Digital Economy Bill: It’s time for the community to speak out
March 16th, 2010 by Wendy McAuliffe
Last night you could have been forgiven for thinking that we’d stepped back 10 years in internet history, when the House of Lords approved the controversial Digital Economy Bill, which is now expected to be rushed through the Commons before the general election.
The bill, put forward by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, could give courts the power to block websites which are infringing copyright, and includes plans to suspend the internet accounts of people who persistently download material illegally. This could result in sites such as YouTube – which has, in the past, been criticised by rights owners for hosting unsanctioned video clips of their artists or TV shows – being shut down.
It seems that the rights of the creative artist or “rights holder” are far more important than those of the wider internet community. Once we begin restricting online behaviour, it sets the foundations for greater censorship and ‘Big Brother’ monitoring. The internet has always been a place of anonymity and freedom of expression, but under the new bill, internet freedom could be severely curbed.
If the music industry in particular has a problem with no longer being able to monetise artists’ content effectively owing to the volume of illegal content on the web, then that’s their problem to resolve. One might argue that it’s time they updated their revenue model, rather than attempting to impose draconian measures on the internet community at large.
The BBC’s Bill Thompson puts it really nicely. “We are on the verge of building so many restrictions into online activity that the creativity, inventiveness and sheer joy of life on the net will be squeezed out just to ensure that over-hyped comedians are able to censor videos of their fans waiting for the show to begin.”
Now is the time for people to speak out and defend their rights in the digital world. Social networking provides individuals with the power to get their voice heard…so let’s make the most of it!
** These are my own views, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Liberate Media.
Tags: digital copyright, digital economy bill, house of lords, internet freedom, privacy