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UK Anti-Piracy Plans Slammed By Liberal Democrats

Details of Lord Mandelson’s draconian pro-copyright plans contained in the Digital Economy Bill leaked out yesterday, provoking a wave of dissent. The Liberal Democrats have now made a statement, voicing dismay at this “utterly shameless” attempt to introduce major rules without proper Commons assessment.

Today Lord Mandelson will present the Digital Economy Bill which will include measures aimed at reducing illicit file-sharing. Yesterday parts of the bill leaked out, revealing that the legislation could lead to jail terms for file-sharers and unprecedented powers handed to private entertainment companies.

If this isn’t draconian enough, Mandelson includes giving the Secretary of State the power to introduce major new rules without Parliamentary oversight – this from a twice-fired, unelected politician.

Commenting on Mandelson’s attempt to fast-track proposals to amend the 1988 Copyright Act, and adding fuel to the fire this morning are the Liberal Democrats.

“This is an outrageous attempt to slip through sweeping changes with the minimum of scrutiny,” said Don Foster the Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary.

“We do not live in an autocracy, where major rules can be introduced on the whim of an unelected politician.”

Foster notes that his party does wish to address illegal file-sharing, but rightly adds that a workable solution is only possible through co-operation.

Although there will be many who support a crackdown on rampant piracy, many supporters of democracy on both sides are very concerned at Mandelson’s moves.

“For Lord Mandelson to attempt to create new offenses without proper assessment by the Commons is utterly shameless,” concludes Foster.

Hear, hear.

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  • first

    first

    voting lib dem…

  • Guido

    Draconian, is the right word, describes the UK dictatorship perfectly.
    This is only the tip of the iceberg, the whole is the UK is screwed up, please fight back don’t let these selfish morons take all our freedom.
    I am sorry but the Lib dems are just as bad as they would do the same if they were in power cos there is only ONE PARTY in the UK. HACK THE PLANET PLEASE.

  • John Down

    This is going to be fun to watch…

  • Bogie

    Wonder how much he has been bribed by media companies to try to get this pushed through?

    It won’t work at all, EU law will overide this pile of shit he has presented.

  • Bogie

    Someone please hack his computer and put some kiddy porn on it then phone the police!

    What fun that would be!

  • Buzz

    Maybe their time and money would be better spent making sure that poorly scripted and badly produced movies dont get a british cinema release,as it has been proven that anyone who regularly downloads films illegaly also has more original copies than the average person that doesnt fileshare,this being a clear indication that movie fans like to “try before they buy” i myself use this method so that i dont feel ripped off for £15 everytime i buy the latest Hollywood blockbuster that turns out to just be another money spinning corporate exercise!

  • Anonymous

    the UK is screwing it self over slowly… and when david cameron gets in which he will because being are retarded. we will be boned.
    VOTE LIB DEM

  • C

    @Bogie – He was bought with a dinner. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090816/2111135888.shtml

  • kabuki0009

    I feel a deep dark scene foreboding about this.

  • Guido

    No, please don’t vote lib dem, why do you think they opposed this, bloody hell, It’s not the government that runs this country IT’S THE BANKS AND THE BIG COMPANIES. Do you really think Lib dems will resist the bribes NO.
    Don’t vote, we need something NEW.
    The Internet is the way my friends we can all have a say in the way the country is run. Think about it, has the UK ever been run properly, NO.

  • Guido

    We need to come together on this, their divide and rule concept has worked for to long

  • r3loaded

    It’s definitely LibDems/Pirate Party next elections.

  • Rob

    Phew, lib dems to the rescue

  • Anonymous

    doesn’t matter the leach is exposed now and he will suffer.

    Now is the time to fight this evil.

    As someone on here said before

    All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing …. The only thing needed for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing.

    Pretty easy relay Prevented Peter Mandelson has declared war on the young.

    His greedy leaching arse need to be stoped.

    Peter is a unelected lord which is basicly a quango.

    Peter Mandelson is PURE EVIL. He has not a ounce of decency about him.

    For a so-called Cristian country to take his greedy ideas seriously is undoubtedly a step in a direction for a REAL HELL on earth.

    Please fight this man to his political death Liberal Democrats save us the people of united kindom for evil fascist like peter Mandelson.

    At least not all uk polotisions are biased and bought off and for that i thank you.

    I wouldn’t worry guys Mandelson days are numbered hears hopeing that the future will remember him and his family as pure evil fascist.

    Lets have Mandelson charged with human right voilations.

    Remember music art is free culture not pataentable by anyone.

    To hell with Imaginary Property.
    To hell with Peter Mandelson.

  • KingKong

    I got a sinking ship feeling,
    That this year we’re going to get quacked by the government,
    They call themselves British,
    I call them a dictatorship,

    I got a sinking ship feeling,
    …

  • Guy Fawkes

    They seem to have remembered the old saying “Remember Remember the Fifth of November”

    Good on them.

  • James Holdger

    Lord Mandelson, lol :)

    I suppose for somebody to be a “Lord” does not preclude the possibility of being an “idiot” as well.

    What he proposed can’t even be taken into consideration. But anyway we should thank this idiot, because now the “piracy case” got more free press! And hopefully common sense will prevail.

    About his “bill”, it cannot even be taken into consideration, for the reason that it’s simply uncostitutional. Unless the MAFIAA will deeply change the UK constitution, such a “bill” is just, ermm, bullsh*t.

