Britain Mulls Turning 7 Million Into Download Criminals

A politician being touted as Britain’s next Prime Minister has been persuaded to take action to criminalize 7 million citizens following intensive industry lobbying over file-sharing. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson is in favor of introducing tough laws including Internet restrictions and fines of up to £50,000 ($83,000).

The debate on how Britain should tackle illicit file-sharing is heating up. The government has already set an utterly unrealistic target of reducing online piracy by 70% within a year. If that isn’t achieved, under the Digital Britain proposals communications regulator Ofcom would be given extra powers to take degenerative action against the functionality of a user’s Internet connection.

Now, thanks to intense lobbying from the music and movie industries, the government is considering giving Ofcom these powers more quickly.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, the man being touted among his Labour party voters as the successor to Prime Minister Brown, is said this morning to have been “persuaded by the argument for tough laws to curb illegal file-sharing.”

But what could’ve prompted this renewed aggressive anti-piracy stance from Mandelson? According to a report today, the Business Secretary’s intervention comes after he and David Geffen – the billionaire producer who co-founded the DreamWorks studio with Steven Spielberg – had dinner with members of the Rothschild banking dynasty at the family’s holiday villa on the Greek island of Corfu.

The consultation document on Government’s latest plans – which could be included in the Queen’s Speech later this year – could mean the criminalizing up to 7 million British citizens including Internet restrictions and fines of up to £50,000.

UK Pirate Party leader Andrew Robinson is naturally against these draconian fines. “You’re branding a huge percentage of this population criminals for doing something that doesn’t have any proven implications,” he said this week. “It’s a ridiculous state of affairs. People who copy a movie are lumped in with people who steal cars.”

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The Dude

How can you fight lobbyists with virtually unlimited $$$$ in their pockets?? By posting on Torrentfreak? This is so sad.
dtl

@1
with our vote!
o.0

steal something from a shop and you get a 200 pound fine steal an mp3 and you get fucked for 50.000
G.

money money money
Anonymous

screw mandy
uu

Yes.
I finally know who I will be voting for in the next election.
Arb

the riaa like groups don’t mind pissing 7 million plus people off but the politicians usally won’t do anything to piss them off cause that is 7+ million votes that could keep your ass outta office.
jdm

Lord Mandelson is spawn of satan.
Pure evil
The Doctor

Mandelson is one of the protagonists in the group of politicians who are responsible for the UK’s ‘nanny state’ style of government.

They want to tell you what you can do, when you can do it and what you spend your money on – all for the common good i.e. their massive egos.

The man is in idiot.
Sensitive Artiste

we can fight them by continuing to pirate, they will run out of money eventually, those disgusting copyright hooligans, i see this as a generational change, the geezers in government never grew up with the internet, as such they have a natural distrust towards it, and cling to a long past false past, a nostalgia where they feel comfortable once again. once our generation starts to get into government and some the geezers start to die off progress would be possible. As max planck once said “truth doesn’t always triumph, its opponents just die out”
M3Tz

-1 vote labour
Matty

Just watch – The Boat that Rocked. Pirate radio was shut down but the authorities learned a valuable lesson. Eventually the muppets this time round will work out that their current model is rubbish and then we can move on. Sigh deep breath etc…….
J

@2

Exactly. But for voters to be informed the media has to ask these people some “tough” questions. Here in America, Obama is what happens when people don’t know what they’re voting for because no one ever asked him a tough question and everyone was shockingly satisfied with him ignoring or side-stepping the question.

Well democracy works in theory, anyway.
cyberdoyle

whoever can understand and deal with modernising copyright law will get my vote. Doesn’t sound like labour have a cat in hells chance to me. Not with Mandy running the show. Too many friends. Not enough interest in real people.
Anonymous

Conservatives 2010, or PP if they can get sorted for the next election
MikeJJ

“People who copy a movie are lumped in with people who steal cars.”

that’s not true. police don’t bother with car thieves unless they are caught in the act.
Luk3

@12

Amen.

It’s nice to finally see Americans standing up for themselves though according to Obama and the media the concerns of 58% of Americans are nothing but “manufactured” and orchestrate by special interests.

