove that they are
innocent, getting the records from ISPs/... to prove this can be time
consuming - during which time they are disconnected from the net.

* If someone is proven to have broken copyright there are other
penalties that can be applied.

* I note that the government is urging citizens to increasingly
interact with government via the net -- how can they do so if
disconnected ?

* Your children are not old enough to access the web by themselves. In
a few years time you will discover that they will do things, in spite
of your telling them not to. Would you want to be cut off from the web
because of your kids ?

* If I were to be cut off from the Internet my business would collapse.
Do you want that ? I do not download illegal content, but I see others
who have been blamed for something that they have not done.

* The music industry is blaming some of its woes on illegal copying.
There has always been 'bootlegging', this is a red herring - the
problem is that they have a business model that has had its day;
Parliamentary legislation is not the way to fix their problems.

My aim is to raise doubts in your mind that it is safe to push this
bill through with the current paucity of parliamentary perusal.

Yours sincerely,

Alain Williams
****************

-- 
Alain Williams
Linux/GNU Consultant - Mail systems, Web sites, Networking, Programmer, IT Lecturer.
+44 (0) 787 668 0256  http://www.phcomp.co.uk/
Parliament Hill Computers Ltd. Registration Information: http://www.phcomp.co.uk/contact.php
Past chairman of UKUUG: http://www.ukuug.org/
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