[Wylug-discuss] Open Rights Group : Digital Economy Bill - Manchester, 23rd Jan

[Robert Burrell Donkin]

On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 3:28 AM, Philip Wyett <philwyett at gmx.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 2010-01-08 at 23:33 +0000, Tim Dobson wrote:
>> I've just found out that The Open Rights Group are running an event on
>> the 23rd of January at Madlab in Manchester to help the campaign against
>> the Digital Economy Bill.
>> --
>>
>> The Open Rights Group wants to help you get your voice heard: by helping
>> you to talk to your MP. Booking an appointment with your MP and saying
>> what you think is easier than you might think.
>>
>> At this event you will:
>>
>>     * Gain the confidence to talk and write to your MP
>>     * Rehearse talking to your MP one on one
>>     * Find out what MPs will ask you
>>     * Learn how to write to your MP and get a response
>>     * Meet other people campaigning against disconnection without trial
>> in the Digital Economy Bill
>>
>> Talking to your MP is the most effective way to make sure Parliament
>> knows how unpopular and bad disconnection without trial really would be.
>>
>> In these short sessions, you can try out talking to your MP or watch
>> someone else having a go, and learn how to get your points across in a
>> way that an MP will understand.
>>
>> To book, please use these form:
>>
>> http://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2010/how-to-talk-to-your-mp-training-days
>>
>> ---
>>
>> See you there!
>>
>> Tim
>>
>> P.S. Obviously, if you support the Digital Economy Bill and want
>> families to be cut off without trial, you needn't attend. No bad
>> feelings! :)
>>
>
> The Digital Economy Bill is a little more than just possible
> disconnection without trial for persistent file-sharers. It is far
> bigger with regard possible changes to copyright law without going
> through Parliament and the Lords etc. I wish people would stop solely
> hanging their hat on the disconnection bit. :-/

this is not the bill which was consulted about. after those holiday
meetings between his Lordship and men of power and wealth, quite a
different beast emerged.

the disconnection bit is now probably one of the more reasonable bits.
the powers are much wider than that. (for example, it effectively bans
public WiFi.)


the Secretary of State will be able to force ISP to comply with any
whim. this includes:
* banning anyone or any organisation from use of the internet
* requiring that only certain protocols are allowed
* censoring any internet site
* forcing all allowed protocols to be fully proxied
* banning of strong cryptography


it is an enabling bill for copyright

this is a consider-leaving-the-country deal for software development
and FOSS in the UK

once passed the Secretary Of State will be able to:
* censor anyone at will
* modify the terms of any software contract worldwide including
payment and warranty terms
* enforce payment for free content including free software and
political pamphlets
* prosecute a blogger for copyright infringement after retrospectively
re-assigning ownership of a post
* introduce novel forms of copyright


(fool that i am) i tried to submit a written memorandum about the
threat to software development in the UK. it appears that the
information on the Parliamentary website is wrong. apparently, it will
not be possible to submit points to the select committee until much
later in the process if at all.

i would have been wiser to invest in a couple of islands and some yachts....

- robert