You may or may not know that a bill of legislation has been rushed through parliament and looks set to become law – known as the Digital Economy Bill.
One of the key points in the bill is that filesharers will face being cut off from the Internet:
- A person need only be suspected of filesharing to receive a warning letter
- 3x warning letters and you’re disconnected from the Internet
- No evidence or proof is required – merely suspicion from a copyright holder
- Requires ISPs to effectively police their user’s web connections
Where is the sense in ANY of the above? It reads thusly:
- If you’re not tech-savvy and someone uses your wifi connection to download illegally, you could be cut off
- Entire businesses could face being offline because of the actions of one person (or the actions of a rogue third-party – see above)
- Since when has NO evidence been required to take drastic steps that could easily result in a person’s loss of livelihood?
- What if government computers/connections are suspected of illegal downloads? Will they be cut off like everyone else?
This also opens up a nice new niche of corporate/industrial sabotage: simply ensure someone is caught filesharing using a business’s Internet connection, and get them cut off: no evidence required!
This isn’t open to abuse AT ALL.