View Full Version : Digital Economy Bill
Del Lardo
17-03-2010, 14:37
Peter Mandelson is rushing to force the Digital Economy Bill into law before the General Election. The draconian law is opposed by industry experts, internet service providers (like TalkTalk and BT), web giants including Google, Yahoo and Ebay and even the British Library. Despite all this opposition, the Government is trying to rush it through quietly just before the election without proper debate – without a chance for us to voice our opposition. Email your MP now and urge them to stop the government rushing this law through.
There’s plenty to oppose in the Digital Economy Bill, it gives the government the ability to disconnect millions. Schools, libraries and businesses could see their connection cut if their pupils, readers of customers infringe any copyright. But one group likes it, the music industry. In a leaked memo a few days ago they admitted the only way to get the bill through would be to rush it through without a real parliamentary debate. Let’s stop that happening.
Click on linky to write to your MP now urging them to stop the Government rushing the bill through. It’ll take you less than 2 minutes.
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/speakout/extremeinternetl
LeperousDust
17-03-2010, 17:18
Good Link, done :) They should give you an address as well easily, i would have printed out my letter and snail mailed it as well. The more they get buried in letters of complaint the more likely they are to act :)
Del Lardo
17-03-2010, 17:55
Pretty sure that if you Google your MPs name their address will pop up.
LeperousDust
17-03-2010, 17:56
Pretty sure that if you Google your MPs name their address will pop up.
Almost certainly, i just mean if they added one more option for that to be there automatically and let you print off a ready letter it might make even more of a difference, you see where i'm coming from?
I filled the form in and send the email about an hour ago and just had a call from my MP (he had my phone number from when he arranged tickets for Tink and I to have a tour of Big Ben) to say he shares my concerns and will address them with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
Del Lardo
17-03-2010, 18:41
Almost certainly, i just mean if they added one more option for that to be there automatically and let you print off a ready letter it might make even more of a difference, you see where i'm coming from?
Makes sense, could be worth pinging them an e-mail to suggest it.
I've written to mine, can't imagine it will do much though.
Del Lardo
17-03-2010, 19:13
I've written to mine, can't imagine it will do much though.
It should have more of an effect than those useless petitions on the number10 website but I must admit that I am not holding my breath given the governments record of ignoring the electorate.
It should have more of an effect than those useless petitions on the number10 website but I must admit that I am not holding my breath given the governments record of ignoring the electorate.
True
I treat emails in the same way as letters, faxes and telephone messages and respond to them all as quickly as possible by post.
It's not looking good, IT must scare Mr Burns. Still, I shall give the man a chance before passing judgement.
Del Lardo
17-03-2010, 20:33
Makes for pretty interesting reading.......
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/03/17/240640/Digital-Economy-Bill-debate-Parliament-should-not-behave-this.htm
NokkonWud
17-03-2010, 20:37
I've already had 2 replies from my MP today, although she too is going the mail route.
The bill is pretty much bad for anyone in the digital world. Theres implications for photography about copyright, music, net, etc. Its crazy. I'm not entirely sure what good it does if any.
I filled the form in and send the email about an hour ago and just had a call from my MP (he had my phone number from when he arranged tickets for Tink and I to have a tour of Big Ben) to say he shares my concerns and will address them with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
Excellent :)
I had an acknowledgement from someone in my MPs office saying he'll respond by post.
I loathe that slimy tw@ Mandelson.
http://stop43.org.uk/
The UK Government wants to introduce a law to allow anyone to use your photographs commercially, or in ways you might not like, without asking you first.
There is so much wrong with this bill it's beyond belief! I shall mail my mp again with this now.
Dymetrie
19-03-2010, 17:38
Harry Cohen, MP, has been duly nudged.
Thank you for your email.
I think there would be a real row if there was any attempt to deal with the Digital Economy Bill in the House of Commons in an hour!
My own view still is that this was too large a Bill, with too many complicated issues, being dealt with too late in the Parliament, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it ran into the buffers, unless it were possible for both Front Benches to agree a significantly watered down Bill.
