Parliamentary Comms Group Says ‘No’ to UK 3-Strikes
Written by Ben Jones on October 17, 2009An increasing death-knell is sounding for Lord Mandelson’s proposals for 3-strikes Internet disconnections. The latest blow comes from the All Party Parliamentary Communications Group. After a consultation earlier this year, they have now published their response, and it’s not one favorable to ‘Darth Mandy’ and his plans.
Recently there has been a series of blows against proposals for ‘graduated response’ or ‘three strikes’ measures in the UK for dealing with alleged illicit file-sharers.
This week alone we’ve had an Early Day Motion from a member of Lord Mandelson’s own party, and more recently ISPs have talked about the futility of the suggested legislation.
Mandelson reportedly started pushing it after a meeting with Hollywood mogul David Geffen, and was apparently uninterested in the whole situation prior to the meeting, although that claim was flatly denied.
Now, the All Party Parliamentary Communications Group (apComms) has released its own findings to its more broad consultation, and it’s not good reading for 3-strikes proponents.
There were significantly fewer responses than for other similar consultations, although the scope was much wider. It was also much more open, without assumptions or leading questions. It was, in fact, fairly neutral and seemed to be concerned with gathering information, rather than trying to solicit support for a predetermined policy. Most appropriately, it was titled “Can we keep our hands off the net?”
The topics covered included dealing with ‘bad traffic’ (which includes copyright infringement, P2P and botnets), behavioral advertising (such as Phorm), online privacy and child pornography procedures. Finally it dealt with the issue of who should foot the bill for Internet traffic, and whether network neutrality should be codified. The first and last questions are of particular concern to TorrentFreak, and the conclusions make for interesting reading.
On the subject of P2P and copyright enforcement, they came to the following conclusions;
58. We conclude that much of the problem with illegal sharing of copyrighted material has been caused by the rightsholders, and the music industry in particular, being far too slow in getting their act together and making popular legal alternatives available.
59. We do not believe that disconnecting end users is in the slightest bit consistent with policies that attempt to promote eGovernment, and we recommend that this approach to dealing with illegal file-sharing should not be further considered.
60. We think that it is inappropriate to make policy choices in the UK when policy options are still to be agreed by the EU Commission and EU Parliament in their negotiations over the “Telecoms Package”. We recommend that the Government terminate their current policy-making process, and restart it with a new consultation once the EU has made its decisions.
Network Neutrality and actual bandwidth availability was also a concern, with the following recommendations being made;
212. We recommend that Ofcom keep the issue of “network neutrality” under review and include a section in each annual report that indicates whether there are any signs of change.
214. We recommend that Ofcom regulate to require ISPs to advertise a minimum guaranteed speed for broadband connections.
We know that many of our UK readers will be happy with the last recommendation, especially after a study by OFCOM earlier this year found that many subscribers were seeing an average of 40% of their connection’s advertised speed. A more appropriate advertised speed will also prevent many BitTorrent clients from being setup for speeds they can’t actually achieve.
If you thought that such open minded, clearheaded and competent recommendations couldn’t have come from elected officials, well, the good news is they’re not all luddites. ApComms’s Joint-Chairman, Derek Wyatt MP was formerly Head of Programmes at WireTV, before becoming the director of BSkyB’s Computer Channel (later ‘.tv‘), leaving when he was elected to government. Other executives of apComms include a former BT researcher (Chris Mole MP), and Dr Nick Palmer MP, who has studied AI at MIT.
An extremely well-educated and technologically literate group making these recommendations should help carry some weight. Whether or not it will be enough to convince the Peter Mandelson’s and Sion Simon’s of the government, remains to be seen.
The full report is available here.
Previously: Leading UK Cinema Implements MPAA Laptop Ban
Next: MPAA Fires Three Anti Piracy Bosses
45 Responses
Great New & Relief for people of UK.
…this from a guy that was kicked out of Government what 3 times?
Mandelson is a right dodgy f**ker who should be watched at every turn.
“58. We conclude that much of the problem with illegal sharing of copyrighted material has been caused by the rightsholders, and the music industry in particular, being far too slow in getting their act together and making popular legal alternatives available.”
Hear, Hear.