Nonetheless, the invasive government known to the UK and other European nations will soon be here in America should Obama and Pelosi continue to gag the American people as they rape our nation. Worse than the demise of America is the loss of freedom. Should America fall to socialism there will be no freedom left in this world for anyone to run to… Unless of course you’re rich enough like Obama to buy yourself government offices and then spend your work time writing books.
redmarine

Meh, we’ll win eventually… mark my words!
Anonymous

Screw mandy. Actually don’t; you’ll get snake AIDS.
Visssss

But now the self proclaimed “internet police” are bothering people who aren’t caught in the act with not so convincing evidence.
SHUT_THEM_DOWN

So the Rothschild family talked Mandelson into making a sue-’em-all market in the UK to the value of:

£350,000,000,000

F**k that, I’m protesting, protesting by boycotting the purchase of anything that is IFPI/RIAA/MPAA/etc backed.

I don’t need ‘em… there are better artists out there who work independently or on indie labels that are FAR more deserving of my support and promotion.

The mainstream “artists” won’t get the free promotion any more.

They won’t receive a damn penny from me.

I will educate others that supporting these organisations subsequently supports the re-writing of laws that work against the individual, branding us as criminals despite there being nearly zero evidence of losses caused directly by file-sharing activity.

Shut them down.
Don’t promote them.
Don’t buy their products.
Don’t even bother sharing their products any more, they do NOT deserve it.

Remember (and push to your peers)…

Independent = cool, undiluted messages and a real passion for music as an artform.

RIAA/MPAA/IFPI/etc = lame, cookie-cutter, fake, lowest common denominatard, passion for nothing but money and criminalize-the-consumer attitude.

Educate others, financially crush the mainsream of the industry as money (and really losing profit) is the only message they understand.
Phoenix

Britain where is your fucking Monarch?
wake up !
sjena

Awwwww, the politicians want to play games? So cute! I have 2 new games for them, hide-and-mock as well as hide-and-never-be-found, much more suitable.
truth

Do not vote labour. Do not vote for any politicians party who embraces such measures after a private meal with unelected moguls.
J

Labour is dead for now, at the next election they will not get in so Mandelson is most certainly not the next prime minister unless gordon steps down before the next election in about a years time.

What would be interesting is to find out if Mandelson was influenced privately to change the law, there has to be a crime there somehow.

Ba the people in the uk are to spineless and lazy to do anything the politicians have found that out and now there running the country into the ground because they know they will get away with it.

-Jay
Anonymous

Time for PeerGuardian and other anti-media-outfits-spying-on-us measures.
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knotwurrid

Well done mandy, you just lost your party 7 million votes.What concerns me though is who are you trying to impress?
John

Why should the government care it doesn’t effect them in the slightest.
Doodelidee

If you end up in a plane accident your insurance company and airline is willing to give less money to your family for your life than what RIAA and MPAA demands for one song being copied. Think it is about high time something is done about the value system..

Let us say that RIAA/MPAA is correct, which they are not. RIAA’s advertisement says that copying = stealing. If you shoplifted a single song from a CD store and got caught, what would the fine be? 20 dollars? 20 hrs of community service perhaps? But if you get caught copying a song you have to pay millions in fees… how is this right?
Sendaii

Oh dear. Mandy has opened one serious can of worms here. If he wants a war, we’ll give him a f**king war. He doesn’t know what he’s getting into. Once this gets into mainstream media, his chances of becoming the next PM will drop like a rock.

Also, this is the guy who thinks that he has the right to run the country in the PM’s absence. Not that he could do any worse than Brown though.
Ralonto

Again of course, the same labour party that installed cameras in all your public places and is going to monitor ‘trouble families’ within the privacy (although this group of people have no concept of that term) now demands criminalization of 7 million ordinary citizens. I hope they will lose majorly during next elections. If not, the British people would show that they do not really care about whether their country becomes a police state or not.
Gusar

So…
This guy is a billionaire with a villa on a Greek island. And he’s whining to politicians about piracy?
John

Him prime minister i’d rather have Jeremy Clarkson
Kojak

Only way to effective and smart fight against movie and record industry is.

1. Never buy music, movies tv-shows, games, programs. No renting movies, tv-shows. No cinemas. Download free from net if you want.
All we can do that 1. part it is fast, easy and all who do so save money. What less you buy that more money you save. Also amount of saved money increases if you continue years.

2. Support, join pirate parties in your country. Copyright industry owns all politicians and goverments. Only way stop that is pirate party. Again easy and fast way. When pirate party get enough votes it can become change laws and block copyright MAFIAA lobby in politic level.

