Digital Economy Bill Could See Google Blocked,

[peter991]

Digital Economy Bill could see Google blocked, Wikileaks shut down

By Lulu Sinclair of Sky News From: NewsCore April 09, 2010 8:28am

DE Bill rushed through before election

May block Google, shut down Wikileaks

Illegal downloaders face life bans

ILLEGAL downloaders could soon be banned from using the internet for life after a controversial bill was passed in the UK's Lower House of Parliament.

Sky News reported the Digital Economy Bill aims to stop people from illegally downloading copyrighted material from the internet, but critics argue it could have far greater powers and be used to censor and block free speech by ruling politicians.

The bill was rushed through the legislature before the dissolution of Parliament next Monday, ahead of next month's national election.

It was passed by 189 votes to 47 after concessions were agreed that saw the government drop a clause that allowed it sweeping powers to block sites.

But the amendment to another clause means that it could still be possible to block a site, if court approval was given.

Lawmakers who opposed the bill said it was right to do something about illegal downloads but that the new powers were too far-reaching.

One suggested that a search engine even as huge as Google could potentially be blocked.

Technology blogs claimed that the law would be way off the mark.

Techcrunch's Mike Butcher said: "In trying to support the old music industry models and tackle illegal file-sharing, the #DEBill, as it's known on Twitter, is poised to produce a new culture.

"That of legal letters from music industry bodies to (Internet Service Providers), bewildered householders and, no doubt, a manner of internet companies."

He argued that valuable sites such as Wikileaks, which carries copyrighted work, could be shut down, blocking the release of information that it was in the public's interest to know.

And paidContent:UK said: "The bill may have had a few parts stripped out and it may even be a damp squib. But the remaining 76-page Bill is still a wide-ranging piece of media and technology reform."

The Labour Party's former digital engagement minister Tom Watson earlier warned of a "catastrophic disaster", with potentially innocent people being cut off because they lived in the same building as illegal downloaders.

"It might be that a Wi-Fi network is being used in a household. You might have a parent who pays for the broadband connection and their children are illegally downloading," he said.

"The assumption in the current wording is that that parent has authorised the child to infringe copyright."

[astral]

The bill is totally misconceived piece of legislation.

This is what I wrote to my MP

After watching the recent Panorama programme about this bill, I would like to put forward some points for your consideration

1.The Record Companies.

Over the years I have accumulated a collection of CD's of classical music.

When the CD was first produced, some 30 years ago, we were told they would last for ever but that is not the case. I have several CD's that are suffering from rot. The silver coating, underneath the label, has disintegrated leaving a number of small holes. The result is an umpleasant popping sound as these holes pass over the laser.

I have written to the record company, but my letters are simply ignored.

CD's are like books, a batch is produced and then no more. So I am unable to purchase a new copy of the damaged disks.

The only way to replace them is to download a copy from a torrent site on the Internet.

Surely there is a marketing opportunity for the record companies here?

At age 63 I have no interest in the new pop music that seem to be the focus of the record companies.

2.TV Programmes

As a British expat I still like to keep up with British TV programmes.

I do subscribe to, and pay for, the BBC Entertainment and UKTV channels which are available via satellite. However both channels are broadcasting programmes 5 years old, with endless repeats They often insult the intelligence of the viewer; when a series ends they just start it again at episode 1, in the same time slot, presumably hoping we will not notice. UKTV is the worst offender here, I think they only have 3-6 months of programmes and keep repeating. They do not offer a web site for viewers to comment. They probably do not care?

The only way to get up to date TV entertainment programmes is to download them from torrent sites. This is how I was able to view the Panorama programme. I might add that this is time consuming, as I only have a slow speed link, 512kb/s, here in ****, and serious limits on the quantity of data I can download in a month.

The other alternative of streaming video data from the BBC site, is just impossible due to the bandwidth restrictions here. Even an “audio only” programme is broken up, making listening difficult.

In the Internet age the whole world is changing. With “fast broadband for everyone” as a policy of the government, no matter what shade that government may be, isn't it time we started encouraging the Digital Economy, exploiting the opportunities, not just trying to pass negative legislation?

The proposed Digital Economy Bill is just pandering to these pressure groups without encouraging them to offer any real alternative to the Internet users. Once alternatives are in place then the strictures of the proposed bill may make more sense, or may not be necessary at all?

[Phil Conners]

Well said.

In fact when we complained about the price of a piece of plastic we were always told that we were paying for the right to own the music, not the media. So why are we not allowed to download all that music we purchased during the '60, '70 and '80 on vinyl and mc. Supposedly we already paid to own the music, so why force us to buy it again on CD?

It's surprising that Labour of all would put forward a law like this. Tories I could understand, even expect....

[somchai69]

A friend of mine was speculating on how much Lord Meddlesome has been paid to put this bill forward..........................