UK Disconnected
At a time when internet innovation is sky rocketing, the UK government is trying to introduce something called the Digital Economy Bill. Sounds pretty harmless? It's actually a terrible nightmare in disguise and it will hamper innovation pretty sharpish.
One of those bills that tries to slip through government at the behest of media conglomerates, what does it mean for you? If anyone is even accused of file-sharing in your house, your internet can be terminated without notice and you'll be slapped with a £50,000 fine. They don't even need evidence.
ISP's would effectively be forced to spy on our internet traffic, ISP's that fail to co-operate will be smacked with a £250,000 fine. Ouch.
The tragedy is, this is just the beginning.
"Peter Mandelson, the unelected Business Secretary, would have to power to make up as many new penalties and enforcement systems as he likes. And he says he's planning to appoint private militias financed by rightsholder groups who will have the power to kick you off the internet, spy on your use of the network, demand the removal of files or the blocking of websites, and Mandelson will have the power to invent any penalty, including jail time, for any transgression he deems you are guilty of. And of course, Mandelson's successor in the next government would also have this power" — Cory, Boing Boing
And in somehow if that's not enough, under the same act the government will also introduce age ratings on all boxed video games aimed at children aged 12 or over.
There's no way that this is a forward thinking goverment, you might as well disconnect the UK from the internet altogether — as soon as what we say is spied upon, controlled and people are jailed without evidence I'll no longer feel like a citizen of the modern world.
You can help stop this bill going through by telling your MP just what you think of the Digital Economy Bill, a great website called WriteToThem is set-up to make the process as easy as possible, just enter your postcode, select your local MP, type out a succinct message and hit send.
Thanks for your help, if we stop this we've averted a digital disaster.
19 Comments
"Mandelson will have the power to invent any penalty, including jail time, for any transgression he deems you are guilty of."
This part sounds like he is an evil dictator or something. Fippe94 — 3 Months ago
However, it hasn't been passed yet and hopefully any UK residents that see this will send a short letter to their MP.
Pocket Gamer should be doing an article on it, looking forward to getting the word around and stopping this in its tracks.
Thanks for your comments guys, I know most of the people reading this are unaffected, but it makes all the difference getting the people who can do something to know about it.
@monkeyfish Oh, yeah, I've totally read it (one of my favourite books) and it's freaky how it's unravelling into reality. meridimus — 3 Months ago
Without evidence is a bit extreme if you ask me though. Runey676 — 3 Months ago
one....six words describe this the best: It's a pain in the as*....
lets hope it works out for you guys :)
ps, in norway we already got age ratings at all boxed games (age 3, 7, 12, 16, and 18)
good luck england... and if it turns out really bad... just kill that stupid guy allready!
(i'm gonna help stop it :D) dravirdude — 3 Months ago
As soon as that happens the internet might as well not exist because it's censored and the whole awesome thing about the internet is it's completely random and mad. meridimus — 3 Months ago
skip to 1:37 :P
"Ten movies streaming across that, that Internet, and what happens to your own personal Internet? I just the other day got...an Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday. I got it yesterday [Tuesday]. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially.
[...] They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the Internet. And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material" supergrover — 3 Months ago
Internet freedom is more important than stopping file sharing. The thing is, you will NEVER be able to stop file sharing, it will just evolve into a more secure system. If you think you can ever beat hackers then you're wrong, just like you can never beat terrorists.
It's the same thing, just a different war. They say they're protecting our freedoms, but the reality is, they're being stripped away.
I think everyone will say, "I want to stop illegal file sharing". But what's the cost? The cost is huge and completely not worth it. meridimus — 3 Months ago
As I live in the UK I think that the government is getting money hungry. First the expenses, now this? How much money do they want to take away from us? And if this went ahead they could prosecute half of the population with no evidence.
Also why don't they just target the people making it so that you can download illegally, instead of just making the internet crash down around our ears? Parrafin — 3 Months ago
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