So all people out there let spread word and start do things 1. and 2. now and tell all others about it. We can change world if we do this 2 small steps.
anon2

i can see this happening very quickly! once a law is in, it is very difficult to get rid of it, regardless of who wins the next UK general election and regardless of who is running whichever political party. the ‘digital britain report’ is a complete joke, produced by uneducated people, as far as the internet is concerned, who only listened to those they wanted to, not those that matter. the people involved in it spent a fortune coming to the most ridiculous conclusions which will not help the customer or industry. until BT and other internet companies are forced to spend money upgrading to fibre optic, there will be no improvement in speeds. i agree, however, that this would be the deathnell of the labour government. to actually turn so many UK internet users into criminals is going to be a big mistake, especially after accepting what the movie/music/copyright industries say as being gospel and not taking into account the facts from other sources as well. as far as effects financially on the government is concerned, they would lose the tax paid by all internet users for the b/b connection (vat) and not recoup it, as they may think, by increases in shop purchases. looks like a lose-lose situation to me!
Kojak

Do things like I posted before we take MAFIAA money and political power. I have done like example 1. many years easy and fast way. I recently joined pirate party and I fully support it.

I don’t buy so MAFIAA don’t get money from me and also I save much money. I can do this rest of my life if needed. Also I can download all what I need free from internet :)
himi

Make that bread baby!
John

He owes Dreamwork Studios. Of course he’s going to be upset if he’s loosing out on MORE money.

Seriously – if i ever had a billion, i would just wash my hands of humanity, and start another civilization somewhere else.

The first rule of my civilization would be – if you’re going to sell clones of your initial product (CD’s) and prevent others from reproducing your product through copyright, then the amount of profit you make must be capped.

So lets say it cost £1M to make an album – the *total* profit cannot be higher than, say, £500,000

That’s more than enough to pay the people who made the music back – and the best part is, each album could only be worth a couple of quid. If they sold it at £5 each, they’d have to stary giving them away for free after they hit 100,000 sales.

That’s how copyright should work – other wize you end up with the replicator problem. If you can copy/clone something, (with a replicator from Startrek, hehe) then the economy will be meaningless. Where the value of an object is 99% down to what people will pay and only 1% of what it cost to make – then the masses will have nothing and a minority will have everything.

That isn’t a healthy economy. In a healthy economy, money should be changing hands between everyone equaly and rapidly.

I’m not saying we should be comunist, i’m just saying that in order to have one billionaire, you need to have a LOT of people who are getting below average pay.

Isn’t it sick that a pirate is probibly paying an amount closer to the real cost of an album/movie than a ligitimate buyer?
louisfriend

Finally, a political party that i can vote for.

These media “moguls” are so far out of touch, & dont realise that their highlighting the ease with which you can download & copy material from the net.

there are many older albums & movies that CANT be bought. Are we just supposed to forget about them, & buy the latest stuff? (@ stupid prices)

GO PIRATE
god

@14

The dirty tory bastards propose even more draconian laws! Jesus!

The only parties who are on our side are the Lib Dems, the Greens and the Pirate Party. Vote for one of them!
Me

Peter Mandelson reminds me of John Hurt.

Coincidence..?
Darth_yoda

Mandelson is a complete gimp, why the hell he was invited back into government i’ll never know.
Mr.T

Just thank god ive got someone else to vote for other than the current retards. Pirate party all the way
gigel

Everytime the Rothschild family name pops up, there has to be something very wrong going on. The fact that their name pops up in the context of the pirates vs corporations war should worry us and make us more aggresive in our stance against media moguls. This war is beginning to have many casualties only on our side and i see no one of the pirates inflicting casualties on the other side.
Everyday news apppear of ordinary being raided, sued and arrested by the police in many of the civilized countries around the world. They are commented upon by us here or on other sites. But no real action of retaliation is being organized against corporate bullying. No street protests, no organizde boycots. nothing. The pirate party emerging in many countries is a good thing. But it does not help the people who are right now being dragged into courts squeezed for everything they have.
People have protested against the war in Iraq or against G8 summits or other political things like that. Why can’t be any protests for the pirates and copyright reform and so on?
Boghoun

Don’t forget that “Mandy” would have to renounce his Peership before he could become PM and the chances of that happening are very slim….A Tony Benn he isn’t….He’s just another example of a non-elected Cabinet Member in the present Labour Government!!!!
vug