I think, however, it is important to recognise that the Digital Economy Bill is about recognising intellectual property and intellectual property rights.
The UK is very dependent upon our creative industries and creative industries are in turn dependent on recognising intellectual property and that is a view shared by Government and Opposition alike.
Best wishes.
Tony Baldry
Thanks Tone. :/
Wrote a personal email (took a few attempts to get it concise enough). Figured that taking the time to do that was more likely to be noticed than a Pro Forma - though whether either would be noticed remains to be seen. I've had past contact with my MP though so I'm hopeful.
I emailed my local MP and have had the standard auto reply. He's such a waste of space though that I don't expect much back.
I tried the same thing a few years ago with a firearms issue and had such a wishy-washy reply that showed how laughable he was in his patheticness
Thanks Tone. :/
That's his response, really? Ask him to explain how this protects my intellectual property.
Until now, if someone found one of your photographs and wanted to use it commercially, they couldn't without first asking you. Clause 43 changes all that by allowing the use of “Orphan Works” - photographs, illustrations and other artworks whose owners cannot be found.
Clause 43 says that if someone finds your photograph, wants to use it and decides that they can’t trace you, they can do whatever they like with it after paying an arbitrary fee to a UK Government-appointed “licensing body”. You’ll never know unless you happen to find it being used in this way, in which case you might be able to claim some money.
There’s more. Clause 43 also introduces “Extended Collective Licensing”.
This means that if someone finds your photograph and can trace you, they still don’t have to contact you for permission to use it. They can go to a UK Government-appointed “collecting society” and ask them instead. They’ll pay an arbitrary fee and be able to do whatever they like with the photograph. Your photograph. Again, without asking you first.
At, least, so we think - because the Bill leaves much of this undefined, unclear and to be dealt with by secondary legislation based on “consultation” that the Government can ignore. Can you imagine what this would mean if we were talking about cars rather than photographs?
CLAUSE 43:
• destroys the concept that a property owner has control over his property
• In so doing it destroys any guarantee of exclusive use, and
• It breaks the contractual ties between models, their agencies, property rights holders, photographers and clients, because
• images will be used in ways that rights holders would have forbidden, had they known beforehand
• It says that images can be declared orphan after a "diligent search" for the owner without recognising the practical impossibility of such a search
• It proposes that images should be licensed at "the market rate" while ignoring the impossibility of determining such a rate for any specific image
• It breaches UK commitments under international copyright and trade laws
• It entirely fails to recognise that the owners of "orphan" works may not be UK-based, but based in places such as the USA which have a strongly litigious culture, and therefore
• It exposes licensees of works declared as orphans in the UK to litigation from their foreign owners
• It contains no mechanism to irrevocably establish copyright in a work via mandatory attribution; or to prevent deliberate orphaning, and no effective sanctions against those who so do
• It could have a strong chilling effect on the UK ad industry as multinationals shun UK agencies, photographers and shoots because we will no longer be able to guarantee exclusivity (our work can be orphaned and used by others beyond our control) and those multinationals seek to avoid their campaign assets becoming orphaned.
It's about the greedy government taking money for my work rather than protecting me. Bastards.
Knipples
20-03-2010, 10:55
Done it. As much as I despise my MP (Liam Fox) due to his objecting to the new Bristol City stadium (yet waving through the plans for the expansion of Bristol airport - whole other rant!) I have contacted him. He is usually pretty good about replying. We shall see.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/7562734/MPs-criticised-for-poor-turnout-at-Digital-Economy-Bill-debate.html
Just-in: Government proposes amendment to drop Clause 43 from the Digital Economy Bill: http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=874087
****s, less than 5% bothered getting their backsides in there after 20k people wrote directly to MP's. 20k! I feel like writing to mine and asking if despite the letters whether he was actually present at the reading.
http://www.didmympshowupornot.com
I followed this link on Pete's fb. Obviously mine didn't turn up!
