home  gallery  contact  music 

POSTED IN: GOVERNMENT

Bill targeting illegal file-sharing to become law.

By Nicholas Randall, Press Association


www.independent.co.uk

The Governments controversial plans to clamp down on illegal file-sharing are set to become law after peers today agreed changes made in the Commons.

Liberal Democrats forced a vote in a bid to keep out a section of the Bill that would allow the Government to make regulations to enable courts to block a "location on the internet" involved in infringing copyright.

But peers defeated the move by 124 votes to 32 (majority 92) and the Bill has now been sent for Royal Assent.

Lord Clement-Jones, for Lib Dems, accused the Government of "abjectly bowing to the Conservative front bench" over changes made to the Bill as it was rushed through the Commons in the so-called "wash-up" period last night.

Amendments that succeeded in the Commons included removing measures opposed by the Tory front bench which would have allowed regional news consortia to provide programmes for ITV in the regions and nations of the UK.

Tory former Cabinet minister Lord Fowler, chairman of the Communications Select Committee, said the loss of the provision was a "very regrettable step".

He added: "We are allowing a position to take place where regional news in this country becomes a BBC monopoly and I do not think that is in the public interest."

Leading critics of the Bill in the Commons included Labour former digital engagement minister Tom Watson, who said earlier this week that 20,000 people had emailed MPs to say they were "extremely upset" about the lack of scrutiny being given to it.

But Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw insisted the Bill was necessary to protect and encourage the creative industries in Britain and was supported by thousands of workers in those fields.

He said that hundreds of millions of pounds were "haemorrhaging from our creative industries because of unlawful file-sharing".


and the winner is?

Last centuries centralized money gathering machines
2010 04 08 21:35:09

del.icio.us  redit

VEIW OR COMMENT ON THIS POST...



POSTED IN: GOVERNMENT

Iron side

theguardian


Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind ? There is always the National Archives and the 30-year rule to remedy the situation. This week files charting the first weeks in office of the Iron Lady (pictured) in 1979 were opened and revelations coursed out like bitter sweets from a poisonous pi?ata.

Her first days on the job were spent telling her home and foreign secretaries it was "quite wrong that immigrants should be given council housing whereas white citizens were not", chopping spending, suggesting people who wrote to disagree with the limitations on accepting Vietnamese refugees be invited to accept one into their homes and ? oh, just being altogether too delightful for words. Thirty years ago and it seems like only yesterday. Probably because the worst of her lives on in every particle of the tottering infrastructure of the country. Its almost like shell never leave us.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/jan/02/lucy-mangan-this-week


2010 01 02 12:57:48

del.icio.us  redit

VEIW OR COMMENT ON THIS POST...



POSTED IN: GOVERNMENT

Illegal downloaders face UK ban ...ROFL

BBC


Music on computer Illegal file sharing costs the music and film industry millions People in the UK who go online and illegally download music and films may have their internet access cut under plans the government is considering.

A draft consultation Green Paper suggests internet service providers would be required to take action over users who access pirated material.

Under a "three strikes" rule they would receive an e-mail warning, suspension, and then termination of their contract.

Six million people a year are estimated to download files illegally in the UK.

Music and film companies claim that the illegal downloads cost them millions of pounds in lost revenues.

The proposals are part of a Green Paper - a consultation document issued by the government - on the creative industries that is due to be published next week.

The government proposals were first reported by the Times newspaper.

Reluctance

The Times suggested that broadband firms which failed to enforce the rules could be prosecuted, and the details of customers suspected of making illegal downloads made available to the courts.

According to the Times, the draft paper states: "We will move to legislate to require internet service providers to take action on illegal file sharing."

Some of the UKs biggest internet providers, such as BT, Virgin and Tiscali have been in talks with the entertainment industry over introducing a voluntary scheme for policing pirate activity, but no agreement has been reached.

So far, they have failed to resolve how disputed allegations would be arbitrated - for example, when customers claim other people have been "piggybacking" on their internet service.