Mandelson as a future prime minister ? ! He is classic, corrupt political crook, and this latest ‘ favour ‘ he’s made on behalf of Geffen comes as no surprise. There’s got to be something in it for him .Enough said
webcrawler

i blamed you also for using unsecured torrent connection.bittorrent needs more to redefined; we need a more reliable way of sharing contents.

i prefer RS (and its company MU,MF etc)>> torrent

brits you need to vote the conservatives.(seem to be better than Mandelson)
trickle

Rothschild… you mean the guys with all the Illuminati connections?
trickle

if that were true it could expain how there is an odd increase in piracy crack down around the world.
doowap

“[Peter Mandleson]the Business Secretary’s intervention comes after he and David Geffen – the billionaire producer who co-founded the DreamWorks studio with Steven Spielberg – had dinner with members of the Rothschild banking dynasty at the family’s holiday villa on the Greek island of Corfu.”

Peter Mandleson, please remember is also a twice disgraced politician (two resignations) who is now an UNELECTED member of the British government. That, and the quoted text above tell you all you need to know about the state of British democracy in 2009.

He’ll never be PM, though – he’s more Grima Wormtounge, than King.
volektau

I am so glad i have left the UK.

Mandleson would never be elected in a true democracy so we shall see….
Rooney

This dude will not be prime minister because Labour are clearly going to be hammered at the next election.
The P!nk Pr!nce

He is such a Gay Lord!
Fu Ck FACT!

This won’t happen!!!. Just look how badly Labour did in the European elections.

Labour will NOT win the next general elections. The UK people HATE Labour.
Anonymous

More and more people in britain now have access to broadband.
Fining for people for downloading pirated software will never work cause everyone will either find a way around the system or ditch the ISP that agrees to assist the government thus they loose potentially millions.

Downloading pirated software is too popular and too mainstream now for it to stop.
Dingo_RG

A politician being touted as Britain’s next Prime Minister has been persuaded to take action to criminalize 7 million citizens following intensive industry lobbying over file-sharing. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson is in favor of introducing tough laws including Internet restrictions and fines of up to £50,000 ($83,000).
————–

Stupid people… I want to see as these morons will do for putting 7 millions of citizens (voters) in jail… :-)
Anonymous

And by pirated software i mean films as well btw
yano

the rich and powerful dine and decide our fate, th internet is the last refuge for the common man to be free in. don’t let them take it away!
Bobe-On

I liked the island bit with the meeting with the banker family members. Is this true? LOL (and it’s a bitterness-laced LOL)

It makes me recall the story behind the American Federal Reserve formation. Here’s what one author said about it:

“I came to the conclusion that the Federal Reserve needed to be abolished for seven reasons.
1. The Fed is incapable of accomplishing its stated objectives.
2. It is a cartel operating against the public interest.
3. It is the supreme instrument of usury.
4. It generates our most unfair tax through inflation and bailouts.
5. It encourages war.
6. It destabilizes the economy.
7. It discourages private capital formation.”
– http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_fed09.htm

Astounding if true!

In Canada where I live, Saltspring Island out west in BC seems to have its own currency!
http://www.saltspringdollars.com/

Meanwhile, I recall an online post from NZ about doing such a thing as a rejection of the ways many banking systems work, and referencing Saltspring Island.

If you’re curious about this (and why wouldn’t you be?) check out ‘Money As Debt’ (I think it’s on You Tube). It’s a bit complicated if you don’t know much about money, etc., but still worth sticking with, if only to get some ideas.
(What did V for Vendetta say about ideas?)

Here’s a question to bake your noodle:
If you get sued for (the dubious concept of come forms/controls of) money, and are using another local currency and/or bartering, how does that work? :)
deadmanamerican

i didnt think they bothered to count votes anymore…especially 7 million votes.

yes the same rothschild gangster with all the illuminati connections…amongst other terrorist orgs.
Anonymous

7 Million Download Criminals?

Wow! We could raise such a big army with that!

7 Million!
anoldwiseun

The building trade will be doing really well building all the extra Prison’s required for those that either will not pay fines or cannot pay.

As for ‘UK Pirate Party leader Andrew Robinson’, perhaps he should also point out that when all these people have been made Criminal, which will included all those terrible Criminals that put too much Rubbish in their bin, exactly what have they got left to lose?