It is great to see policiticans speaking positively about the net from within the government. If you are reading this, thank you. You each carry a small but valuable pebble to build the road to a socially unified human society.
@Tom Drake: Just about everyone in our government is a dodgy f**ker who should be watched at every turn. Glad to see that at least some of them have sense though.
“…and we recommend that this approach to dealing with illegal file-sharing should not be further considered.”
Perfect, and to the point.
I LOVE the remark #58!
Hooray Britain! Lucky you are :)
Good to hear this! Also, very pleasing to see Ofcom being told to keep advertisers from suggesting speeds that aren’t even possible for some customers.
What, you mean like in the way the UK government listened to their drug advisors?
Looks like some of them are starting to get a clue…now if only Hollywood did, perhaps they can buy one from Vanna white??
Adding to ( comment. Like the goverment really listening to there commander in Afgan?
UK Government is a joke right now!
Perfect! Seconding what #4 said: if you’re reading this, thank you.
@9 “What, you mean like in the way the UK government listened to their drug advisors?”
Add to that – you mean like in the way the UK government listened to the vast majority of their populace over invading Iraq?
You’re spot on of course. They don’t give a toss what ‘advisers’ tell them if it’s not what’s already been decided as policy. Mandy’s ‘dodgy dossier’ on p2p will already have been written. If they’re forced to drop it for now, you can be sure it’ll surface again and again in the future in much the same way as ID cards have done.
this is very encouraging news for the uk, particularly the point raised that ‘the rightsholders, and the music industry in particular, being far too slow in getting their act together and making popular legal alternatives available’. i still think, however, that what will happen next is going to depend on the amount of money the ‘industries’ are prepared to offer to the necessary number of people to be able to get minds changed. it will also depend on whether the government decides to disregard the report and the views of the ordinary people and do what the hell they like anyway! keeping fingers etc crossed that common sense does prevail!
It’s a shame that commitees like this have absolutely no power in the UK. They can offer “suggestions” that the Government isn’t obliged to follow in any way. They can just completely ignore what is suggested.
What fun it is to live in the UK!
Well … David Geffen is the man who was suing Neil Young for making “deliberately uncommercial” albums. I guess that says it all. No wonder he want’s everyone off the internet so he can control distribution and more or less charge what he wants.
NO .. I’m not a Neil Young fan in any way, shape or form !!!!!
“If they’re forced to drop it for now, you can be sure it’ll surface again and again in the future”
True mate, they’ll keep pushing till they get what they want.
Still, its good to see people in the government that are doing there jobs for once :D
good now its time for maderson to be charged with crimes aginst humanity and lock up for the rest of his greed life.
Here comes the sun.
Could someone explain to me how Peter Mandelson is in a position of power that enables him to try to pass laws without being elected? From the wiki it seems he is a cabinet minister but not an MP how is that even possible…did they do away with that old fashioned democracy thing after all?
#20
AFAIK the UK democracy features both publicly chosen politicians and some other ones that are not chosen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_England#England_in_the_Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom
But this guy is an elected politician.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Mandelson
in your face reasoned mind
“58. We conclude that much of the problem with illegal sharing of copyrighted material has been caused by the rightsholders, and the music industry in particular, being far too slow in getting their act together and making popular legal alternatives available.”
*throws a pizza crust at reasoned mind*
great to hear. Now lets see them carry through with some of these recommendations. ;)
To the TF advertisers:
-I usually prefer the ‘before’ pictures. ;)
-Nice logos.
-Cute blond t-shirt chick with funny expressions on face
On topic:
Yay!
Hey!
Go Uk!
Net Neutrality
All The Way!
(shrug)
It’s a slow opinion day.
*finds pizza crust on floor, picks up, sniffs, takes a bite*
Screw you Mandy. How many times did u leave office & “Return”?
You & Brown were never elected so shove it up ya arse.
You are whats wrong with politicians, you are one corrupt mofo.
U Fail… Just like Labour.
/sry 4 rant.
Bit different, the populace was not an elected body, the ACMD was, and despite their academically qualified findings, the government chose to ignore the report in order to further it’s own agenda.
sorry, @13; M-RES I meant to agree with your well written riposte, you are correct the government decides a stance, commission’s an expensive survey and if it doesn’t fit in with their politic, sidelines it.