  • Trevor

    Is there any point to a government anymore? The way things are now days, Corporations run the show, might as well abolish Governments.

  • Anonymous

    What the hell is Peter Mandelson?

  • gonewalkabouts

    NEWS FLASH form – PM – [ Peter Mandelson]
    Mandelson bans the 2010 elections useing his special powers
    Wales and Scotland to leave the Union
    Civil war broken as out
    Time to head for the hills
    No wonder they took our firearms away in 1997
    It was in their master plan

  • Al

    I think im going to have to vote Lim Dem next election!

  • Guido

    @20
    It’ll have to be cross-bows then

  • Cygnus

    V for Vendetta.

  • James Holdger

    @20: lmao!

  • 133t

    23 i was say that or rather post that :P

  • One

    I agree with Guido, the only thing I would like to add is,
    It’s not just the UK that is run by the banks and big companies, most of the world is, sorry sorry state.
    I also know the lib dems are only playing the the game, don’t vote for them.

  • Anonymous

    DICTATOR ALERT!
    I bet his wallet is bulging and he’ll no doubt have a few nice places to visit in his retirement now. Hope the papers give him a good reaming….But he’s been good at taking it up the arse his whole career. It’s like the cash for questions deal on steriods :( Sad day for the UK really and that’s not including the whole copyright thing.

  • gorehound

    we should all stop buying brand new movies.that is what i do.this type of news is only making me hate hollywood and any other greedbags.

    Buy Used Movies !!!!

  • Al Gore

    I should not have invented the interweb! Now the British people are all criminals. Maybe USA is next.

  • Rabbit80
  • Sanderman

    The sad thing is not that this happened (although that’s wrong too) but that a year later no one will remember and it will again be business as usual in backdoor politics.

  • Anon

    All i would like to say is fuck the old generation faggots… New people (21st generation support piracy… we dont give a shit about what the media industry faces.) They still make good enough revenue with the piracy… We should go around door to door and tell people how to download stuff just to fuck these fuckers up. The parliaments needs new people.

  • JJ

    @29 We are criminals, we steal movies and music! If you were not paid for the work you do you would complain that the government should introduce laws so you got paid. Its as simple as that, no matter how people here try to gloss over the issue. True, big greedy fat cats make too much money from media, but its also the professional artists which are hurt by piracy (especially the small guys). If nothing is done about this we will keep stealing their products and eventually no good films or music will be made… which will be shit.
    I would gladly pay a monthly fee for an all you can eat media market, but that’s not on the table yet… so I’ll keep being a thief, just like the rest of us!

  • yabba

    *Ties Lard Hitlerson to a chair*

    BEATS THE CR@P OUT OF HIS ***

  • Rabbit80

    A cursory glance at the bill confirms that it all relates to the IP address recorded by the copyright holder as infringing and the subscriber to the internet service will be held responsible. (So after you get cut off, just get your access in somebody elses name such as your partners / childrens etc.. ;) ) What this also confirms is that these measures will also be easily defeated by a VPN :D

  • Thieving Scum Pirate

    eventually no good films or music will be made…

    Seems we are already there.

  • anon2

    i dont know why there are some people saying ‘dont vote for the Lib Dems’. i for one will be voting for the party that i believe will do the most good for the most people. if that party happens to be the Lib Dems, then so be it. i hasten to add tho, that i have not voted for them up til now, always voting for Labour. however, that wont happen again!

  • yabba

    How about this?

    Since their current tactics can’t stop piracy and even if they propose draconian laws won’t do it either as people will just go underground in darknets/VPNs/whatnot, just put a monthly “copyright tax” on every single internet subscription so everyone who already has one or is going for a new subscription, will pay a small monthly fee included in the price which then will go to copyright/artists/etc.

    I’m from Belgium and here everybody pays such a small fee whenever he buys CDs/DVDs (as they can/are used to put copyrighted work on them without permission) and it’s the same thing for cable TV here where in your monthly bill you pay a little which goes to copyrights. I know, this also assumes that all are guilty thus all need to pay this small fee, but if you compare this to a much insaner draconian way of disconnecting, jailing people and taking the freedom on the Net away, it’s IMO a much MUCH more acceptable solution than to introduce such harsh methods and laws ….

  • heythere

    dont know about this..

    http://piratesagainstpedos.co.cc/

  • $deity

    How much does a bullet cost?

  • Glemball

    I’m sure my ISP will be looking forward to me dropping my speed to the slowest possible losing them £30 a month. WELL DONE THE BUSINESS SECRETARY I HOPE THE BACK-HAND WAS WORTH IT.

  • Rabbit80

    @yabba

    Why should it be mandatory to pay copyright holders? I know many people who don’t download copyrighted content – is it fair to make them pay?

    A subscription model – that is opt-in – is much more fair. They don’t even need to do much work to make it happen either – just set up a deal with one of the many existing VPN providers and NOT monitor any music downloaded through that VPNs IP addresses!

  • #YLS#

    Lord Mandelson = labour’s favorite sleeze

  • yabba

    @41

    No it isn’t fair, but with an opt-in subscription model you can’t guarantee that people will stop downloading content illegally and obviously the MAFIAA wants EVERYONE to stop or pay for it. By putting a “copyright tax” on every connection, you *can* guarantee this since everyone will pay a small fee which goes to them. Yes, as I said, that this is not fair/optimal and those who don’t download such content will still have to pay for something they never got.