Beware for they will be able to do exactly as they like, they are already criminals. Especially those that have been to prison.

the only people that will have “clean ” records, are those that “obey all within the rules in our Parliament”. Oh dear, please don’t make me laugh.
Anonymous

greedy corrupt b*star*s
MM99

They are charging enough money in fines to produce a new album/movie…Someone in their team obviously thinks someone is hiding millions in their locker.
7 million? They could start off a new country where there are no copyright laws.
Black Pirate

hay dont bring Obama into this aneways look what Bush did all hewas was a sellout to the big companys i bet u motherfuc”kers like
bush it so sad today and when we torrent its bad people people dont like the truth told

like they say to truth herts
Simon Egan

People around the world have been making livings as musicians in various contexts for countless generations. Recorded music has changed the situation beyond recognition within a century. Many would agree that the situation is no longer in balance (with a huge wealth gap between the handful of “super-artists” and the mass of struggling musicians), that it is quite unhealthy for the actual music. But people will continue to make their livings as musicians. New means for musicians to support themselves through their music may emerge with new communications technology. Many talented groups who struggle to tour in a small geographical region could have very large potential audiences scattered around the planet who simply don’t know they exist. With the rise of relational databases, decentralised (and effectively free) music distribution, multimedia web-casting etc. such groups could quickly find their audiences, and vice versa.
Fuck Fascism

17:

“Should America fall to socialism there will be no freedom left in this world for anyone to run to…”

You haven’t got a fucking clue, have you.
Anonymous behind seven proxies

“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”

as a registered voter i
know which party im voting for PP.UK!
time get these idiots/corrupt/unelected aka brown, & other PMs out of our govt. A.S.A.P.
Jay

Was a potential nu labour voter, if this goes thru, will not vote labour for the rest of my life

get most of my music from jamendo and only d/l films I can’t get

if it gets put into law, will look to pay for vpn accounts
*

If the Conservatives win and you think they’ll be any better then you’re in for a big surprise, people. Don’t be fools.

And Mandelson? Whoop de doo, he knows shit about what he’s asking, and one can only wonder at what’s in this for him exactly. Let them try and play god and see what happens.
Oliver Chettle

There’s more chance of George W Bush being the next Prime Minister of Britain. Mandelson isn’t even in the House of Commons. He is the most loathed politician in England, especially in his own party. He would be humiliated if he ran for the leadership of the Labour Party, as he well knows. He is only in a senior position because he has a demonic hold over Blair and Brown, but Blair is a has-been, and Brown will be one by next year as well.
Ste

These vile politicans steal from the tax payer every single day.Yet these same hypocritical thieves want to criminalize and ruin financially for downloading something that is vastly overpriced.Makes you proud to be British.
anonynomous

Political suicide!
Anonymous

Fuck the established parties such as Labour and Conservatives.

I wouldn’t even bother voting, but if you must, vote for Pirate Party all the way.

Whatever you do, don’t vote Conservative. The last thing we need is more power to the old, priviledged Eatonian posh boys who wipe their arses with the working class man’s paycheque.
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anon

who wants a fag running our country anyway?
Notorius CAD

We have a Pirate Party?

Where do I Vote?!
stiffy

@66

dear anon
Nice homophobic response…

you do know most studies suggest that those that are homophobic actually are outwardly displaying this behaviour to cover up the homosexual feelings they themselves hold inside.

how sweet that you should share you tenderness with us all..

unless of course you just are using the term ‘fag’ to mean that you dislike his character flaws… but if that is the case, then be a little more descriptive and prove to us that you have something between your ears other than wax.
Anonymous

Lol.. get caught with a half bar [4.5oz] of the most potent bud you can ever imagine, worth over £1,500 street price – and get given a ‘Reprimand’ (I.e. a fcuking WARNING). It’s a Class B, don’t forget ;)

BUT..

Copy a movie and get fined £50,000 off the mark.

The UK is quite possibly going to result in the most uninhabitable country on earth.

Fcuk Gordon Brown
Fcuk Great Britain
Long Live Liberalism
Long Live Amsterdam!
happyandanonymouse

I’ll just hire ‘em and rip ‘em.
No fr*ggin’ billionaire’s gonna get
£30 out of me for a £1-production-cost blu-ray!
Makes you wonder who the thieves really are.
Jigsy

“Lord Mandelson billed taxpayers almost £3,000 for work carried out on his constituency home in Hartlepool …”

So it’s alright for the gov’t to steal (*cough* expenses), but not us, huh?

