UK Politicians Pushing Back On Mandelson's Digital Economy Bill
from the it's-the-industry's-fault dept
Luca Leonardi alerts us to the news that at least some politicians in the UK are pushing back against Peter Mandelson's Digital Economy Bill, with Lord Lucas specifically pointing out that the real problem seemed to be one of the entertainment industry's own making:"We need to bear in mind that the problems now facing the industry are, to quite a large extent, of their own creation," he said. "The industry has been extremely slow to listen to the demands of its customers, and has had something of an abusive relationship with them, seeking to punish them before thinking of how to serve them better.Lucas, who considers himself a libertarian, also questioned the use of IP addresses as identifying who was doing something online:
"It has taken a decade for the industry to produce sensible alternatives to illegal file-sharing, and the fact that a generation of people have become used to an illegality comes down to the industry's sluggishness. It is still slow."
"I am not at all clear that we have the technology to go beyond the IP address, which comes into my router, to identify which user of perhaps one or two dozen who have access, has done the illegal downloading," he told the peers.Nice to see at least someone pushing back on the reasoning behind the bill.
"We need to be very clear that we do not tip people into losing their internet connection, or worse, on a technically fallible basis."
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Filed Under: copyright, digital economy bill, lord lucas, peter mandelson, uk
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Re:
How to spoof a MAC address: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/security/?p=395
How researchers managed to get a network printer issued with a DMCA notice with a spoofed IP: http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/06/study-paints-grim-picture-of-automated-dmca-notice-accura cy.ars
How to crack WEP encryption: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-crack-wep,review-451.html
How to crack WPA: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30278/98/
...all taken from the first results I found in Google in around 30 seconds. Someone can easily break into your wireless network and frame your PC for infringement. Since the RIAA and equivalents don't ever seem to be able to come up with evidence more compelling than an IP address in their initial accusations, your IP address can be faked by someone many miles away. If a network printer can get a DMCA notice, you can be cut off under 3 strikes without having broken the law.
Get it? Nobody's supporting piracy, we just happen to think that further due process and better evidence should be required before prosecution. As it stands, all 3 strikes requires is a baseless accusation from a biased 3rd party who have shown themselves to be incompetent when gathering compelling evidence. Excuse me for wanting a higher standard.
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