  • yabba

    I should add in addition to the above, that what I said is just one out of the many possibilities how to “fix” this problem and I just threw it here for the sake of discussing the pro’s and contra’s of it. I’m not endorsing it or want it enforced…

  • a/s/l
  • anon2

    at #38. this type of thing has already been done in Canada. trouble is, after the introduction of this compulsory tax, the proposals were still introduced to disconnect file sharers any way. so after paying the various industries for something that a person may not even have downloaded, the risk of disconnection was reintroduced. if that isn’t taking the p**s, i dont know what is!

  • yabba

    @47

    Well that is really f-ucked up. The blame can only be put on the politicians and greedy corporate skeletons, who even after enforcing such “copyright tax” on all connection, still can’t get enough from it and are trying to find way to make people pay even more… Why would you disconnect a person if a “copyright tax” is already being payed monthly, whether he downloads or not? … Greedy corrupt pigs

  • Pingback: Brits Don’t Want A Crazy Dictator Of Their Own | eZee.se - Lets Make Things eZee!

  • Tigger

    “For Lord Mandelson to attempt to create new offenses without proper assessment by the Commons is utterly shameless,” — bang on the money.

    Im convinced these laws wont pass, but still, this problem isnt going to go away any time soon, as long as we all make ourselves heard, maybe one day governments of the world will finally get things right. Afterall, a goverments job isnt to serve rich coporations and banks, its to serve the citizens of its country.

    I for one wouldnt mind paying a few quid extra per month to subscribe to a new ISP that would allow P2P. Same principal as a TV licence, I dont want to see decent media stopped being developed (even though its been a while since ive seen anything id call decent! lol!) but it will be a cold day in hell before i stop filesharing =)
    Im gunna have to think hard as to how to vote in the next election. Perhaps the Anti-Mandelson party =)

  • knux

    Bow down to Mandelson as he will soon be the new god and under his leadership all who don’t believe will be sent to jail for alleged file sharing charges that weren’t really charges because the case never was seen in court but who cares because he’s god!

    And now sports with Don…

    Really hope this isn’t the only person who steps up against him.

  • Paul London UK

    vote ukip or pirate party

  • fat

    Voting Lib Deb too ;)

    Labour = Fat Fuck We DID NOT Vote In.
    Conservative = cocks who are all about money so will support copyright taking away our human rights.

  • zod

    no one, but no one should be involved with govenment that was not elected period, house of lords disolved permanently, top tier of civil servants elected by the people too

    any parliamentarian or civil servant caught taking money by business or lobbists or fiddling taxes/expenses..mandatory 10 years in prison

    any money removed from the country to tax havens gets taxed at 80% imported cultural products taxed too

  • Bakune

    If you get disconnected, there is always the yagi wifi antenna aimed at a Toad Manglesome supporter’s open wireless network! Darwin was right, we evolve!

  • Anonymous

    Thank god for some common sense in politics for once.

    I don’t think this will get passed.

  • dude

    Eurofags are butthurt over their Dictator cockblocking their internet…

    lol

  • Anonymous

    This is a shock and owe tactic attempted by the seven major corporation of entertainment parasites. While everyone is lamenting about this outrageous proposal they will have their government drone they bough pass something else instead while nobody is watching.

    These corporations clearly represent a mortal danger to our society and must be exterminated and obliterated by any mean:

    NOW!

  • Torrent-Tatty

    Mandelson Mendelson….. Jews, Jews, Jews. Nobody can stop this Jews – only
    “he”:
    http://wirmussen.ytmnd.com/

  • Anonymous

    Has Reasoned Mind finally listened to the voice of reason and feels ashamed of himself?

  • Tutame Ex Inferis

    Not quite as Terrifying as TF made out

    “As for the controversial plans to cut-off pirates, the bill outlines that this will work as a two-stage process. The first stage will be taking steps to educate consumers about the issues and the penalties they face should they be persistent offenders.”

    “The second stage will be introducing powers to disconnect pirates, should they refuse to stop file-sharing illegally after receiving letters informing them to do so. This will be introduced in the spring of 2011.”
    Nor as fast as “leaked” document would suggest. Cripes I thought the Currant Bun comic was sensationalist

    @ 14 “For a so-called Cristian(sic) country ” Please, don’t bring religion into this., Isn’t a commandment “thou shall not STEAL”?

    I see the “Broadband Tax” wasn’t included in the Bill. And too right. Why should I pay an extra 50p/month for lazy people who can’t get off their bootoms get a job and pay for their own Braodband, withouty me subsidizing them. Same goes for dloading illicit illegal content, why should I pay extra to support your theiving ways?

  • Anonymous

    Lord Mandelson?

    You call this piece of garbage a Lord?

  • Tom

    #Tutame Ex Inferis, if I were to get a raise, I would use it to pay stuff I can’t duplicate. Or in the rarer case support the truly awesome content or donate if it’s free.

    You see, the thing with spending your money on hardware is that you help drive the prices lower.

    Obviously this doesn’t happen in an ARTIFICIAL PRICING industry like copyrighted shit, where the prices are abysmal compared to the distribution costs (almost zero).

