Britishers, Unite For Internet Justice

News Reader · Post by **News Reader** » March 17th, 2010, 16:00

Britishers, Unite For Internet Justice
The current British government and its friends in the entertainment industry want the power to regulate what we download - and to punish us if they don't like it. This must not be; while the Digital Economy Bill is posited as protection of copyrighted content - an anti-piracy measure, in other words - its proposed [...]

Author: Alec Meer
Category: RockPaperShotgun Agitprop digital economy bill peter mandelson Staring Eyes
Publish Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:52:15 +0000

The current British government and its friends in the entertainment industry want the power to regulate what we download - and to punish us if they don't like it. This must not be; while the Digital Economy Bill is posited as protection of copyrighted content - an anti-piracy measure, in other words - its proposed changes to copyright ilaws are terrifying on a level far beyond Bittorrent. You must take a stand against it. Doing so takes about a minute.

(more...)

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Writer: Alec Meer. | 38 comments

Post tags: Agitprop, digital economy bill, peter mandelson, Staring Eyes |
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Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » March 17th, 2010, 16:18

Darling Fascist Bullyboy,

Give me some more megabytes, you bastard.

I sent an email, that'll change the world I'm sure.

Stoat · Post by **Stoat** » March 17th, 2010, 16:38

spoodie wrote:I sent an email, that'll change the world I'm sure.

Well, it has infinitely more chance than not sending one.

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » March 17th, 2010, 17:07

I've sent an email off through that 38 Degrees site. Worth doing in my opinion.

Christ. Ask me 4 years ago and I never would have even thought about doing that. Errugh, I might actually start caring at some point in the future.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » March 17th, 2010, 17:15

Email sent.

Suppose now's a good time to play with the VPN giganews offer.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » March 17th, 2010, 18:44

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:Suppose now's a good time to play with the VPN giganews offer.

Yes, I think they just announced the beta was over so hopefully it's working well. Something to try on my media/downloading PC.

Post by **FatherJack** » March 17th, 2010, 22:53

There was a TV programme about this on Monday, where they seemed to think it was very likely to go through. They pretty much concluded that it would hurt sales rather than help them, as they reckoned illegal downloaders spent twice as much on legimate downloads as other people and also that the most persistent offenders were savvy enough to anonymize their access or use someone else's broadband.

Stoat · Post by **Stoat** » March 17th, 2010, 23:29

I like the two-phase structure. Phase Two is the same as Phase One, but louder and more foot-stomping.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » March 18th, 2010, 11:51

spoodie wrote:Yes, I think they just announced the beta was over so hopefully it's working well. Something to try on my media/downloading PC.

Hulu works, steam thinks I'm in merka.

*plays metro*

Pnut · Post by **Pnut** » March 18th, 2010, 17:32

Email sent yesterday, reply recieved today saying that my MP shared my concerns. Quite suprised seeing as i didnt even know who my local MP was untill yesterday!

Post by **Grimmie** » March 18th, 2010, 17:50

John Hemming, MP Lib Dem wrote:Something like this should not be rushed, but it will take a little time to find out exactly what is going on.

Reply received, perhaps not as assertive as I had hoped, but a reply none the less.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » March 18th, 2010, 17:52

I've not got to my MP yet, but did have this.

Dear Mr Berk

Thank you for your e-mail to Andrew Robathan MP. I should be grateful for your home address so that Mr Robathan can respond.

Yours sincerely
Diana Thompson
P/S to Andrew Robathan MP

To which I replied

Hi

I'd rather not provide my home address, as it seems excessively harsh on the environment to use the postal service, when email is widely available, and doesn't support the systematic deforestation required to provide paper for unnecessary communication.

Yours sincerely
Kitteny Berk

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » March 18th, 2010, 18:08

I get emails from my MP now and one snail mail response to a previous Internet related thing like this, which is how they got my email. I'd guess it's partly so they can confirm you're a constituent, but also to waste environmental resources.

Lee · Post by **Lee** » March 18th, 2010, 19:00

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:I've not got to my MP yet, but did have this.

To which I replied

I think they legally need your address to make sure you're in their constituency before they'll reply.

I've sent an email but my MP is David Miliband, all I got was an out of office response, he's probably more interested in his foreign secretary job.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » March 18th, 2010, 19:02

Lee wrote:I think they legally need your address to make sure you're in their constituency before they'll reply.

Well, they can have my address if they explain that to me, until then, I'll just annoy them.