According to my calculations, I’d be forced to cough up £239,450,000 …
soothe-sayer-slayer

What the hell is going over there in Big Brother Britain? I mean to ask how the hell do you people still have monarchy in this day and age? *sputters* MONARCHY??? I mean come off it!

‘Lord’ so and so who has had to resign is pathetic. I shall waste no more text on his stinky scandal-ridden hide.

The Rothschilds are infamous throughout recent history for being the most clean-cut Grima Wormtongues that are excellent in hiding behind high-backed thrones.

I am glad I still live in a quasi-free country, that being the USA. Sure we have our problems but at least we still have places where you can drop out and go live like Kentucky or Alaska, basically we have a lot of open space and elbow room. Which may be one of the problems over there where you have millions and millions crammed in and gnawing at one another in word and deed. I hope the melting pot of London spills over and washes away all the pure-blood-barney-saxon-viking-pompous-sheeple-fleecers.
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twzz

Mandleson is quite the odious and far removed ‘centre rightist’ there is. This is typical of how he views governing. Via luxury lunches with the very wealthy in private villas in remote locations. Mandleson’s style is very much ‘i-know-whats-good-for-you-so-shut-up’ Blairitism magnified by x 100.000.

It’s also part of his perosnality that he sees it as his right and personal fate & destiny to rule Britian (and why didn’t any of you know that so bow down to me now and know your place)

He is NO man-of-the-people despite being gay and having a father who was big in British leftwing politics.
RD1

I was watching ” The boat that rocked ” last night.

Exept for the distribution method , we are still fighting the same fight.
lisa

Finally we will be able to feed my child descent food and gibe her good education ..!
if you where in the music business and suffer from record sales droping 80 percent and seing your album leaking free in the net months before release date you would simpathise with us.

maybe not many people would be paying this fines but the new policy will scare the new generation and they will start buying music again and thinking differently

it takes thousands to make an album . millions to make a movie , months or years to promote it ect
why music or movies is suddenly considered OK to be free ?

music as movies are necessary and should be considered as profesions not hobbies

as a profesional musician :
we only can make money from touring now and that becomes very tough when you have a family!

wake up people and dont think only about the poor people that will be fined for stealing …

think about the artist that have put all their life into something and dont get anything and even quit their dreams due to piracy..
yes being a musician can take decades and is not light work either..
we need our record sales back together with motivation to create more music!
Kiserd12

@68

Its not the monarchy causing the problem here. its unelected governments and rich americans forcing their will on the rest of the uk against its will.
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UNKNOWN

Why the hell wont the British public vote for UKIP instead instead of the main parties you never learn.
Mickey

Mandy has no chance of being the next Prime Minister – the tories will win the next election, but seeing as they couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery – file sharing peeps should have nowt to worry about.
Pistol

Not sure what gives Mandelson power to comment on file sharing when he doesn’t even know who Michael Jackson is?

http://pistol.tumblr.com/post/132232481/the-full-transcript-of-george-parkers-interview
Kiserd12

Nu labour only seem to listen to rich celebrities and wealthy busniess people
Mr Innocent

Errrm…no worries over Mandy People, he told sky news the other day in an interview on a fast train in the east midlands that as he is a LIFE peer in the house of lords he cannot be the next prime minister…he also said that if he WAS then it would take a lot of laws to be changed regarding the house of lords and having a peerage…so either he is secretly wanting to be the next PM in which case you will see a lot of new laws coming in under the back door or he is telling the truth and doesnt care…myself i would go for option A and fully expect the laws to be amended specially for this to happen…sly bunch politicians aint they ;)
Pierre the frnech in Sweden

And what about the millionaires in France, UK, US etc. who put their billions in tax havens (see New York Times articles) ?
When I see all the energy spent by governments all over the western world to catch guys who download 1 dollar songs, I am floored…
see, fiscal evasion is recurent and 45 Billion euros are lost in France only, every year.
New laws agains pornography, pedodphily and illegal download are another step toward global surveillance of ALL communications and ALL citizens to destroy opposition or democraty and debate.

Our system is worse than communism. It pretends it is free but the choice you have is to buy a box of peanut from Kraft or a box from Nestle.
This is called corporatocracy.
Law makers, political parties are financed by big businesses, so in turn law makers create new laws to protect the big corporations… in the detriment of you and me, the CITIZENS.
Have a good day.
Mark A

Nu Liebore are on their last legs anyway in the UK – Mandelson will never get to be PM of this country unless a coup is organized before the general elections in 2010. If Labour get in again then it will be pure electoral fraud.