  • Reasoned Mind

    Too right!
    I’m not paying a downloader’s Tax just to subsidise these filthy filesharing content stealers, I get all my file legally from MAFIAA you know, so damned if I’m paying to support their scummy scam to download all they can eat, why do they download it anyway, if all films and music sre so rubbish? Oh yeah, caused they can and stick two fingers up to the rest of us law-abiding citizens, then ask us to pay for it.

    Mmmmm whatever you do, don’t drop the soap!

    Those prison showers are sooooooooo dangerous. Mind you you can continue sharing…….. a cell.

  • Anon

    Well Tutame is showing his colors!

    Cupiditas praemium suum est!
    Isn’t that right you greedy, scum sucking n@zi!

  • nope…

    @ http://piratesagainstpedos.co.cc/

    the content is legal so the 5.0′s can’t do jack shit by you turning in those ip’s…

  • Tub Brumber

    @60 you are so badly informed your post isn’t worth ridiculing. Rtfa, not just here, but other sites too, this is not just about 3 strikes

  • Reasoned Jew

    I’m voting for neo|rabbi

    Shalom

  • nope…

    @60 14 “For a so-called Cristian(sic) country ” Please, don’t bring religion into this., Isn’t a commandment “thou shall not STEAL”?

    duplication is not stealing… The original owner still has his or her copy and now others have it. I am pretty sure the bible says to share with your brothers and sisters.

  • nope…

    @ http://piratesagainstpedos.co.cc/

    I was referring to those child models in clothes. The rest is just…

  • AlienDK

    @4: EU can go fuck themselfs. Its run by the frenchfags and all they do is making stupid rules and stealing Microsofts money.

  • pirateprideWW

    “Foster notes that his party does wish to address illegal file-sharing, but rightly adds that a workable solution is only possible through co-operation.”

    If it wasn’t obvious: the Lib Dems still want to screw you (as the main three parties always do). They’re just looking to score some brownie points in the mean time. Don’t let your guard down, UK-ers! Use your brain, do a little research, and see that the Lib Dems (and Labour/Cons) have a poor record in this area.

  • Anonymous

    “5 Nov 20, 2009 at 12:52 by Bogie

    Someone please hack his computer and put some kiddy porn on it then phone the police!

    What fun that would be!”

    Are you stupid these people are literally above the law!

  • Reasoned Mind

    Vote Conservative!

    They believe in a free market economy- if you can’t afford it, don’t make others pay for it!

    Lib-Dems wishy washy Liberals they want it all and can pay for nothing.

    Labour – they will tax you to death to pay for lazy dole-scum who can’t get off their f@t @rses long enough to get ajob, just sit there all day watching daytime TV and illegally downloading movies to allow their mates to sell them at car boot sales in Liverpool.

    Digital Economy Bill, it’s already here, supporting ScouseDoleScum. The only time they stop lazying about is when they visit the dole office to pick-up another cheque, another waste of my tax, and now they want to tax me more to help their Pr()n downloading

  • A Non Mouse

    Well Tutame is showing his colors!

    Cupiditas praemium suum est!

    Translation “Greed is its own reward!”

  • Tutame Ex Inferis

    @ 67 Nov 20, 2009 at 19:42 by nope… Duplication, sharing whatever semantics you attempt to engage in, you are, in law stealing, you may not agree with the law, but law it is. Copying hiring, public performance etc etc IS illegal, be it a civil crime.

    Irrespective of if its not physical medium, you still have in your possession something you have not acquired in a legal manner.

    Having a physical copy of content does not mean you own that content, it merely allows you to acquire a licence to use a copy of that content in a resticted way, you do not and never will “own” that content.
    You cannot copy, lend it, broadcast it, publicly perform it. You own a licnce to use that content.

    So by arguing “sharing” is not the same as stealing a copy from HMV etc is facile.

    Whilst HMV may charge £10, for a disc, the physical medium is worth very little. It’s whats stored that holds the value, it’s what’s stored that you steal, irrelevant if that’s over the internet or out of HMVs doors.

    If you shoplift it you have content you haven’t paid for, if you download it, you have content you haven’t paid for. By engaging in these semantics you are attempting to make stealing the norm, decriminalise it. But in reality, it’s no different. Hey if you steal a disc from someones house, then they claim on insurance and get the money to buy another disc – no-ones lost anything because the original owner still has a copy, & you now have a copy. But all of us end up paying for that in higher premiums. Of course you don’t care you don’t insure so it’s not costing you? right? Same as digital piracy isn’t costing you, because hey, only suckers pay to acquire content legally right? and it’s all “shit” right, so it’s not worth paying for anyway right?

    @ 65 Nov 20, 2009 at 19:38 by Tub Brumber. Sir, I demand satisfaction.
    6am 21.11.09 Hyde Park, by speakers corner, we’ll see who’s ill-informed.

    It’s more than 3 strikes? It’s about your right to download everything for free? Well you work for free then 1st. Oh wait you will do soon, well near as damn it, jail pay is low, but you’ll be sharing …. a cell. Another euphemism, sharing a cell, like, you have a choice not to share LOL
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism

  • Tutame Ex Inferis

    The argument is straightforward and both intuitively and logically sound: for every pirated copy of a product, there is some potential loss of income to the producer of that product. This is not the same as saying that every pirated copy is a lost sale. What it actually means is that firstly some proportion of the people who are pirating a game would have bought it in the absence of piracy. Equally as important however is the fact that even those who would never have paid the full purchase price for one reason or another may still have paid some lower amount to purchase and play the game which they pirated. This is because by the very act of obtaining and playing a game, they’ve clearly demonstrated that they place some value on that game. After all, if something is truly ‘worthless’, consumers won’t bother to obtain or use it in the first place, regardless of whether it’s free or not. Even if a game only gives the pirate a few hours of enjoyment, that’s still worth something. In the absence of piracy they may have purchased the game at a discount several months after its release, or bought it second-hand for example. So the existence of piracy results in some loss of income to PC game developers, publishers, retailers and even other consumers.

