Pretty predictably, the bill has been sent to wash-up
(http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2260871/digital-economy-bill-wash).
Basically that means that it's likely to be rail-roaded through, as predicted.
So unless someone puts the brakes on and stops the relevant parts, (and they
only have tomorrow to do it apparently), watch all the anti-piracy measures in
the bill get circumvented, just as happened in France a few weeks ago. Oh,
and by the way, legal purchases of media will now go down.
Both the government and the media companies will get what they deserve out of
this stupid bill.; a lot of angry customers and voters. Unfortunately, a hell
of a lot of innocent people are going to be branded criminals along the way.
Also, and I've only just found this out, independent creators are going to be
extremely p*****d off. Apparently Clause 43 allows the big media
organisations, such as the BBC and news sites to use so-called orphaned works
without having to make any effort to trace the owner of the copyright. Stand
by to find your pictures in the newspapers and on the BBC website without
attribution or payment.
--
Terry Coles
64 bit computing with Kubuntu Linux
--
Next meeting: Bournemouth, Wed 2010-04-07 20:00
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