Labour MP: Disconnecting File-Sharers is Futile
Written by enigmax on October 14, 2009With the support of at least 18 other politicians, UK Labour Party MP Tom Watson has tabled an Early Day Motion in which he questions government proposals to disconnect or throttle alleged file-sharers. Calling the measures “futile,” Watson says those accused should have the right to legal redress in a court of law.
Tom Watson is a Labour Party politician for West Bromwich East in the United Kingdom. Famous for becoming the first MP to start his own blog, Watson was a Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office until his resignation in June this year.
During his time in the Cabinet Office, Watson says he spent 18 months “immersed in conversation with the UK’s digital pioneers” and is convinced that the country’s economic future depends on “developing a set of economic and regulatory arrangements (which includes copyright, the legislative mechanism at the heart of the filesharing debate) to hothouse our digital natives”.
Watson has been most vocal in his opposition to the proposals by the government to throttle, disconnect or otherwise interfere with the Internet connections of alleged file-sharers. “Not only do the sanctions ultimately risk criminalising a large proportion of UK citizens,” he said, “they also attach an unbearable regulatory burden on an emerging technology that has the power to transform society, with no guarantees at the end that our artists and our culture will get any richer.”
Taking his opposition to these proposals to the next level, Watson has now tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) on the issue. An EDM is a device used by Members of Parliament to demonstrate the level of support among other MPs for a particular point of view. Although EDMs tend not to achieve results directly, they can attract the attention of the press, which fosters further debate and discussion.
Tom Watson – EDM 1997 – ILLICIT FILE SHARING – 12.10.2009
That this House notes with concern the Government’s proposals on file sharing which would allow rights holders to request internet service providers to disconnect for a period of time, or throttle, the internet connection of people who may be accused of copyright infringement via peer to peer networks; believes that disconnecting alleged offenders will be futile given that it is relatively easy for determined file-sharers to mask their identity or their activity to avoid detection; acknowledges that illicit file-sharing only costs rights-holders money when people download infringing content in preference to buying it; further notes that identifying offenders using the Internet Protocol address of a specific machine may punish those who share a web connection; and calls on the Government to ensure that any citizen accused of illicit file-sharing is given the right to legal redress in a court of law before sanctions are imposed.
At the time of writing this EDM tabled by Tom Watson has the support of 18 other MPs, and not solely from his own Labour Party either. Support is coming in from across the political spectrum, from Labour through to their opposition in the Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, Social Democratic and Labour Party and Plaid Cymru.
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38 Responses
I applaud his moral conciderations.
All I see is corrupt judges. Should be thrown out and put new ones in there. Preferbly before they invented electricity…
That’s about the only sensible thing I’ve heard a member of the current government say since they came to power!
Let’s hope that the rst of the House sees the sense of it.
Seems like the man has sense, the same can not be said about the rest though.
Good for Him. Finally someone representing us that actually knows what they’re talking about.
This mans wisdom shines out like a beacon in pitch darkness (the pitch darkness are the morons he is surrounded by of course – and this includes the music/film industry as well as artists like Lilly (f*ckwit) Allen and James C*nt) I only hope enough ‘right’ people actually pay attention.
Yes, but nobody gives a shit in government about what is right. It’s whatever is more profitable for them. Politicians… self-serving little fuckers every one of them.
Conservative Party [comma] Liberal Democrats.
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Great article. I really hope he gets plenty of other MPs on board.
Torrent Freak wants to encourage file sharing and freedom but at the same time censors its own comment box.
By moderating my posts on this comment section you have now made your self liable for any Pro-Piracy statement posted here because you are now required to regulate your comment section as you have now provided proof that this comment area is regulated.
I guess the music labels forgot to pay some politicians…
Just a shame this motion is necessary.
Tom Watson was ousted from Digital Britain to make way for Ben Bradshaw, who can be heard parroting the ‘creative industries’ rhetoric, and an even bigger shame that the unelected Mandy will decide the government’s position on a yacht in Corfu.
#8 Your just a capitalist that thinks that comments on Internet are made to make publicity of websites. And by doing that you show the same incompetence and irresponsibility that the RIAA et co.
I encourage TF from deleting your post.
“legal redress in a court” or not… No one should be banned from an infrastructure like the Internet for illegal File Sharing.
Will????