My MP, Tessa Jowell, is the biggest waste of space ever. She's a **** actually. Can't stand her.
Thanks for that link divine - it's rather telling.
This is how democracy dies, not the sound of applause, but to the sound of silence brought about through apathy.
\o/ Fat Tory tw@ Baldry didn't show up either, the useless ****.
My local guy didn't turn up either.
You can watch the commons here fwiw (not sure what you need to open this url with on Windows/Mac - though I'd certainly try media player on doze)
mms://twofour-ukparliament-encoder04.wm.llnwd.net/twofour_UKParliament-Encoder04
Knipples
07-04-2010, 21:48
I can't even see if mine turned up (though I very much doubt he did) because the website where I put my postcode in keeps talking about pirates making things too busy and I have to try later. Been trying for 2 hours now. :huh:
They've probably got your accent mixed up. Easily done ;)
The checker doesn't work for me either but the stream works and I've got it on now.
Guy just said "You can't spend all evening on the internet". Huh? ;)
What does he know ;D
Unless I misheard, clauses 18 and 43 were dropped, which is something I suppose. Really annoyed about the process though, something like this should have never gone through wash up.
I know that 43 was dropped (http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=874148). Thats the one pertaining to copyright/orphan works in photography. Thank **** it was dropped. Seriously pissed that the bill got through though.
http://debillvotes.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/who-has-voted-yes/
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/digital_economy_bill_photographers_claim_victory_a s_clause_43_axed_update_2_news_296713.html?aff=rss
Del Lardo
08-04-2010, 09:04
I know that 43 was dropped (http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=874148). Thats the one pertaining to copyright/orphan works in photography. Thank **** it was dropped. Seriously pissed that the bill got through though.
http://debillvotes.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/who-has-voted-yes/
what a list of *****
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Well it seems my local MP is on neither the Yes or No list, so I can only assume she didn't even bother to vote, and of the other 2 very close constituencies one voted yes and the other seemed to not bother either.
Lazy bunch of ****s
Mine seems to have said nothing as well.
Pumpkinstew
08-04-2010, 13:11
Hmm, my local Lib Dem MP was a 'no' vote. But he went down in my estimation after putting a leaflet in my post box telling me that 'Labour CAN'T win here' with a grpahic of last elections voting percentages.
Actually they CAN - it's just overwhelmingly unlikely that they won't.
The whole bill will be out of date by the time it becomes law, leaving us with a pile of legislation that can either be disregarded or is no longer fit for purpose.
Del Lardo
08-04-2010, 18:00
Demonstrates the level of understanding that the people voting have.....
http://i.imgur.com/1pXlO.jpg
Flibster
08-04-2010, 18:10
*smacks head on desk*
My MP didn't even turn up.
How about performance related pay for them? If they turn up to debates and the associated vote - they get paid.
If they don't - they get nothing!
Demonstrates the level of understanding that the people voting have.....
I hope a correction was sent.
Here's the reply I got:
Thank you for contacting me with regard to the Digital Economy Bill. I have received a large amount of correspondence on this issue and am fully aware of the strength of feeling on both sides of this debate. As you may know the majority of this bill was passed by the House of Commons last night and has now been sent to the House of Lords for further scrutiny.
I have written to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills on this matter and on a number of individual concerns raised by constituents. The response I received can be viewed on my website via the link below.
http://tessajowell.net/uploads/d68b6478-8279-5fa4-3574-fe9e1a54e3f9.pdf
Thank you for taking the time to raise this issue.
Regards and best wishes,
Tessa Jowell MP
No-show here too. Not sure if I got a reply to my inquiry (not got through all my post yet).
Debate on the letter posted by DL seems to be heading towards clerical error - it was likely typed up by an office assistant, who probably saw IP, decided it needed to be defined, decided the debate was about Intellectual Property, 2+2=5. :/
Still, small consolation in the death of Clause 43.
vBulletin® v3.7.4, Copyright ©2000-2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.