UK Lords pass controversial Digital Economy Bill

[Matthew DeCarlo]

The British House of Lords has passed a controversial anti-piracy bill that, if enacted into law, would require ISPs to track and report suspected file sharers to copyright holders as well as the nation's Office of Communications (OFCOM). OFCOM would be charged with setting the parameters in which ISPs would handle alleged infringers, such as how they would monitor customers, when to report them, how long to retain data, and so on.

Under the Digital Economy Bill, ISPs would not be responsible for the wrong doing of its subscribers -- but only if they comply with OFCOM's regulations. Internet providers would ultimately be pressured to enforce "technical measures" on suspected offenders, including limiting their bandwidth capacity and speed, restricting access to certain material, suspending their service, and/or imposing other limitations.

Opposers of the measure say its text is purposefully vague, and subscribers may not have to be proven guilty before facing punishment. Also, the proposed law could hold an entire account or household responsible, making no distinction between individuals. The bill is headed to the House of Commons, where it is expected to be strongly contested for crossing the EU's Technical Standards Directive.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/38262-uk-lords-pass-controversial-digital-economy-bill.html

 

[ucould2]

No mention of what happens to the Data that they store when they have finished with it, does it go (get sold-on) to the highest bidder OR on the same; the DATA, where does it get stored public domain 'cloud' or private?

 

[rskapadia2294]

lol! pre dvd rip uploaders beware!
i think its a good measure cuz many film makers work hard to create sumthin!

 

[Richy2k9]

hello ...

so many counter-measures against piracy, i just hope people start to see what's to be seen. It is immoral & illegal to steal other people's work & it is normal that 'you' be punished for this!

the problem is that 'maladie ti poule, canard ki payer', in creole it means, literally: chicken illness, kills the ducks - that because of some, everyone is sanctioned. !

let's just don't do unto others, what you don't want others do unto you...

cheers!

 

[Guest]

GET OUT OF THE EU AND USA WHILE YOU STILL CAN ,

INDECT !! = "big brother"

2012 will not be the end of the world , but they will make it , what GWBush Sr. said in 1991 , that will probably happen.

 

[JMMD]

Sounds to me like the govt got paid off by the corporations to pass this law. Wonder how soon before this information about whatever one accesses is stolen or leaked to the public. IMO it should be up to the ISP if they want to deal with this.

 

[zyodei]

When did the producers of crap music and crap you watch on TV while drooling on yourself get to be more important than the people as a whole? What bizarro universe did we wake up in???

 

[bigclick]

Damn straight! Government got conned or paid off to create another watchdog which everyone pays for...one way or the other.

Business runs government. Government controls business creation and the little guy. But once a little power comes to them ... business runs government.

 

[LightHeart]

Big Brother

This sounds way too much like Big Brother and more erosion of individual rights for the sake of business.

 

[Yoda8232]

Not moving to the UK anymore, I'll just visit.

 

[TomSEA]

Alright - I'm as anti-piracy as there is, but this is too much. It's essentially a free-for-all on privacy.

 

[TorturedChaos]

Internet providers would ultimately be pressured to enforce "technical measures" on suspected offenders, including limiting their bandwidth capacity and speed, restricting access to certain material, suspending their service, and/or imposing other limitations.

Sounds like a law to sanction censoring of the internet to me, and big brother watching everything you do.

Opposers of the measure say its text is purposefully vague

Of course its left vague. They are trying to wedge the door open for a free for all censoring of the internet, and a fully gov't controlled internet.

It may be in the UK, but that sets way to much of a precedent for the US here to pass something similar.

 

[danteoz]

This sounds alot like ACTA....its a means of businesses to get more out of you. Guilty until proven innocent, which may never happen. Even in the US, Obama supports the MPAA and RIAA and ACTA, all of which invade your privacy or want you to pay up for IP even if they cant prove you did anything wrong. ISPs supply a service, they aren't the filter that everything has to pass through and be analyzed..and shoveled out to the powers that be. If this stuff gets passed in either the UK or the US its signifying the end of liberties and freedom, why not move to China instead?

 

[Wagan8r]

Why does it not surprise me that this came from the house of LORDS. It's an elitist solution to a problem, which always makes for a bigger problem. Half of the country in jail! Hooray!

