Digital Economy Bill Passes, File-Sharing Ends Soon

Written by enigmax
on April 08, 2010



Last night the UK Government rammed through
the controversial Digital Economy Bill after its third reading and just
two hours debate. This means that it will later become law, everyone
will stop sharing files online and the music and movie industries will
net billions in the years to come. Better still, it has the full support
of the people.




In a late night session yesterday the Digital
Economy Bill was forced through by the Government with the assistance
of the Conservative opposition.
Complaints that the Bill is far too important to be passed through
the “wash-up” period were ignored and after just two hours of debate in
the Commons, it will now almost certainly become law.
The anti-piracy measures in this Bill have been essentially written
by the music industry but despite opposition from just about everyone,
it was approved by 189 MPs with just 47 against.
Former Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson, who was one of the few who
voted against, was clearly upset as he wrote on Twitter: “First time
I’ve ever broken the whip in the chamber. I feel physically sick.”
A total of 650 MPs could have been present but only 236 bothered to
turn up and many of those that did were still in for criticism.
“It was painfully obvious to anyone watching the broadcast from
Parliament this evening that any MP that only turned up for the
divisions and not the debate does not care about the views of their
constituents, does not care about democracy and does not care about the
future of Britain’s digital economy,” said Graeme Lambert, the Pirate
Party UK candidate for Bury North.
The Bill will pass without the hugely controversial site-blocking
clause 18, but in its place will be a convenient and even more worrying
amendment to clause 8. This will allow the Secretary of State for
Business to block “a location on the internet which the court is
satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in
connection with an activity that infringes copyright”.
The scope of this amendment simply boggles the mind. Labour MP John
Hemming cited the more-often-than-not copyright infringing WikiLeaks as
an example.
“A recent example is the US air force video, which it published,” noted
Hemming. “Copyright exists with the US Government, who under the Bill
could, and would want to, apply to ban WikiLeaks from the UK. That
provision is clearly in the Bill.”
Finance secretary Stephen Timms, who insisted that since the creative
industries are losing £1 billion a year to online file-sharing all
these measures were absolutely necessary, was also in for criticism.
Mark Sims, Pirate Party UK candidate for East Ham noted that Timms
spent “much of his time on the floor delaying debate, and refusing to
answer questions put to him, instead relying on the party whips to force
the vote through, essentially ignoring the concerns raised by voters in
their questions put to ministers.”
So there we have it. We’re nearly at the end of the process that will
save the music and movie industries, generating hundreds of millions in
extra revenue, create countless jobs, stop all file-sharing sites,
mechanisms and the general public from sharing files.
That’s it, it’s finished. The war is lost and the best part is the
whole thing was pushed through in the highest spirit of democracy and
with the full support of the people.
We’re shutting down TorrentFreak now and we’ll be reporting on events
outside an HMV near you soon instead. We just hope they have enough
stock to keep up with demand. Exciting times ahead.

Oh fuck!

I bet someone gotta a big fucking back hander from the music industry then

I think it's "watch this space" this could go either way........

Mrs-G wrote:

I think it's "watch this space" this could go either way........

What do you mean?

Read the actual bill which was included on my topic under the similiar heading. Unless the billis over turned by the current party, being re-elected or another. Also unless Offcom can step in and say there isn't a workable solution. There is little hope.

I know it's in the spotlight just now, I know it's been passed in parliament but so was the dog license and people ignored that until it went away. I think if enough ISP companies kick up enough fuss about moderating it, it may just fade away again. That's what I mean about it all possibly being a storm in a teacup. I may well be wrong and it may well all go to plan, I don't think any country has totally managed to control it yet, there's always someone willing to find a way around it. Ever the eternal optimist me, I worry about it when it happens!

Silly governments, you can't kill piracy. The pirates are already two steps ahead of you. They offer services where you can cover your IP though their VPN clients so the UK government will never be able to actually prosecute anyone. Besides, anyone who's doing the serious pirating will already know about all that stuff and be ready to implement it whenever they're ready. Hell, I'd bet that some kids are even savvy enough to bypass the law as it is. This won't be the end at all, and by the time the governments figure out their next step, the pirates will be another 2 steps ahead then. 
And of course I'd like to say that the RIAA and MPIA are dense as all fuck, they've been claiming that they lose X billions on piracy... But where is their proof? They don't have any. All they really have is a bottom line that isn't up to their shareholder's expectations. (They promised 3.6 billion and only got 2.7 billion... Well, something has to be the cause of it someone says, let's blame piracy it is an easy target another says.) Despite the fact that North America (As well as other places round the globe I'd imagine) are experiencing a depression. People don't have as much money to spend. 
Also they aren't actually losing any sales because many of these people wouldn't have the money so they aren't going to buy it anyway.  Even if they had the money, they might not buy it anyway. So the MPAA/RIAA aren't actually losing anything because they never actually had those sales to begin with. (Don't count your chickens before they hatch is what I'm saying. And it's something the corporations need to realize.)