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The Day Democracy Died: DEB
,----[ Quote ]
| The Lib Dem amendments I mentioned in my
| previous posts - alongside some equally
| sensible amendments designed in particular
| to stop every search engine being blocked
| under clause 18 - were rejected by the
| Government this afternoon in the Lords, on
| what appeared to be legally spurious
| grounds, to the clear dismay and disquiet
| of the Lords.
|
| Shortly thereafter it appears some kind of
| deal was done whereby the Government
| announced they would bring forward
| unspecified changes to the disputed clause
| 18 at "wash up" - the pre election stage
| where legislation is pushed through with no
| opportunity for MPs to propose amendments
| or even , perhaps, make comments in debate,
| let alone scrutinise. It seems all
| opportunity for democratic amendment to the
| Bill has now come to an end.
|
| [...]
|
| There is one way forward for here for
| democratic scrutiny to be restored, and
| that is for MPs to demand a debate at the
| Commons stage of the Bill and refuse to
| allow this messed up mockery of legislation
| to pass on the nod. Write to your MP and
| demand this. Go on one of the rallies and
| flash mobs planned for next week by ORG.
| Write to the BPI and tell then that you did
| not vote for them to run the country. Make
| your voice heard.
`----
http://blogscript.blogspot.com/2010/03/day-democracy-died-deb.html
Yesterday in the Lords: DEB
http://blogscript.blogspot.com/2010/03/yesterday-in-lords-deb.html
UK Lords Pass Digital Economy Bill, Now Look To Rush It Through Commons
http://techdirt.com/articles/20100316/0338248581.shtml
Third Reading DEB
,----[ Quote ]
| Very happy to note that the Liberal
| Democrats, with some input from lobby
| groups including independent academics such
| as myself, Francis Davey and Simon
| Bradshaw, have tabled amendments today
| which alleviate the worst excesses of
| amendment 120a. Good to see that even in
| the time-compressed framework of the run up
| to the general election, a party can still
| speedily take account both of external
| criticisms and its own grassroots and party
| concerns. I would still rather see both am
| 120a and clause 17 (now 18) go, since both
| raise dangers of fundamentally interfering
| with due process, proper scrutiny and civil
| liberties; but if not that, this is a step
| forward. Now let's see what happens today.
`----
http://blogscript.blogspot.com/2010/03/third-reading-deb.html
UK copyright law to be changed 'without scrutiny'
,----[ Quote ]
| A major change to UK copyright law is
| likely to be introduced and debated within
| the space of one hour on the last day of
| the current parliament, according to Labour
| MP Tom Watson.
|
| Watson said the lack of time available for
| parliamentary discussion before the general
| election â expected to be on 6 May â means
| the Digital Economy Bill will skip the
| weeks of scrutiny usually given to complex
| legislation.
|
| "This is a fiendishly complex piece of
| legislation, and it therefore requires
| proper and adequate scrutiny," Watson said
| to ZDNet UK on Tuesday. "At the moment, it
| looks like it will get a day's second
| reading where [MPs] talk about the general
| principles of the bill, then it'll be
| banged through in an hour on the last day
| of Parliament."
`----
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/mobile-it/2010/03/16/uk-copyright-law-to-be-changed-without-scrutiny-40088327/
Fight to Save the Net by UK Liberal Democrats
,----[ Quote ]
| Even if you are not in the UK, the UK
| LibDems fight to Save the Net matters. A
| LibDem emergency motion opposing copyright
| measures to block the Internet which are
| currently going through the UK Parliament
| is to be debated at their conference
| tomorrow.
|
| [...]
|
| A UK LibDems Save the Net Facebook page has
| been started to gather support. It is open
| to all, even non-Party members, and non-UK
| residents. The point of it is to let the UK
| government - and other EU governments -
| know how much people want to keep the
| Internet open, and how much they oppose
| blocking it:
|
| "This group needs proof that millions of
| people like you care about the Net so that
| they can convince the UK Government, or
| indeed any government, not to block
| websites or disconnect people from the Net
| by law. Wherever you are in the world,
| become a fan and show that the Net matters
| to you. "
|
| And they explain that they have set up the
| page because: "The UK's Labour Government
| thinks people in the UK wants them to
| control the Net. It's trying to push
| through Lord Mandelson's Digital Economy
| Bill before the UK elections in May/June.
| The UK's Conservative Opposition seems to
| agree with them. The UK Lib Dems are the
| only mainstream party which is trying to
| stop them. "
`----
http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=485&Itemid=9
Well done Lib Dems: now ask what your candidates think
,----[ Quote ]
| Not a single speaker made any comment
| against the text â and Liberal Democrats
| reiterated their opposition to the closed
| ACTA negotiations. They emphasised the huge
| social, educational and economic value of
| the net today.
