English people: Will you be taking part in this today?

[RabbitWho]

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/campaigns/disconnection

It's time to show MPs what we think about the Digital Economy Bill.
As it stands now, the Bill, if passed into law, will allow disconnection, web blocking and could well see the death of open wifi.
Come along to the ORG demo on Wednesday, 24 March at 17:30, and protest against disconnection and censorship on the internet.
We'll provide placards, just bring some black tape for gagging or blindfolding yourself.
Disconnection is collective punishment. It is unacceptable. It is unfair and it is disproportionate.
The demo will be held at Old Palace Yard (opposite Parliament, next to Westminster Abbey)

If the law comes to pass whenever I stop over in Standstead airport I won't be able to use wifi, because if i did, and i downloaded something illegal, the people who provided the wifi could get fined for thousands of pounds. It's the most insane thing.... i've been following it for a while, if you check out Glinner on twitter (Graham Linehan of the IT crowd and Father Ted) he's been tweeting about it for a while so you'll see all the updates.



Anyone who goes to the protest tell us how you get on!

Or share your thoughts on the whole thing?

[madnessjack]

Not gonna happen. Political suicide. People upstairs wanna look "cool" and "down wit di kidz". Passing this bill will cause rioting.

[Nevon]

Not gonna happen. Political suicide. People upstairs wanna look "cool" and "down wit di kidz". Passing this bill will cause rioting.

Oh that's what they said about IPRED and FRA here in Sweden, but that certainly didn't stop them.

[Bodsda]

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/campaigns/disconnection




If the law comes to pass whenever I stop over in Standstead airport I won't be able to use wifi, because if i did, and i downloaded something illegal, the people who provided the wifi could get fined for thousands of pounds. It's the most insane thing.... i've been following it for a while, if you check out Glinner on twitter (Graham Linehan of the IT crowd and Father Ted) he's been tweeting about it for a while so you'll see all the updates.



Anyone who goes to the protest tell us how you get on!

Or share your thoughts on the whole thing?

I doubt this will ever get passed. Even if it did it would only stop some people. If sites get blocked, there are plenty of ways to bypass this. If they disconnect me, I will probably connect to my phone and use the GPRS or connect to an unsecured network.

Short of ending my mobile phone contract, putting me on a pay-as-you-go wifi dongle blacklist, disconnecting my broadband, banning wifi and burning my passport, they will have a hard time keeping me offline.

Bodsda

[RabbitWho]

I doubt this will ever get passed. Even if it did it would only stop some people. If sites get blocked, there are plenty of ways to bypass this. If they disconnect me, I will probably connect to my phone and use the GPRS or connect to an unsecured network.

Short of ending my mobile phone contract, putting me on a pay-as-you-go wifi dongle blacklist, disconnecting my broadband, banning wifi and burning my passport, they will have a hard time keeping me offline.

Bodsda

A bit narrowminded? That's okay for you, but some people can't afford their own Internet connection and share it with a few people living in the same block of flats as them. Some people (like my mother) Sit outside closed restaurants and go on their wifi so she can talk to her family living thousands of miles away.

It might not matter to you but it's gong to set the human race back 20 years in development,and the best 20 years too.. well not the human race.. just the Great Britain part of it.

This is very much a possibility, someone has already been fined, (i'll find the article when i go home, i'm in work now) in England because a customer downloaded something illegally off his wifi connection, this is just the bill to support that.


Governments have brought kids to court for illegally downloading music, they don't care about looking "cool" and "down"

[cascade9]

If the law comes to pass whenever I stop over in Standstead airport I won't be able to use wifi, because if i did, and i downloaded something illegal, the people who provided the wifi could get fined for thousands of pounds.

Or, and here is a crazy thought, you just dont dl 'illegal' things on somebody elses wifi? You wouldnt steal a handbag.... you wouldnt steal a car....you wouldnt steal a baby.... LOL.

Its not like your going to get into problems even with some of the ways of getting 'materials that infringe copyright' like rapidshare, etc.. IMO, the main way you will get into trouble (or get somebody else into trouble) will be from downloading current, big budget hollywood films from p2p networks. D/ling a 10 year old ablum, or a 15 year old flim from rapdishare isnt even going to blip on the RIAA/MPAAs radar.