  • Reasoned Mind

    The labels didn’t want this. Neither did the musicians. And the government CERTAINLY didn’t want any of this. The expense alone is insane.

    Everyone involved in the early days of the internet naturally believed that people would act online as they do in real life, respecting product, respecting law, respecting the rights of others and most of all, never willing to trade precious privacy and freedom for merchandise that has always been for sale. But pirates were never deep thinkers. Repercussion didn’t phase them. They were getting free stuff. :-)

    “Sticking it to the man.”
    Greedy, pilfering morons.

    You ransacked recorded music and now you are moving into movies and games. Books could easily be next. The government has finally had enough. Who’s actually surprised??Blame British government and Mandelson? Ha.

    You have no one to blame but yourselves.

  • UKite

    Dont just leave an opinion here

    If you’re stuck in the UK and want to stand any kind of chance visit

    http://www.theyworkforyou.com/

    And write to your MP now! Otherwise these guys definitely wont understand the issue and will listen to the lobbyist with no regard for what anyone else wants. They simply dont know enough to know better!

  • 3D week on Channel4 UK

    @76 Nov 20, 2009 at 21:21 by UKite

    Yep, write to your MP

    Please include your full name and address, to allow your MP to ensure you live in his/her constituency, and ensuring you will receive a private personal reply. Otherwise you comment will be deleted as spam.

    Please also ensure that, as this is an alledgedly FREE country, Mandy is attempting to remove your right, as a law-abiding citizen, to download GBs of copyrighted material. Please ensure you indicate your current ISP and how it’s a disgrace that your ISP may have to hand over your personal details if you’ve been downloading content you haven’t obtained through lawful means.

    They work for you, so I’m sure they’ll be defending your rights

  • Mandelsonisaprick

    hopefully this bill will be trashed, Mandelson is as dodgy as they get, he should’nt even be in goverment, i dont recon its the british media companies trying to push this bill through, as bbc has used bit-torrent in the past and probably still does probably the others do aswell, and the british ISP’s dont agree with this Mandelson tosser. so it looks like he’s upto his dodgy tricks again $$$$$$ bribes

  • L0rd Young_Norwood Green

    Digital Economy Bill [HL] — First Reading
    House of Lords debates, 19 November 2009, 11:00 am

    A Bill to make provision for the functions of the Office of Communications; to make provision for the online infringement of copyright, for licensing of copyright and performers’ rights and for penalties for infringement; to make provision for internet domain registries; to make provision for the functions of the Channel Four Television Corporation; to make provision for the regulation of television and radio services; to make provision for the regulation of the use of the electromagnetic spectrum; to amend the Video Recordings Act 1984; to make provision for public lending rights in relation to electronic publications; and for connected purposes.

    Looks like you Pirates (romantic name for illegal activity-has a certain ring to it) are about to get pistol whipped in 2011. Hope you enjoy the free ride until then

  • Reasoned Mind

    Hey, @74. You pirated my name, but sharing is good, but don’t steal my name, you might get a DDOS attack. Cause pirating and stealing is only good sometimes, but not when you pirate the pirates.

    Still a good post though. If only I could have put is so succintly so brief yet with such impact.

    Good man

  • gonewalkabouts

    thanks for link Rabbit80@30

    Having read the bill in part I find it to be a pig’s breakfast
    OFCOM must do list is impossibility for that organization.
    They can’t control land line phones let alone police the net.

  • Homer eat my doughnut

    P.s
    69.89%age of statistics are made up
    LOL

  • Reasoned Mind

    (as Elvis)

    Thank yuh. Thank yuh verra much.

  • zarathustra

    James Holdger said “I suppose for somebody to be a “Lord” does not preclude the possibility of being an “idiot” as well.”

    Hardly, old bean! In fact, I’m fairly certain that the latter is a prerequisite for the former…

    As for the self-styled rantings of the oxymoronic “Reasoned Mind” – boy, is that dude full of sh1t…

  • Simon

    @4 I hope so!

  • boob

    i can’t wrap my head around how they can even consider this a solution to anything relevant?

  • Seasoned Mint

    @83 you’re a bit like a cesspool yourself, nay make that totslly like a cesspit=overflowing with excrement

    http://www.dictionary.com

  • Apocalypse Now!

    @85 boob. And what would you do to stop illegal pirating?

    How would you solve it? As you are such an expert at what will work & what wont?

  • Rabbit80

    @87 Here is an idea… limit the amount they can charge for a track to 20p – you would see sales shoot sky high! Then reduce copyright to a maximum of 5 years – then they would have to work to make a living!

    If you overcharge for something – PEOPLE WON’T PAY..

    If you try to charge the same price for a product that i 50 years old when there is an infinite supply – PEOPLE WON’T PAY!

