Here’s the deal… there is currently a new set of laws passing through Parliament labeled as the “Digital Economy Bill”. It contains many new laws and proposals which address issues with the way business is conducted in the digital age – and most of them are in my opinion quite valid. However one particular suggestion in the bill makes use of the term “technical measures” when referring to the methods of punishing those downloading illegal content, be that music, videos or software. Although it doesn’t explicitly imply that a broadband connection would be disconnected without trial, it does leave things very open. It is entirely possible to envisage a business being cut off due to the actions of one employee, or in a more family oriented context how about your household being cut off just because your child downloaded an mp3? I’m not questioning the motives here as obviously it is copyright infringement, what I am questioning here is the application of punishment – shouldn’t the infringer of the copyright be punished and not everyone else around them also? You wouldn’t put an entire family in jail if just one child in the family had stolen from the local shop. You may feel differently which is the beauty of our society, so I’ll leave you firstly with a link to a petition being put to the Prime Minister which you may sign if you feel strongly enough about this: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/dontdisconnectus

and also with a link to a BBC news article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8374732.stm which should act as a starting point for anyone wishing to learn more about the Digital Economy Bill so you can make up your own mind.

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Tags: Digital Economy Bill