Copyright and the Future for Internet in UK.

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Right is might

It seems that copyright, a legal framework developed over 300 years to ensure a balance between the interests of the wider community and those of the creative artist has become so tipped towards those of the "rights holder" that few of us can go through a day without breaking the law in one way or another.

The current debate over the Digital Economy Bill in the UK Parliament has revealed that provisions intended to protect the interests of rights-holders by forcing service providers whose networks are used to download unlicensed content to take preventive measures and face prosecution themselves could well force small businesses, universities and even public libraries to severely limit or even abandon their provision of free net access.

And people around the UK are still receiving letters from the legal firm ACS:Law accusing them of downloading material and asking for money to "settle" any claim without recourse to legal process, causing deep concern to many who feel that they are being unjustly accused and coerced into making payments through fear of a legal process they do not understand.

Elsewhere representatives of many governments, including the UK, are currently discussing the detailed provisions of ACTA, the "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement", although the exact details are being kept secret and we have only occasional leaks to go by.

ACTA began as an attempt to control the trade in counterfeit goods, which is laudable when applied to prescription medicines and less defensible when applied to cheap handbags.


Read all here

This article is huge, but it really relays a lot of my fears considering direction UK been going and how it's getting worse.
You poor take courage
You rich take care
This earth was made a common treasury
For everyone to share
All things in common
All people one
We come in peace
The orders came to cut them down

Billy Bragg - The World Turned Upside Down




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The Digital Economy Bill is so stupid. It'll be easy to get around for tech-savvy people (read: pirates), and will quite possibly result in a lot of law-abiding citizens getting sued and having their internet cut off.
I wrote the above just for you.



Live your life how you want, but don't confuse drama with happiness.
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