 

[captaincranky]

This is fascinating! What they've done is a de facto attempt to "deputize" the ISPs as a freestanding police force but, they've also provided for the ISPs to pay for that policing out of their own pockets. This seems like a violation tax law, not along with the abridgement of free speech, and unreasonable search and seizure, since everybody would get searched without their permission, notification, or right to counsel.

Do the Brits still have these "rights" as I understand them, or is it different having a queen and all that?

 

[seefizzle]

The United Kindom: Leading the world in dumbassery for over five hundred years.

 

[Docnoq]

I assume this new law, if it gets passed, will do nothing other than harm the people of the UK. The ISPs will now have to hire additional staff to monitor their customers' usage, and this will cause them to also raise prices on internet. In addition, there is the likelihood that innocent customers have their internet shut off/restricted because the ISPs 'think' they have been sharing copyrighted material. How exactly are they going to prove that what you are downloading is actually copyright protected? There are plenty of artists that distribute their music freely via torrents just to get some publicity. How will the ISPs be able to tell the difference?

This law is just opening up a world of disaster.

 

[slh28]

Sounds to me like the govt got paid off by the corporations to pass this law.

Well if that is the case you can't blame Mr. Brown for taking the money... the UK economy is in deep turd at the moment.

Do the Brits still have these "rights" as I understand them, or is it different having a queen and all that?

Yeah the UK has pretty much the same "human rights" as in the US or EU, the queen doesn't do anything except serve as a tourist attraction and make a speech every Xmas.

 

[AllEyezOnMe]

Seefizzle stop the Anglophobic comments please, this isn't the place for xenophobes!!!!

 

[captaincranky]

Yeah the UK has pretty much the same "human rights" as in the US or EU, the queen doesn't do anything except serve as a tourist attraction and make a speech every Xmas.

First, a great, clever, and profound usage of quotation marks at > "human rights"..!

Perhaps more importantly you might have tacked on, "then she (the queen) sends us the bill". Which is perhaps refreshing since it's rather overt, and lacking any clandestine undertones. Here in the "colonies", things are done differently, whereby lobbyists are the ceremonial rulers. So, we rather still get the bill, but it travels in a much more convoluted, obscure, and elongated path.

 

[captaincranky]

Seefizzle stop the Anglophobic comments please, this isn't the place for xenophobes!!!!

Then could you please direct us to the appropriate environment? Is "xenophobes" your professional diagnosis then, or is it just one more personal opinion that we should be "afraid" of...? rolleyes: BTW, pun intended, in the event that you didn't quite "grasp" that). Oh, and despite your screen name, I seriously doubt the "all eyes are on you"! That's either delusions of grandeur, extreme paranoia, or perhaps both.

 

[AllEyezOnMe]

lol I wonder what your diagnosis would be, "get a life" or "get a job" come to mind lol

 

[captaincranky]

All "I"s on you.........

lol I wonder what your diagnosis would be, "get a life" or "get a job" come to mind lol

Ohhhhhh >> (I)_(I)...(I)_(I)...(I)_(I)...(I)_(I)....(I)_(I)...(I)_(I).... <<< Simply everybody wants to hear what Y-O-U have to say.....! At least give us the chance to stare for a while first.

 

[flocka]

Richy2k9 said:
hello ...

so many counter-measures against piracy, i just hope people start to see what's to be seen. It is immoral & illegal to steal other people's work & it is normal that 'you' be punished for this!

the problem is that 'maladie ti poule, canard ki payer', in creole it means, literally: chicken illness, kills the ducks - that because of some, everyone is sanctioned. !

let's just don't do unto others, what you don't want others do unto you...

cheers!

shaddup.

if i were as rich as the people were "stealing" from
i wouldn't care

 

[Relic]

ISP shouldn't be responsible for what costumers do with there connection to begin with, and holding them responsible has always been ridiculous and just big entertainment throwing there weight around with lobbyist due to there lack of innovation. But now giving a private corporation police power is even more ridiculous and by not doing it they are liable. It seems they can say you're guilty of infringement then execute a punishment without the customer even being able to appeal. I feel for you guys in the UK , and with this you are for sure one step closer to Australia.