They have turned this country into a multicultural slum, a snoopers society where the only people who benefit are conniving politicians and quango’s.

Mandelson is a snide, full stop.
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Crim

I wonder if they would deport the 7 million people to OZ? Actually, make that 7 million + 1.
Eloquence

Bilderberg. That’s all you need to know. Google it
Anonymous

The politicians are not solely to blame for this, I blame the people voting for them. I’ll be voting BNP.
louisfriend

lol, BNP trolls are so stupid its truly remarkable.

BRITAIN
NEEDS
PIRATES
Fugasmic

1. Labour haven’t got the slightest hope in hell of winning the next election anyway.

2. Even if they did, I am highly doubtful that Brown will let Mandelson take them into it, and he is so unpopular in Britain, he would never get voted for even if he was the labour leader.

3. The Nazi Facist fucktards of the BNP who seem to troll every comment section where a British politian is mentioned need to fuck off and get gangraped by a undersexed pack of rottweilers while standing naked in their jackboots. Pricks
Irritation

So by stopping me downloading you think I’m going to go to the cinema, buy a CD or a DVD?
THINK AGAIN
What do you think we did before torrent came along?????????
Please yourself Mr “Business” Secretary but cast your mind back to ET. You’ll never stop piracy – you can’t even stop a ship in the English Channel these days – Doh!
A Victim

Kind of like saying “Government turns thousands of men that have sex without permission into rapists by passing law against rape.”

It isn’t the governemnet that turned downloaders into criminals. It is the fact that they vioate the rights of others.

Look, behind all your lame excuses and rationalizations, you are simply bad people that don’t give a damn about the wrokers.
Dizzy

First of all i am wondering how much money is payed to the government people, directly or indirectly (think, a trip to greece)…

Secondly, how can the movie industry have this much influence on a government? Definition of government is a group of people elected by all to REPRESENT the people… are they REPRESENTING the people here?
Wally

Why is it that the Rothschilds and Zionists (like Spielberg) are the root cause of removal of our liberties. GOD, I hate them!!!!!!
Reasoned Mind

What im really starting to wonder is.. why are all these countries like freaking out about P2P and yet USA hasn’t really done a whole lot about it..

It seems like the U.S is never in TF news.. I thought U.S would be the first to do everything insane to file sharers..

anybody else kinda wondering that?
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James

I think Lord Mandelson just wants to be in the news for a few days.

:( shame my bitter hatred towards this man is growing.
anoldwiseun

A Criminal is a Criminal no matter what the Crime. It is suggested in your article that a Fine of £50,000 could be imposed. Is that for what many of us do, record a film, a musical while we are out, or perhaps looking at another programme?
Perhaps Mr Mandelson and the Government ought to be reminded that we have a Constitution-they should know because they have just used Article 1X of the Bill of Rights 1689 to protect themselves in the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009. However, I remind them that our Declaration and Bill of Rights 1688/9 makes clear, “That excessive bail ought not to be required; nor excessive fines imposed; nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”. I think that then, rules out such as a £50,000 fine.
Dingo_RG

98 (A victim) said:
“It isn’t the governemnet that turned downloaders into criminals. It is the fact that they vioate the rights of others.”
—————–

Are you so imbecile as for insinuating that 7 millions of citizens are criminals only by the fact of exerting their legitimate and legal right to share information and culture with others?

BTW, I don’t see as sharing my possessions with others could be considered a crime… Could you explain me?
Dingo_RG

My response is awaiting moderation… cool.. that a lot of hypocrisy exists here. Freedom of speech?? Bu.llshit
CDR levy of canada

just give more publicity to it all and refuse to stop pirating when they have to arrest 7 million people is when shit gets fun
HAHA
THEY KNOW ITS UNENFORCEABLE
FOOK EM
Dipper

If 7 million are convicted then they simply will not buy any further music/movies and where will that leave the Corp types. Poor and out of buiness and the goverment will be out of power due to civil unrest.
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chilepete

He’s got about as much chance of being the next prime minister as I have!
Coactum

I hope they do take a harder stance. Fuel the fire, fat cats!
Name Here

Three letters V P N
Kiserd12

I am beginning to think that people who right racist messages are in fact a ploy by anti-piracy organisations to try and label us racist, it is the type of disgusting things they would do.
ghdf