  • Ralonto

    Liberal democrats and socialists are sometimes not harsh enough on dealing with social issues which is something that I find disappointing at times, but in cases such as this you realise their political value for society once again. Hear hear indeed.

  • diarRIAA

    COPYRIGHT TAXES

    There has been mention about this being applied to Internet, media storage mediums, media players, etc. There are three problems with this:

    1) People that never pirate will be paying this tax. Why should some pay a tax for something that doesn’t apply to them?

    2) The tax/levy collectors never provide proof that they are compensating artists. In fact I read a news article about one such organization that they were hoarding and dividing the profits for themselves. You’d be a fool to believe that the extra taxes/levys are going to the artists. Lastly, guess what? These organizations can do what they please and don’t gave to answer to us or the government.

    3) Even if you paid taxes/levys, you’d still be called a thief by the media corporations.

    Noone monitors their money and part trail and they can get away with serious crimes, and we are all fools for letting them get away with it.

  • Ninja

    @ 33
    Sorry buddy, I`m not a thief. I buy the stuff if I like or use a lot.

    Truth is, piracy is not the problem, it`s the solution. They should know that already.

    As pointed out, file sharers usually own much more original stuff than people who don`t share. Also, the ones that don`t share are avid buyers of pirated discs (yes, they buy lousy physical copies of the stuff from the real criminals).

    File sharers don`t do that. I have never bought a pirated physical media and I`m a heavy file sharer. I would have much more if I could buy individual tracks and if the content I like was available online and/or for sane prices.

    The solution for piracy is right under your noses. And it doesn`t start with attempts to suppress it.

  • diarRIAA

    Part = paper

  • ha ha ha

    @90 Of course you haven’t bought any physical pirated media, you have your own, that you downloaded and burned to CD/DVD, why would you but any, you’ve already stolen it.
    But you have obtained in from crims uploaders and yourself.

    You own more than others? that proves what exactly? You still have illegal content, that absolves you, how exactly?

  • ha ha ha

    diarRIAA
    media is the plural of medium
    (not mediums! Mediums are sharlatans who pretend to be able to communicate with the dead!)

    So media sharing mediums? you know fraudsters who share media – well there’s a surprise!

  • anon2

    my post #170 in the previous topic says about getting a toned down set of proposals to lul people into a false sense of security. looks to me like that’s working quite nicely. we’re gonna be just as bad off, but it’s gonna take 6 months longer, that’s all. lay back, think of England and try to convince ourselves that those in charge of good ol’ Blighty wouldn’t do anything against their own people. once it’s too late to do anything is when we want to do something. we Brits are as thick as f**k, really!!!

  • Reflections

    What if all media was offered on Torrents and most downloaded items and highest rated by vote got the most money from a standard fee charged for downloading as much as you like torrent site. The higher the quality the product the more you get. That would be fair for consumers, big labels,independents and anyone such as bands and unknown artist. It would drive everyone to create better and better products.
    That would be the right thing to do. And everyone could be fairly treated. Don’t let big labels take away our creative freedom for the sake of greed.

  • gorehound

    Do yourself a favor and do not buy any new movies anymore.just find your films used or better yet be a pirate and pirate hollywood and all their greedbag stooges to death.

    Go to a local store in your town and buy USED FILMS !!!!

  • JJ

    @ 90, Yea Ninja, you are talking shit… file sharing is by definition theft… so sorry but you are a thief. It may be true that you indeed download an album decide it was actually worth purchasing so you go out and buy the album (well done!). But I guarantee you the majority of file sharers don’t do that. I have never downloaded and watched a film and thought that was so good I’m going to spend my money on a disc I don’t need! None of my file sharing friends do that either. If you stole 10 T-shirts and decided you liked one so much you would actually pay for it… you are still a thief you dumb ass.
    Digital, intangible goods are still property buddy. The ‘answer’ is cheaper and better electronic media distribution channels and tough laws to stop freetards like ourselves

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  • Glemball

    Google copyright,Wow 2,860,000,000 Is that hits or LAWYERS :-)

  • Nevermore

    Nevermore will I buy Hollywood crap!

    Nevermore will I buy Record Label garbage.

    Nevermore will I pay to feed the greed!

    No, Nevermore!

  • Mr Scared

    Go the lib dems.

    I’m concerned that someone even tried to pass this though.

    Browse safely, https://p-r-o-x-y.in/

  • grokh

    well at least some politicians seem to be clean enough to care about some justice.

    albeith i find it weird how 40 and 60 year old men and women , probably,
    are voting on anything related to internet and its regulation.

    i doubt their file share or use internet for more than to pass their political agenda.

    so any opinion they have about the internet is related to the industry that is trying to pass such laws because their the ones paying certain peoples elections or simply put, the only reason they even think about filesharing is because their being paid by the industries complaining how the internet should be enslaved .

  • grokh

    as for those saying file sharing is theft… thats bullshit..

    30 years ago if my neighbour had a videocassete he would lend it to me so i could watch a movie.

    nowadays the internet breaks apart the physical part of it and makes sharing way too easy due to technology..

    piracy my friends is copying dvds and selling them.

    sharing is still sharing that videocassete just the internet allowed us to do it in huge scale and no industry is preppared or willing to adapt. so they spend more money than they lose trying to stop neighbours lending neighbours videocassetes.

    and IN the process… they break every human rights and privacy laws that ever existed in human history
    and THAT affects EVERYONE so even if someone doesnt file share, they cant stand for how the industry breaks laws, and human rights .

