Hi Simon, I am not sure that many people really understand the full consequence of what has just happened. This adds to the rise of an already dominant panoptican state, cctv cameras, ID Cards, and now this bill. "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."
"in trying to support artists’ copyright and tackle illegal file-sharing, is about to produce a new culture – in which ISPs and bewildered householders are deluged with threatening legal letters from the entertainment industry." Make no mistake, this is a good day for corporations, such as those disgusting Murdoch owned newspapers like the Sun and of course - the greedy record companies, gaining further control over content and its freedom of distribution on the Internet. It is not just about young people downloading free mp3's, way beyond that - amongst the bill was a whole load of other measures, protocols, restrictions which will hit many of us in the future. As you say... >This effectively means the UK government has the power to control >who can link to who on the web. This is an assault on the primary >architecture of the web, the functionality of the hyperlink and the >capability to link any location to another. This is complementary >action to News International raising pay-walls around its online resources. The effect this will have on grass roots culture and its stranglulation of creative cultures using the Internet, will take effect soon. "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." "The govt. can tell Ofcom whether it should order ISPs to sanction speed blocks, bandwidth shaping, site blocking, account suspension or other limits against an ISP customer. First, Ofcom must do consultation and consider whether these measures would work." http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/apr/08/digital-economy-bill-quick-guide-45-measures Anyway... marc > An implicit but important part of this bill is that the government now > has the power, without judicial oversight, to block links to web sites > and pages it deems to be in breach of the Digital Economy act. This > effectively means the UK government has the power to control who can > link to who on the web. This is an assault on the primary architecture > of the web, the functionality of the hyperlink and the capability to > link any location to another. This is complementary action to News > International raising pay-walls around its online resources. > > The UK has no constitution and citizens are subjects of the crown, not > independent citizens. They have no constitutional rights protecting > things like free speech. The UK’s archaic legal and constitutional > systems have allowed a reactionary and illiberal law to be > undemocratically brought into force and it will function to constrain > the development of networked and digital media in the UK. Australia > has also done this, implementing systems similar to those used in > China. Very bad days for the internet. > > Best > > Simon > > > Simon Biggs > > s.biggs@ eca .ac.uk [email protected] Skype: simonbiggsuk > http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ > Research Professor edinburgh college of art http://www. eca .ac.uk/ > *C* reative *I* nterdisciplinary *R* esearch into *C* o *L* laborative > *E* nvironments http://www. eca .ac.uk/circle/ > *E* lectronic *L* iterature as a *M* odel of *C* reativity and *I* > nnovation in *P* ractice http://www.elmcip.net/ > > > *From: *marc garrett <[email protected]> > *Reply-To: *NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity > <[email protected]> > *Date: *Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:32:56 +0100 > *To: *NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity > <[email protected]> > *Subject: *[NetBehaviour] UK passes Digital Economy Bill. > > UK passes Digital Economy Bill. > > British parliament has passed the Digital Economy Bill by a vote of 189 > to 47. > > The bill covers issues such as online copyright infringement, internet > piracy, regulation of TV and radio, the classification of video games > and regulations over internet services providers. A new clause allows > the secretary of state for business to block websites that have violated > copyright. > > It has been criticised by digital groups who say it has not been > discussed for a suitable amoung of time. The bill was passed in a > "wash-up" process, which translates to a limited debate on the bill. > Popular microblogging site Twitter has already registered protests > against it. > > http://www.newstatesman.com/digital/2010/04/digital-economy-bill-british > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland, number > SC009201 > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