A bit narrowminded? That's okay for you, but some people can't afford their own Internet connection and share it with a few people living in the same block of flats as them. Some people (like my mother) Sit outside closed restaurants and go on their wifi so she can talk to her family living thousands of miles away.

This could be an issue, really. Its nice that some people do have unsecured networks, and no matter what the owners do they cant stop people from d/ling on them. But even if they do move to secured wireless, all they will do is stop the 'average' users....most of the wireless secruity systems are crackable without much trouble (and given time, and/or enough processing power no wireless is ever 100% secure).

As usual, its going to be the normal people who suffer.

It might not matter to you but it's gong to set the human race back 20 years in development,and the best 20 years too.. well not the human race.. just the Great Britain part of it.

Being that melodramatic doesnt make your problems with the bill sound as reasonable as they are.

BTW, it would be nice if the smaller plans were priced like the larger ones (I'm assuming that in the UK you get the same 'you pay $80 for 100GB, but if you want 2GB you'll be slugged at $20-35 a month' like australia'). If the costs were more reasonable, like 2GB for $4 then it wouldnt be so bad, far more people could afford internet.

This is very much a possibility, someone has already been fined, (i'll find the article when i go home, i'm in work now) in England because a customer downloaded something illegally off his wifi connection, this is just the bill to support that.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10405824-83.html

Governments have brought kids to court for illegally downloading music, they don't care about looking "cool" and "down"

Governments havent taken anybody to court (AFAIK anyway).....its the recording/movie industry who have done that.

*edit- when this bill goes though....and it will....watch, soon other countries will follow suit. Yes, even the US, sooner or later.

[M1ke]

It's not just about filesharing, people - this bill sets two rather unthinkable precedents whereby;

1) Powerful, wealthy lobby groups write a bill, wine and dine the appropriate Lord and see it sail through parliament without scrutiny or debate, ignoring democratic process.

2) The emphasis shifts from "innocent until proven guilty", to "guilty until proven innocent" - the very foundation of our criminal justice system turned on its head.

These two points do not even touch on the overwhelming cost or technical undertaking required in enforcement, nor the ramifications of being able to arbitrarily shut off the connections of anyone so much as accused of wrongdoing, perfectly legally.

Anyone in the UK, have a read of the following links and if any of this doesn't sit well with you; act. With your name, address and three mouseclicks you can drop an email to your MP and Harriet Harman using a pre-filled form and try to stop the law passing via no more than a loophole in our system.

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/campa...ction/why-care

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/03/2...uk-debill.html <-- With an Ubuntu-theme! How topical.

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/speakout/HarrietHarman

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/digital-economy-bill

[caravel]

Yet another jack booted step towards our dear leader's police state utopia.

[RabbitWho]

Or, and here is a crazy thought, you just dont dl 'illegal' things on somebody elses wifi? You wouldnt steal a handbag.... you wouldnt steal a car....you wouldnt steal a baby.... LOL.

You misunderstood the whole thing, i would never download something illegally full stop. But if someone else downloads something on my wifi in england I can get a huge fine. This means I would never consider sharing my wifi in England because I'm responsible for what everyone else does.
It means that every business in England will take down their wifi to stop themselves going to court and there will be no such thing as a wifi zone.
This is the way IT IS right now and the bill is just something to support it. As I understand it it's something that has precident in court but not something which is law.
Why don't you read about something before you spend 5 minutes giving your opinion on it?
You made a really long post about this without having read anything other than my initial post it would seem. You really don't have any grasp of the issues at all.


Thanks so much to M1ke for providing people with more information. (Even if you are a little sensationalist for me! )


Anyway did anyone here go?

[cascade9]

Ohh, I've read about it, and I do share your concerns. To suggest otherwise it to ignore some parts of my post. Which is why I remember the 'precedent' of the pub being fined, and how I could get the link to the place that had been fined with no trouble at all.

You seem to have missed what I was saying in general and concentrated on my joke (Re-watch -the it crowd, Series 02, Episode 03, 'Moss and the German' which is a show you mentioned in post #1)

BTW, I pretty much argee with caravel

BTW, You never said anything about not sharing your own wifi.