  • Reflections

    I’m 56 years old and am all for file sharing so don’t stereotype. Come up with idea’s that can be used to help the situation. Maybe there reading our post. Sorry I should have said they are reading our post.

  • JJ

    @104 Using some ridiculous video cassette analogy may ease your conscience, but we are not ‘borrowing’ a neighbours cassette. We are copying (stealing) the asset on to our hard drives and keeping it without paying. The majority of file shares never buy anything! You are implying all digital media should be free which is stupid! If everything in the world was free to take there would be no economy and everything would collapse. Good films and music are not free to make, so we should contribute to their manufacture. Grow up you (and I) are thieves.
    What about the ‘human rights’ of the artists who are trying to make a living?

  • Anonymous

    #99 JJ, don’t pull definitions out of your ass. File sharing is not theft. It’s FILE SHARING.

    wow requires so much logic to figure this out.

    For something to be theft, you must deprive the owner of that item.

    Next time use your brain please.

  • Monsignor Larville Jones M.D.

    Sure are a lot of MafIAA trolls & sockpuppets lurking around TF these days.

    Just goes to show that the corporate fu-ckpigs are running scared.

    Their end is _so_ near… =]

  • aquila92

    Viva La Lib Dems!

  • bert

    so at the end of the day we are going to have a load of members of parliment who rip off the uk public by cheating expenses voting on this aboslute crap

  • Hicks

    See, told you so. There’s so many MPs gunning to shoot down as many any of the new Labor bills as they can before parliament dissolves for the election.

    And with blatant disregard of “innocent until proven guilty in a court of law” at the heart of this one, it’s way too easy a target.

    In fact knowing how Labour strategists work, i wouldn’t be surprised if this bill has been made deliberately so ridiculous as to take the heat off the ones they actually really want to get passed. Like the one about old biddies and such.

    Relax fellas. Storm in a teacup. Mark my words! :)

  • This just in

    Open season has been declared on lawyers, lords and politicians.

    While were at it lets add sockpuppets too, annoying little twits.

  • oli

    @Bogie

    EU law no longer protects us.

    Amendment 138 was dropped.

    Also don’t rely on the EU for freedoms, read the footnotes for the “Fundamental freedoms” bit, it’s nasty.

  • existor

    I live in a LibDem area.
    I wasn’t going to vote for Libs in the forthcoming election but I think I may do now.

  • bittorrent forever

    There are 1,300,000 torrents totally on mininova.org, if there are 100 search engines, it will be 130,000,000 downloads. If you build your search engine smart enough, it would not repeatedly download the same torrents again. But if it is not, the crawler could download the same torrents many times. Then, you will see your site traffic is very high.

    How do I know this? Because, I have several crawlers walking on lot of torrent sites everyday.

    (I do not have torrent site, but I do have crawlers running at this moment. Not just one crawler, I have 10 crawlers running on two computers, searching lot of torrentsites all the time).

    I am telling you, lot of site clained they have some 2~3M torrents, it is fake. They never had.

  • wtf

    @ 102 Browse safely, https://p-r-o-x-y.in/

    That site sucks. Its worse than connecting through most isp’s as it keeps logs. Next time before you post something, try not to post a honeypot for others to get busted.

    Site says” Please do not use this site for illegal activities. All connections are logged.”

    I don’t feel like being logged for every search I make and I don’t feel like being arrested for typing in torrent etc through their site.

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  • Buzz

    @74 OMG its peter mandelson!!!!!

  • JImmy Somo

    Wow dude that is so crazy.

    ultimate-privacy.br.tc

  • Profit

    And so it came to pass that The Corporation took control of The Government of Men. So ended the days of Mans Freedom!

    Sieg Heil Chancellor Mandelson.
    The Fourth Reich is upon you.

  • Reflections

    Type in concentration camps in America in your browser and see what you get. There are about 800 of them in the US. They are all empty right now & just constructed in the last few years. What are they for. They are guarded by the new world order government & barbwire fences facing inward to keep people in not out. How about the UK? Do you guys have the same there?

  • Anonymous

    since when was art about makeing money oh year when peter maderson told him self he was gonna get rich over someones elese back.

    First get a life really copyright is all about distribution rights ie selling cd/dvd well guess what thats over what these fuckers are trying to fight for.

    They hate the fact that anybody can crate music and film with out using them.

    It funny how people here thing voilateing copyright is a crime when dosen’t even aperar on a statuary book.

    What these people lack is critical thinking much like the idiots who believe authority is always right.

    and believe idioms like this

    “if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about”

    But i say

    “if i have done nothing you have nothing to worry about”

    What next thrown i jail for shearing a packet of mini cheadrs ?

    GROW UP

    Times change

    art is free culture that existed WELL before greedy people inveted imaginary property.

    Think about your punting human rights (and yes sharing is human right or if your religious a god given right) before a something perfetic as entertainment industry.

    Copywrite dose not stand for anything but greed and cruption.

    so go on surport it and when you rotting away beacuse you have cancer we will tell you it your fault beacuse some wanker from thinks he owns a compound that we need to use to save your life but beacuse of copyright and i/p we carn’t beacuse we don’t have his permition.

    Copyright= EVIL
    Patent=EVIL

    Need i remind you these corporation have REAL links to criminal organizations who fund there films.