`----
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2010/well-done-lib-dems
Why I Bother Acting on ACTA
,----[ Quote ]
| Well, the fact that two years ago very few
| had heard of ACTA, whereas today many
| people know and care about it, is
| sufficient reason to carry on: it does make
| a difference, and people are starting to
| realise how serious this is. Moreover,
| hints like this suggest that making noise,
| even in that notorious echo-chamber that is
| the blogosphere, gets noticed in rarefied
| and exalted regions of power:
|
| Recent informations have revealed to me
| that the worldwide anti-ACTA campaign
| is having an impact on EU officials, a
| number of which are following closely
| the highlights of the most well-known
| blogs and webs. This is a sign of the
| success of an effective public campaign
| that has forced the EU out of its
| bunker and into the open battlefield
| over the content of this important
| international agreement.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2010/03/why-i-bother-acting-on-acta.html
Written Declaration 12/2010 signatories list
http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Written_Declaration_12/2010_signatories_list
Recent:
Lib Dems to change their amendment to the digital economy bill
,----[ Quote ]
| The Liberal Democrats are preparing to
| change their controversial amendment to the
| digital economy bill, which has its third
| and final reading in the House of Lords on
| Monday.
|
| The change would give sites blocked under
| the bill the power to challenge it in the
| courts, and to demand legal costs and
| damages from any copyright owner that
| caused it to be wrongly blocked through
| court procedings.
|
| But the Open Rights Group, which campaigns
| on digital rights and freedoms, said that
| the amendment would not solve deeper
| problems with the bill â which may be
| rushed into law with barely any debate in
| the Commons â and called for it to be
| abandoned.
`----
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/mar/15/lib-dems-amend-digital-economy-bill
Wanted: a Groundswell of Massive Opposition
,----[ Quote ]
| Last week I wrote about the great news on
| the ACTA front, but sadly that's just one
| battle we need to win. Another is against
| the insanely retrogressive Digital Economy
| Bill â an ironic name if ever there were
| one, given that it seeks to impose the old
| rules of the analogue economy on the
| digital world. As such, it is likely to
| have a huge negative impact on companies
| using the Internet (that is, anyone in
| business not still using the abacus.)
|
| [...]
|
| That handily maps out is how we can stop
| the Bill: by creating that âgroundswell of
| massive oppositionâ. What I think we need
| to do is to make it clear to our MPs is how
| the music recording industry just expects
| them to roll over and accept the Bill as
| is, rather than to carry out their
| parliamentary duties and to examine it and
| amend where appropriate. We need to get
| across the fact that this Bill is not
| incidental, but will determine the economic
| and social landscape for this country in
| the next few years; as such, it needs to be
| drafted carefully, not thrown together at
| the last minute.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryId=2848&blogId=14
Lords pass controversial internet piracy bill
,----[ Quote ]
| Legislation to tackle internet piracy,
| including bans for illegal file-sharers,
| has been passed by the Lords.
|
| The Digital Economy Bill is now expected to
| be rushed through the Commons before the
| general election.
|
| Peers had earlier rejected a bid by
| ministers to include wide-ranging powers
| over future online piracy law.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8569750.stm
BPI Says That UK Spies Are Against Digital Economy Bill
,----[ Quote ]
| The debate over the Digital Economy Bill in
| the UK (the attempt to ratchet up copyright
| law to repay favors to an entertainment
| industry that is slow to adapt) has taken
| an odd twist. Cory Doctorow over at Boing
| Boing has the details of a leaked memo from
| the BPI (pdf) to a bunch of recording
| industry execs and lobbyists, that details
| the state of the bill and the ongoing
| strategy for getting it approved. There are
| a few items worth noting:
|
| 1. The BPI seems to think that the UK
| intelligence community is now the
| biggest threat to stopping the bill.
| Seriously. Apparently, UK spies are
| afraid that passing this bill will drive
| a very large number of people to switch
| to using encrypted internet tools,
| making it that much more difficult to
| spy on them.
`----
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100315/0034508554.shtml
Europe trashes ACTA as Obama praises it
,----[ Quote ]
| Earlier this week, we noted that the major
| parties in the European Parliament had all
| agreed on a resolution trashing the Anti-
| Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and
| the secret process that has been hashing it
| out. That resolution has passed Parliament
| by a huge marginâ633 yes votes, 13 no
| votes, and 16 abstentions.
|
| The Greens/EFA coalition praised the vote.
| Greens MEP Carl Schlyter of Sweden said
| that "ACTA risks becoming known as the
| Absence of Commission Transparency
| Agreement... The EU cannot continue to
| negotiate on ACTA if the people are not
| allowed to take part in the process. It is
| also a totally absurd and unacceptable
| situation if MEPs, behind closed doors,
| have to ask the Commission about the
| content of the agreements we are supposed
| to vote on."
`----
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/03/europe-trashes-acta-as-obama-praises-it.ars
Act on ACTA: Write to Your MEPs
,----[ Quote ]
| One knock-on effect of that obsessive
| secrecy is that even ordinary
| parliamentarians are forbidden from seeing
| the drafts, which makes the negotiations not
| only a travesty of democracy, but also a
| more direct slap in the face of those
| politicians. Happily, the latter are
| beginning to wake up to the fact that they
| are being sidelined here, and starting to
| become more forceful in their demands for
| access to ACTA.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2816&blogid=14
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