Darth Mandy? That figures. The anti-pirates are Sith Lords working for the Dark Side.
The problem is that Lord Mandy sees himself as precisely that – a feudal lord. He has no serfs, though, so he takes it out on surfERs, instead! He allegedly likes coq, and so he is trying to put us all into penile surfitude.
Not a Britfag, but I must say, this is very win.
@FrostyC
“Not a Britfag, but I must say, this is very win.”
Just a fag then.
A Britfag would be a cigarette, but all he smokes is coq au vin, or in the back of a car, he’s not fussy.
but what will David Camron &co do ???. Join the UK Pirate Party
“Lord” Mandelson? who the fuck is this Lord anyway? we peasants should feed him and his enterprise (and the ones of his peers, too)?
Nice one, “All Party Parliamentary Communications Group”
The “three strikes” policy was totally unworthy of a country that is too sensitive to even have a national ID card (you practically never need to show an ID in the UK).
Just wait til Cameron and his Lord Snooty colleagues get in, Draconian wont even enter into it. If you think Mandy is sucking up, Cameron & Osbourne will be in bed with Big Business against the little Guy. Fines and prison will be in order, no just ACS:Law and three strikes. It’ll be one strike and banned permanently, 6 months prison and about £5,000 fine
Our ex-Canadian “communications lord” is in prison.
Doing the pompous ceremonial waggle dance for all the hard-on prisoners perhaps.
Remember him? The guy that ostensibly renounced his Canadian citizenship to waggle in some country club, and then wanted his citizenship back? WTF?
What’s this lord crap anyway? Some kind of members-only pomp and ceremony-fetishists country club?
…”Pontius Pilate came to our town
Up to the dockyards to see the
picket line
We asked him to help but he just
turned around
He’s the leader of the union now
Leader of the union
All of our questions he ignored
He washed his hands and he
dreamed of his reward
A seat in the House of Lords…”
From One by One,
by Chumbawamba
The best possible outcome was if the European parliament could pass some legislation that makes it illegal to spy on peoples online habits without a court order and suspicious of a serious crime.
That would essentially legalise torrenting across Europe since no evidence of copyright infringement could stand up in court.
Please, copy that everywhere. Print it on your T-shirts, send letters to MAFIAA with that..
“58. We conclude that much of the problem with illegal sharing of copyrighted material has been caused by the rightsholders, and the music industry in particular, being far too slow in getting their act together and making popular legal alternatives available.”
The industry, MAFIAA and merry friends FAIL. And now it is officially recognized they FAIL.
ROFL
@23 you took the words right out of my mouth dude!
Let’s see RIAAsoned mind and his pal neo.shite wiggle their way out of this one! You douchebags are on the loosing side of Monkey Island!
When the revolution comes, you’ll be first up against the wall! Bwahaha!
Aaaarh! Avast mateys, all together now we be singing a shanty for our wee scurvy trolls: “Yo-Ho Yo-Ho And Pirate Life For Thee!”
While I applause the conclusions of this consultation, it’s unlikely the government will even acknowledge it. Most of the top politicians across all parties are involved in systematic bribery with the big media cartels (especially mandelson). Britain needs a revolution to rid itself of these anachronistic and endemically corrupt systems of governance.
at the moment the UK electorate have their politicians by the proveriable bollocks over their expenses scandal and bailing out the Banking bastards, they are all up for re-election in an a general election soon, there is no way they are going to alienate the public any further, but wait until after the next GE, especially if the conservatives get in (which is widely expected)and we’ll see if it remains so, the party of business, the tory’s, will bend over for IP protection
recent quote…….. “So, it is the government that should help fix this mess on behalf of creators of copyrighted materials which is protected by the Constitution of the U.S. Although our government may have missed this opportunity via the “first edition” Internet they can get it right this time with the “second edition” Internet – Mobile Networks. After all, in time there will be many more Internet transactions done via mobile networks and devices than tethered Internet transactions. Now’s the time to put these measures in place. Can we get some help? DataRevenue.Org has been unsupported in these efforts and its about time we reached out for help from those that are about actions beyond words. Can you hear us now?”
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