Tuesday 8 December 2009

The new UK piracy Bill and the anti-piracy lobby

The new Bill works on the model of the three strikes law, with obviously no intervention of an independent body. Anybody can request the ISP to file a notice and it is the ISP that makes the decision. What about a fair trial in the UK?
Moreover, the list of 'offenders' can be requested by anybody victim of copyrights infringement. But in the past, did we not need a search warrant? i.e. a judge assessing the claim made by prosecution/victims?
For the bill itself, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldbills/001/10001.i-ii.html

For a preview before the Bill went to Parliament, "Mandelson puts 'three strikes' internet plan in motion" (ZDnet.co.uk, 28 October 2009)

"Digital Economy Bill gets tough on file-sharers" (ZDnet.co.uk, 20 November 2009)

"Digital Economy Bill: Industry disputes gov't claims" (ZDnet.co.uk, 20 November 2009)
"Web giants attack Digital Economy Bill" (ZDnet.co.uk, 02 December 2009)

"GCHQ supplier pans government file-sharing plans" (ZDnet.co.uk, 27 November 2009) and
"UK Politicians Pushing Back On Mandelson's Digital Economy Bill" (TechDirt, 03 December 2009) but on the contrary, "Virgin Media to monitor traffic for file-sharing" (ZDnet.co.uk, 26 November 2009)

"Yes, But Will Sergey Brin Take Peter Mandelson Out To Dinner At A Fancy Resort?" (TechDirt, 02 December 2009)

The funny side of things is that mobile industry cannot identify offenders. So guess what? do not use your home computer. Use your smartphone! "Mobile industry 'cannot identify pirates' " (ZDnet.co.uk, 24 November 2009)

To put the whole debate in perspective, read this interesting article that shows how powerful is the lobby against piracy. There is nothing about morals here, but only about economic gain, and some cynics may add, about economic greed. "European ISPs attack secret Acta copyright talks" (ZDnet.co.uk, 02 December 2009)

See also, more generally on the use of the internet for surveillance purposes but without the traditional safeguards of a warrant, the interview of Tim Berners-Lee, the "Web inventor: 'Snooping' authorities threaten Internet" (Euractiv.com, 03 December 2009)

And the EU stand against this new trend of legislation, even before the UK Bill was drafted: "European 'internet freedom' law agreed" (ZDnet.co.uk, 05 November 2009) "One promise needed for internet freedom" (ZDnet.co.uk, 05 November 2009)

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