"No country has actually introduced these rules and internet service providers are likely to be very reluctant," Chris Cooke, founder of music newsletter CMU Daily told the BBC.

Voluntary scheme

A spokesman for the Internet Service Providers Association told the Times it remained hopeful that a deal over a voluntary system could still emerge.

"Every right-thinking body knows that self-regulation is much the better option in these areas," he said.

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: "Early drafts of our creative economy programme document were circulated to stakeholders for comment."

"The content and proposals for the strategy have been significantly developed since then and a comprehensive plan to bolster the UKs creative industries will be published shortly," he explained.

"We will not comment on the content of the leaked document."


2008 04 02 23:32:42

del.icio.us  redit

VEIW OR COMMENT ON THIS POST...



POSTED IN: GOVERNMENT

Government to police virtual worlds

Jonathan Richards


A minister has said that online worlds such as Second Life will inevitably face more scrutiny from law enforcement

The Government is to take a firmer hand in policing activities within virtual worlds such as Second Life, in an acknowledgement of their increasing popularity.

Issues such as child pornography, identity fraud, money laundering and copyright infringement in virtual worlds are all "causes for concern" that need to be controlled, a government minister said.

According to the research firm Forrester, 7 per cent of young people aged 12 to 24 regularly visit a virtual world, and a range of companies including Boots, Coca-Cola, and Vodafone, have set up offices in Second Life as a means of appealing to its users.

Lord Triesman, a minister at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said that virtual worlds ? the largest of which is World of Warcraft, which has more than nine million residents ? were "one of the most exciting technological developments in recent years." But he also told the Virtual Worlds conference in London that they present "sharp challenges" such as anti-social behaviour and identity theft.

He said he hoped that operators of such worlds ? which range from the toy manufacturer Mattel to Linden Labs, the owner of Second Life ? would take the lead in regulation, but that in some cases, particularly where children were involved, there was "a certain inevitability about Government involvement."

Residents of Second Life build avatars ? virtual versions of themselves ? which can wander about, talk to other avatars, build houses, visit night clubs and buy virtual goods. In general the world has been self-governing, but it was recently forced to close all its casinos in order to fall in line with US laws banning online gaming, and has also given rise to several real world copyright disputes.

Lord Triesman refused to be drawn on whether specific legislation was planned, and also declined to comment on one of the issues most keenly debated by observers of virtual worlds, namely whether money made in such worlds should be taxed. That was a matter for the Treasury, he said.

More than $1.5 million (?740,000) changes hands in Second Life every day, according to Linden Labs, and the worlds own currency, Linden dollars, has a variable exchange rate with the US dollar.

Lord Puttnam of Weensgate, the former movie studio boss who is now chairman of the Futurelab thinktank, said that virtual worlds are now ?as much a part of the marketplace as traditional media."

But, he went on, such worlds throw up a range of "difficult philosophical questions", such as whether virtual money is real enough to tax and virtual objects real enough to own. He also said that the issue of culpability needed to be resolved, arguing that it was "only a question of time" before someone pleaded, as a defence in criminal proceedings, that actions were not really theirs but those of a virtual person

From Times Online October 24, 2007
2008 03 29 17:38:17

del.icio.us  redit

VEIW OR COMMENT ON THIS POST...




Showing results 1 to 4 of 4

the guardian  milf  history  gallery  documentation  thomas sutcliffe  the independent  nsfw  random  new york times  mp3  bbc  artists  b3ta  drugs  terence blacker  site update  obituary  music  free software  radio  artistic proposals  johnvile  art  comedy  research  porn  meme  dsf adsfg afg fg  government 

1&1 Hosting and Domains
99.9% Uptime Guarantee, 25
GBit Connectivity & 24/7 Support!
www.1and1.co.uk
1&1 Hosting and Domains
99.9% Uptime Guarantee, 25
GBit Connectivity & 24/7 Support!
www.1and1.co.uk .

Hits Today: 39
Total Unique Visits: 11237

Creative Commons License