Lord Mandelson Vs the Internet Pirates, Raiders of the Lost Ark of Porn

[Badnik Mechanic]

Well there is my official entry into SSMB's best thread title of the year contest.

Lord Mandelson for those who don't know is in the UK government... and unlike the majority of the UK population has more than 1 job... most people don't have any!

He is... The First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, President of the Board of Trade and Lord President of the Council... wow... thats a lot of second homes...

Anyway... today he made a big U-turn announcement regarding the UK and it's stance on illegal filesharing in preperation for "Digital Britain!"

It basically boils down to this... If you are a pirate... you'll walk the plank!

No more internet for you!

ISP's will be forced to cut you off if you download illegal fileshares.

Naturally the ISP's are quite mad at this, and just about all of them are voicing their criticisms against this.

However... Lord Mandelson denied that this was due to his recent visit with a nameless hollywood player... hmmm.... He says no... but then again... they do lie a great deal.

Now, my ISP (the only one I can get) already has a 3 strike system. France has it by law (if my memory is right), and we all know that eventually with all the stuff that happened with the Pirate Bay, some political groups are gaining support and winning the votes on anti pirate laws.

If this goes through, which I doubt it will (at least not in it's present form as it directly contradicts the governments own Digital Britain report, it would mean a lot of pains for many people out there... yes... the people who like to illegally download free porn... and hollywood movies... yeah!

Source

Lord Mandelson: Owner of many jobs, and a stupid hairdo.

Edited August 25, 2009 by Casanova

[Arrow]

So what does this ACTUALLY mean? Is it time to finally start worrying about what I download?

Not that I download films. And X-Tube solves the other problem. But music? I don't think I've purchased any since the 90's. And software. Oh good God...

[Badnik Mechanic]

So what does this ACTUALLY mean? Is it time to finally start worrying about what I download?

Not that I download films. And X-Tube solves the other problem. But music? I don't think I've purchased any since the 90's. And software. Oh good God...

The ruling/law itself has not been passed, what you did yesterday and do tomorrow should have the same consequences.

At present, the idea is just in the proposal state, meaning that it can be changed and amended, or even completely scrapped at any point in time.

However, as the guy in the video on the source link said... it would be notoriously difficult to actually prove someone of this, you would need to actively watch someone downloading something (moniter their computer), even then, other than random searches, it would only be the super high traffic users that would initially get targeted.

The only problem with this compared to previous "Oh lets tighten laws on piracy!" due to the present plan to give the whole of the UK a broadband/digital service, it's highly likely that piracy laws will get altered. Due to Lord Mandelson's position and influence, he is in the right place to get a bill into parliment and debated with a high turnout.

But... as some people have pointed out... the idea and the execution of it, would be potentially illegal under other UK laws.

[Arrow]

I see.

My mothers BF used to, and still does occasionally, watch horrific quality films that have yet to be released on DVD online almost every night.

I barely download anything. I tend to get sent things directly, on messengers, from a reliable source known as a friend. Lol. How would they police that? The last thing I downloaded illegally was probably some overpriced software... Adobe After Effects, I think.

[Badnik Mechanic]

How would they police that?

They wouldn't. It would be fully down to the ISP's, something that they don't want to do as they would be paying money to cut off their customers.

ISPs would be expected to moniter their own customers and act according to suspicious downloaders. The police or any other government body would not be involved.

[Patticus]

This is a storm in a teacup.

France's controversial attempt to crack down on Internet piracy was dealt a setback Wednesday when that country's highest legal authority struck down a provision that would have denied Internet access to those who repeatedly download copyrighted material illegally.

The French Constitutional Council rejected a key provision that would have given a newly created government agency the authority to cut off Internet access to those deemed to be copyright scofflaws after two warnings. The council said "free access to public communication services on line" was a human right that only a judge should have the power to disconnect.

The "three strikes" measure, which was approved in May by the French National Assembly with the support of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, would have punished digital pirates by suspending Internet service if they were caught illegally sharing copyrighted material. The legislation would have created a new government agency known as HADOPI (the Haute Autorit

[Mollfie]

I download anime as it's being shown in Japan because I've no other way of watching it. wtf. Give me another way to watch all the shows, with subs, as they're being aired, just like the service fansubbers provide, and I'll happily hand over my cash.

[goku262002]

Wow sucks for you, glad to be an american!

But from what Ashurbanipal posted, looks like it just got one-up'd and/or pwned.

[Arrow]

I download anime as it's being shown in Japan because I've no other way of watching it. wtf. Give me another way to watch all the shows, with subs, as they're being aired, just like the service fansubbers provide, and I'll happily hand over my cash.

I suppose their argument would be, you're essentially doing what movie pirates do. It's not ready for release in English speaking countries. It's not your right to have it, yet, if ever. It's surely the same as the people who film movies at the cinema at their first release in the States and then spread them across to the UK and such. I'm not criticising you at all. But I think you should take responsibility for the fact that it's no different.

Edited August 26, 2009 by Arrow

[Dazz]

I download anime as it's being shown in Japan because I've no other way of watching it. wtf. Give me another way to watch all the shows, with subs, as they're being aired, just like the service fansubbers provide, and I'll happily hand over my cash.

If I recall, downloading Japanese shows and such is fair game in most countries, as you're receiving it under Japanese law which as far as I can remember from when Sonic X first started, is fine to distribute TV shows privately recorded.

As for this tightening, I don't think it's really going to get very far. To monitor people's private lives is illegal - of course they can release a permit of some kind to search, but doing so without acknowledgement from the person under inspection is effectively spying on them, and if they're proven innocent, the government would be in a huge fucking heap of trouble.

I wouldn't be too worried.

Besides, if it turns out that it does go through, only those who have terrabytes of illegal content from public torrent sites and such will most likely get hunted.

[Mollfie]

I suppose their argument would be, you're essentially doing what movie pirates do. It's not ready for release in English speaking countries. It's not your right to have it, yet, if ever. It's surely the same as the people who film movies at the cinema at their first release in the States and then spread them across to the UK and such. I'm not criticising you at all. But I think you should take responsibility for the fact that it's no different.

But, these shows are most likely never going to be released outside of Japan/US.

I'm going to get a region free dvd player soon so I can atleast by the US releases.

Edited August 26, 2009 by Mollfie