UK Passes Bill To Restrict Internet (coming near you soon)

On 8th April' 2010 U.K parliament passed a Digital Economy Bill in a late night session winning it by 197 votes to 40. The next 42 clauses of the bill were then considered in five minutes. Inspite of several complains that the bill was too important and its ramifications too great for it to be pushed through in this "wash-up" period in which bills are not given the usual detailed examination the government declined to yield. So what is this Bill all about?

The original copy of the Bill can be found here House of Lords Session 2009 - 10 - Digital Economy Bill [HL].

This did not generate much news and was buried in an article on guardian website

The new clause allows the secretary of state for business to order the blocking of "a location on the internet which the court is satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright".

The Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming protested that this could mean the blocking of the whistleblower site Wikileaks, which carries only copyrighted work. Stephen Timms for the government said that it would not want to see the clause used to restrict freedom of speech – but gave no assurance that sites like Wikileaks would not be blocked.

Don Foster, the Liberal Democrats' spokesman for culture, media and sport, protested that the clause was too wide-ranging: "it could apply to Google," he complained, adding that its inclusion of the phrase about "likely to be used" meant that a site could be blocked on its assumed intentions rather than its actions.

Digital economy bill rushed through wash-up in late night session

Are you beginning to see the picture yet how in the name of prevention from piracy Government is imposing filters on Internet. Infact that is not all, now Government will force your Internet Service Provider's (ISP's) to keep track of EVERYTHING you download from Internet and ISP's will log it with your IP addresses everytime you download something. It can even be a PDF file or even something as small as a word document, websites like Youtube etc. This letter explains all:


Hold your sigh of relief right there if you are not from U.K because this is coming very soon to your country as well with the ACTA act.

Related threads:
* Pay Attention Now Internet User!!

i call bullcrap!

"intellectual property address"

i think you, or them will find that the IP in IP address stands for "internet protocol" ... NOT intellectual propertys.

the government would know this! , intullectual properties and ip addressess are not related!

Originally posted by boaby_phet
i call bullcrap!

"intellectual property address"

i think you, or them will find that the IP in IP address stands for "internet protocol" ... NOT intellectual propertys.

the government would know this! , intullectual properties and ip addressess are not related!

I'll back you on the IP part but the rest of the OP is spot on it just so happens that this bill was intoduced after Mandy (Peter Mandelson) was on holiday with David Geffen who is a leading Hollywood critic of illegal file sharing.

Mandy comes back from Holiday bam the Digital Economy bill is brought to the table.

Makes me wonder what his kick back is.

For those that don't live in the UK or know who Peter Mandelson is to give you an measure of this man he was forced to quit his high level offices within the goverment twice after being caught first getting a passport for a wealthy business man second for under the table loan he did not delcare.

The most worrying part is that this could mean the blocking of the whistleblower site Wikileaks/ Cryptome or any websites which the Govt./ Organisation/ Corporates feels is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright" will be blocked. That's a easy way out for the corrupt people so people dont have an access to such websites.

Originally posted by boaby_phet
i call bullcrap!

"intellectual property address"

i think you, or them will find that the IP in IP address stands for "internet protocol" ... NOT intellectual propertys.

the government would know this! , intullectual properties and ip addressess are not related!

Indeed, but this is the UK Government, where MP's try to be hip and cool yet usually fail miserably and look daft in the process.

Gordon Brown even called a hit TV show The Eastenders (it's simply Eastenders) in a reference he made in a speech, showing he obviously knows bugger all about the show and was trying to be "cool", so it is believable that this MP Stephen Timms is a numpty and mis-quoted what his "advisors" told him.

Having said that, even Government IT guys are usually the worst at it in the world, as the best Technical staff work in the private sector. I deal with quite a few Government departments and they couldn't find their way round their own networks with a map, GPS and magical fairy guide.

It is also worth noting that this Bill is not solely about protecting copyright owners, but for the large part is about putting together a framework to move Britain forward in the future.

Also, I am not that sympathetic to people who file share nor those who defend them. Granted, I used to do it alot back in the day, but now I just like to catch up on some shows I missed as I was at work. if I want a film or a game, I will pay for it.

At the end of the day, if people stop paying for stuff, stuff stops getting made. I like stuff, so I pay for it. Anything else is stealing. You wouldn;t walk into Comet and nonchlantly pick up a 42" TV thehn walk out the door, or go into HMV and fill your pockets with DVD's, so what makes it different on the internet?

As for content filtering, this already happens you know? It's been happening in other forms of media for decades, yet no-one seems to mind there, why is that?

I also doubt that the Minister responsible is going to bar sites willy nilly, they are subject to oversight from the courts so it has to be proven to areasonable degree.

Also, the public outrage at abitrary moves such as banning popular sites like Wikileaks or Google/Youtube would be immense and could kill a Government, especially one prediected to be quite weak after the next election.

I think this is fear mongering, to be honest. Laws are also only as good as they perform in court. On many occasions, the Judges have said certain laws are infact "unlawful" and they have to go back to the drawing board and try again.

It is yet to be seen how this will perform in court with at least one ISP saying they will fight every attempt to disconnect or ban people/sites in the courts.

www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet

GetUp! Sign the online petition

Sorry for the spam.

Britains gotta be one of the most surveillanced nations on the planet. With there ridiculous smart cameras and lack of protection on free speech.

I feel like America is going down the same route. Except with sneakier means. Take the Ipad for example. The end of books and paper! Check out this article.

Apple Corp Is Destroying The World

reply to post by dpgardne1


And you base this on........?

How are we the most surveilled nation on the planet? What is a "smart" camera and pray tell, what "lack of protections on free speech" are there?