Tom Watson switch to the UK Pirate Party [Daily Mail headline] nice one Tom
“web connection” :)
if the government proposals are implemented and this motion receives very little backing, it will yet again show that those with some sense and wisdom as well as the general public are being ignored in favour of the claims of the various industries. it also shows that the industries mean more to the government than the votes of the people that put them into office in the first place (and can remove them from office as well). money talking yet again!
Hell yeah! What ever happened to “Innocent until proven guilty” anyway?
I’m 90% certain I could write up a fake letter, send it to one of these spineless ISPs and get who-ever I wanted disconnected.
Yeah, its fraud but its the sad truth.
A little late; the Labour Party is so dead come election time.
Gordon Brown should have spent less time trying to censor P2P filesharing and more time censoring his MP’s (and his own)expense claims.
@8 I agree, TF has a weird view of censorship when it comes to comments
@11 Oct 14, 2009 at 14:38 by Swopyl,
That comment was not by me, take a closer look at that comment and mine and you should see a difference almost immediately…
Glad that MPs are finally taking notice! Happy to see Plaid Cymru (the Welsh party) taking up the issue too.
Way to go! At least we found someone who has an idea about the internet who is an official.
The man is sensible, but it still won’t make me vote Labour when the elections come. The Digital Britain report and Gordon Brown’s barely concealed contempt towards the British public in general has seen to that.
Maybe it’s me, but some of you seem to be reading too much positives into it. For example; “…hothouse our digital natives”? WTF? That sounds like a complete lack of freedom and a containment-tap to me:
“the country’s economic future depends on “developing a set of economic and regulatory arrangements (which includes copyright, the legislative mechanism at the heart of the filesharing debate) to hothouse our digital natives”.
Maybe some of the posts on here are from the that ‘regulatory-minded’ set.
People regulate themselves through the willing political marionettes.
Politics is the very inverse of power, save for upholding the power of the people who move your limbs.
I see this as a result of the global Pirate Party movement. We have to force more politicians to think about re-legalizing non commercial filesharing!
tbh i think their plan is to lose
why else would u put a 1/2 blind scottish man in charge of an english goverment,then let him make a complete cock up of it all, this ‘ressesion’ does not affect the ruling class only to working class,
where the hell is the ukpp? heard nothing from them in ages, if u want more members u need some publicity stunts or something, anything, sheesh
At least some people are getting wet enough and smell bad enough that they realize that pissing into the wind is not pleasant and doesn’t make them any “richer”.
hear hear! someone have got a brain in the government! good to see :)
wow. a politician with brain. that’s really unique!
The labour MP Peter Mandelson met with David Geffen from Dreamworks earlier this year in corfu. when he came back he suddenly decides that file sharing is immoral and people should be disconnected etc. which im sure his meeting had nothing do do with of course him being such an avid follower of copyright law, pros and cons of file sharing and the impact copyright has on the rest of the world who arn’t wiping there arses with money.
this guy seems to have a more common sense approach to the subject but hes a labour MP and they wont be in for much longer so they best it can do would be to make the government take the subject seriously for once.
On a slightly different subject.
The companys that are supposed to be protecting artist rights say that a high percentage of artists earn less then £5000 a year and were depriving them of potential earnings (I think the guy was the head of some shity 80s boy band)
but could it just be that there shit to start with perhaps??
Tom is a clued up guy. I follow his blog and it’s a shame there aren’t more people like him in labour. As it stands at the moment, unelected people like Mandelson wield a disproportionate amount of power in government. If only tom was in charge of the digital britain report, I’m sure the things coming out of it would be beneficial to both the economy and uk citizens.
I’m from his constituency!
Don’t let this motion fool you – he’s still a buffoon.
Filesharing is STEALING, and it’s wrong!
… Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go file this album I just downloaded as an expenses claim.
Sensible. Finally we listen to something other than the parrots of MAFIAA. Hope his voice reaches far.
@ #2
“invented electricity”?
My head hurts.
They will say anything to get them to vote for you, lib dems seem to be the best atm.
but there all in the end liers..
Not a member of the government, but an MP for the party that forms the government. Big difference.
Why should an UN-ELECTED minister have such a strong voice in goverment.
I always thought that MP’s were the voice of the people that elected them and not puppets of the rich elite who help falsify their expense claims to line their pockets.
I say get rid of these old stupid ‘people’ and lets get some that listen of the voters and make sensible laws. After all filesharing is in the public domain and a secret society tried to line their pockets.
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