Mandelson as prime minister LOLOLOLOLOL, who makes this sh1t up –

remember folks this man is a thief, and loves money, only in the UK could you be a sacked politician on multiple occasions for criminal thievery that would get us locked up and end up in the house of Lords (supose its fitting seeing as the rest there are either inbred robber barons, or criminals too)

if it lines his pocket it will happen – quickly
Dingo_RG

98 (A victim) said:
It isn’t the governemnet that turned downloaders into criminals. It is the fact that they vioate the rights of others.
————-

Are you so im.be.cile as for insinuating that 7 millions of citizens are criminals by the only fact of exerting their legitimate right to share information and culture with others?

Sharing my possessions with others is my legitimate right as person, and there doesn’t exist any reason
for giving to music or movies a different treatment.
Dingo_RG

Thank you TF, thank you for censorship my comments. Are you doing agreements with the MAFIAA?
Dingo_RG

I mean, I don’t see any harmful comments from entertainment industry delinquents moderated. Are you playing two roles here? One, with the MAFIAA; and the other with the net neutrality movement?
Dingo_RG

Why the heck my comments are being moderated?
Dingo_RG

Already are 3 of my comments that are being moderated, the heck, I demand from you a response!!!!

Why are you violating my right to freedom of speech?
Dingo_RG

Why are you OPENLY violating my right to freedom of speech? cowards!!!
Dingo_RG

Definitively, some of these p2p sites are hypocrites. Playing two roles, with the MAFFIA and the filesharing movement… Shame on you, TF.
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billy bob

let me first just say I’m against the whole thing.

BUT – I say this this whole thing go thru. Let the Queen or whoever mandate that 7 million citizens are in violation of this truely heinous of crimes. let them ALL be brought up on charges. Let them ALL refuse to pay the fines.

Then let’s see what happens when the brittish government tries to incarcerate 7 million extra people all at once in the probably already over-flowing prisons in the UK as it is -with all the murderers and rapists and armed robbers.

Oh yeah – this will be fun.
Ninja

LoL… It’s like saying I can’t let my friend drive my car because it’s not his…. (answering some comment up there).

Now answering the article… Welcome to the new China… lol… UK citizens are quite unlucky… Crappy government and now it’s working against them… Well, shit happens everywhere… Just make sure you don’t put those imbeciles up there next elections….
Pondering

Many times, over & over in my head, I have thought of ways to peacefully rebel against an oppressive organization with the goal of obtaining the desired results. Those being, the change or outright eradication of tyrannical laws (such as these). So how do you “fight”? Violence is out. You can’t openly oppose a government by using violence for moral & obvious reasons. Too many people would be slaughtered, and win, lose or draw, wounds & atrocities would be inflicted on both sides, that could never heal.
The only conclusion I have come to is this. If enough people banded together, and through the act of breaking certain non-violent & harmless laws (like this law), outright forced a government to arrest & imprison it’s citizens. You would need millions of “offenders” 10-20 million people minimum, but the more the better. How could a government function if it were forced to arrest, try/convict, & imprison a huge portion of it’s population? Who would do their jobs? Who would pay the taxes to build mass prisons & jail them? Who would make up the lost tax revenue of the jailed? The government would have to either figure that out, or simply change the law.
A.N. Other Victim

After a failed atempt From a solicitors in london to sue me for illegal sharing of their work an allegation that was completely un founded and after the PRS FORCED my company to pay for a license to play music in my own work place, why should i have any sympathy for artists,actors and so on? Why when i buy a dvd which then becomes my property should i have to sit through 4-6 trailers before i can watch the film i did pay for? Why do i have to pay the PRS to listen to numerous adverts per day on the radio? Why do i have to endure the many no brainer songs on the radio that the artist knows they will be paid for by the PRS? Does the artist struggling mean they can only afford 2 houses instead of 3 or only one Bentley? Maybe producing quality media and not forcing advertisements and licences on people is a way to stop piracy because lets face it 99% of films,music,games and applications are crap and not worth paying for anyway.
Bifter

Was there any point in Stephen Carter producing the Digital Britain report when the policy was going to be decided at the Rothschild family mansion in Corfu?!

I’m paying taxes, what am I buyin’
- James Brown

Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?
- Johnny Rotten

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
- Roger Daltrey

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Britain Mulls Turning 7 Million Into Download Criminals

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