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Government drops website blocking (UK)
- nextparadigms 15y ago""The review pointed out that if you have a situation where 90% of your population is doing something, then it's not really a very good law," said Simon Levine, head of the intellectual property and technology group at DLA Piper." No sh!t. So decriminalize "piracy" too then. Overall, I like what they're doing, and I'm glad they are deferring these cases to the Court and having them go through due process, rather than trying to pass a law so they can automatically take down these sites, which is the direction USA has been taking lately. They are not there yet, but they are definitely moving in the right direction, like allowing more freedom to remix other people's works, which is what the human kind has always done anyway, regardless of it being legal or not. The illegality of it came only with the lobbying of the copyright industry to turn copyright into "property" that only they and they alone can have so they can squeeze directly as much money as possible (disregarding the fact that creating an external culture outside, but around, your works might make your works even more popular). As for CD's and DVD's - it's the perfect example of why the Government is so slow to react to new technology. CD's and DVD's are already becoming obsolete and people are starting to use only the Internet, and they are passing this law now? They should've done it at least 5 years ago. Unfortunately, this only means it will take another 5-10 years to reconsider some of other things that they now think it's "piracy", and "illegal".
- ZoFreX 15y agoI'm not anti-piracy but I object that that is a legitimate argument. A huge percentage of people (in the UK at least) commit crimes on a regular basis such as littering, parking illegally, shooting red lights, speeding... should we remove these laws because everyone is breaking them? Absolutely not.
- pointyhat 15y agoPositive news finally. I'm not for or against piracy but that covers obvious legitimate use, although I think my Windows Media Centre/Sony TV setup is going to break the law still...
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- madaxe 15y agoThis isn't good news. Yes, they're dropping the bill, but only because the newzbin2 case has made it clear that they don't need legislation to dick all over people, and in the absence of a legislative framework, they can make it up as they go along, rather than being constrained by what would have turned out to be a relatively conservative bill.