  • dave

    File sharers=jews
    Haters, Lord Mandelson’s =Nazi (Adolf Hitlers Children)

  • Reflections

    Thanks for the response. Read on.

  • People Power

    Wasn’t there a scandal about Mandelson being GAY? I pretty sure of it.

    I almost felt sorry for him reading about all his personal problems and getting fired.

    Not so anymore.

    The government should get rid of him for good this time. Some Labour politician he is!!
    In the pocket of big corporations!

  • realityBytes

    I said this even before the Lib Dems reponded and I’ll say it again now that they have…

    I’m voting Lib Dem.

    I knew they’d be the only one of the 3 major parties to defend our rights and stand up to Mandelson.

    Screw Labour, screw the Tories… neither of those 2 parties are for the people, they are the UK’s 2-party-scam… and Lib Dem is the only realisitic answer to break free from it.

  • realityBytes

    @JJ…

    Please stop spewing nonsense…

    Stealing is “the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another”

    Copying is copying, it may be infringement but it is NOT theft, no matter how many times you repeat your lie.

    JJ, your “STEALING 10 T-SHIRTS” anecdote actually involves the physical taking away of property from it’s owner and so is a ridiculous example to use as an example against our arguments.

    If you change that to:

    You copy the designs from 10 t-shirts onto your own blank t-shirts and do so for your own personal use (not to sell on, etc.) AND let other people see that design (share it) whilst credit continues to be given to the original designer… – Then and ONLY then do you have an equivalent example of filesharing.

  • Chaos

    @32…Fuck yeah that is what I say too!!!!!! That is what needs to go down!!!!

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  • Jax

    There’s only one way to get rid of piracy, legalise it!!!!

  • Anon

    after writing bs like this i wonder if he wrote his will yet..

    i feel like his family will make a use of it soon

  • Monsignor Larville Jones M.D.

    Yes – Mandy IS a shirt-lifter, sh1t-stabber, chutney-ferret, fagele, etc.

    That’s not really a problem, though. The real issue is that he’s the MOST bent politician you’re ever likely to come across – & in a culture of bribery, corruption & general all-round dishonesty, that’s saying something…

  • Bobe-On (On Whose Authority?)

    I tried to post the below, which I think is relevant, in another thread, but it may be that I’ve posted ‘too fast’. So let’s try here:

    “The anarchist punk band Crass was very different from their contemporaries. The Sex Pistols and The Clash sold their souls to big record labels, whereas Crass stayed true to their anti-corporate ideals. Crass still exists today as a commune just outside of London named ‘Dial House’- a safe haven for those individuals of principle who still live by the old punk slogan ‘Do it yourself’.”
    – minimovies

    Film:
    “Crass: There is No Authority but Yourself”
    by Alexander Oey

  • Labour4life

    New law to curb illegal downloads
    Yesterday, 09:05 am 20.11.09

    People who illegally download music and films could have their internet connection slowed down or cut off altogether under new legislation.
    New law to curb illegal downloads .The Government said its Digital Economy Bill would ensure the UK was at the “leading edge” of global online industries.

    Under the proposed legislation, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) would be required to notify users accused of online piracy.

    They would also have to record how many times each subscriber receives one of these notifications.

    This would allow the copyright holders to apply for a court order to get the name and address of serious repeat offenders so they can take legal action against them.

    But the Bill, announced in the Queen‘s speech on Wednesday and published on Friday, also makes provision for the Secretary of State to direct communications regulator Ofcom to develop tough sanctions for illegal file-sharers.

    These could include bandwidth capping – where the user‘s internet connection is slowed down – or temporary suspension of their online account.

    The Bill would give the Secretary of State power to require ISPs to impose these technical measures.

    Anyone who feels they have been unfairly penalised could complain through a “clear and effective appeals mechanism”.

    The Bill also includes a power to amend copyright legislation to deal with any new technologies that emerge in the future.

  • Greed$

    STOP REAL PIRACY KILL A SOMALIAN

  • Socks

    You people are drama queens.

  • Rabbit80

    I’m not worried – I’ve been using a VPN for ages for my downloading – simply because most ISPs in England already throttle P2P traffic at peak times anyway! VPNs neatly bypass these restrictions ;)

    For a cheap VPN try SwissVPN:
    http://www.swissvpn.net

  • V

    People shouldn’t fear their governments, governments should fear its people!

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  • oxana

    For free and legal downloads, please visit http://www.villamusicrights.com

  • alina

    super olayn va pupi

  • Kickass_Sid

    GB always was a 1984 country for me. So I’m not surprised

  • Brudda

    England = insignificant, impotent, irrelevant craphole

    When Paraguay passes a law similar to this, then I’ll worry…

  • hellomeow

    Don’t bother voting Lib Dems; vote for the Pirate Party instead:

    http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/

  • Dubya Doofus

    “137 Nov 22, 2009 at 01:59 by Rabbit80
    I’m not worried – I’ve been using a VPN for ages for my downloading – simply because most ISPs in England already throttle P2P traffic at peak times anyway! VPNs neatly bypass these restrictions ;)”

    How do you work that out? Your provider will still record the traffic through their servers, surely?

  • Dr. James Catanzaro

    Draconian.
    and I thought Bush tried his best 1984 book actions less than a year ago. UK politician in the MAFIIA pocket should be hung upside down & beaten.

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