Sometimes we think we're living in Groundhog Day. "We're going to cut off illegal downloaders!" the government will cry, before abandoning the plans. The next day, "We're going to cut off illegal downloaders!" The next day… you get the idea.
Guess what's happened today? That's right! The government's going to cut off illegal downloaders!
You know as well as we do the reasons why cutting off people's connections is over the top and unfair, so let's skip that. Instead, let's look at the bigger picture: what on earth was the point of Digital Britain?
That, you'll recall, was an attempt to come up with a brilliant plan for Britain's digital future, taking care of existing industries while nurturing new ones. And one of the things that the Digital Britain report ruled out was, you've guessed it, cutting off people's internet connections.
Now maybe we're wrong, and the government's decision to ignore its own experts is nothing to do with Peter Mandelson palling around with billionaire record company owners.
That's certainly the government's line, and it's not as if they've got a track record of making stuff up or telling bare-faced lies. Mind you, if the government is lying, we'd understand it. We wouldn't approve, but we'd understand it: politicians have a long tradition of protecting their pals and ignoring the great unwashed.
If the government's telling the truth, however, it's even more depressing - because it means the whole Digital Britain process is a sham, just like any other public consultation.
Digital Britain's job in that environment isn't to listen to everybody, balance their needs and protect the country's digital future; it's to rubber-stamp things the government has already decided to do, and if it comes up with alternatives it's simply going to be ignored.
Some choice, eh? Either our digital policy has already been decided and projects such as Digital Britain are simply marketing, an attempt to make us think that the government gives a monkey's about what we think while it watches us on CCTV and sniggers, or our digital policy is based on looking after whoever takes our elected representatives on the nicest trips.
Perhaps we shouldn't be looking at official reports to see what our digital future holds: we should be keeping an eye on who's taking Peter Mandelson to dinner.
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Liked this? Then check out Digital Britain: 7 things you need to know
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Your comments (15) Click to add a new comment
kasino72
August 27th
15. angry14u: "Why doesn't the entertainment industry just get a small percentage of the VAT from every computer, monitor, mouse"
Ah, that's a big old can of worms. What's so special about the entertainment industry? Bloggers repost things I've written, I've seen PDFs of my article shared illegally. Why shouldn't I get a cut of that money too? And the legal porn business is suffering badly from file sharing, so they should get a cut. And, and, and...
What makes this different from, say, the BBC license fee is that there isn't a public interest justification for making people who don't file share pay for those who do.
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kasino72
August 27th
14. Bobafett34: "Why must TechRadar assume that all its readers are file-sharing copyright thieves?"
If we assumed that, we'd say that. The phrase linked to a piece by Graham Cluley pointing out the risks of Wi-Fi piggybacking and of employees' activities potentially affecting companies. To that I'd add due process - there's a risk of kangaroo court here - and the copyright industries' long track record of suing the wrong people. Then there's the additional costs ISPs will incur to do this, which will inevitably be passed on to their customers. These things can potentially affect any internet user, not just file sharers.
The biggest concern, though, is that this is a dangerous precedent because it removes ISPs' role as common carriers - that is, they're no more responsible for what their users do than BT is responsible for what you say on the phone. Personally I think that's a dangerous step, not least because music and movies aren't the only copyright owners whose content is being illegally shared. ISPs could easily end up in the policing content business, not the internet access business.
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bobafett34
August 26th
13. Lovlid: I was making the point that I found it odd that TechRadar assumed everyone thought utting off people's connections was 'over the top and unfair'. Heaven forbid someone might have a different point of view.
Moving on, yes, wouldn't it be great if the film industry would upgrade your DVD to a Blu-ray. Maybe we could get the car industry to upgrade my Ford Fiesta to a Lamborghini, or get the RSPCA to upgrade my cat once I've become bored of it and I've seen a cuter one.
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lovlid
August 26th
12. @ bobafett(original)34.
Truly you are an Angel, the Purest of the Pure, the very Tear's from Heaven. I bet you've never even f@rted in public have you?
Its a safe bet for Techradar to assume we know what they are on about because we, erm, read the articles they write on the subject. So, its an easy assumption, don't you think?
Its just a thought, but if I buy certain software packages, Photoshop, Norton, Windows etc, when the new one comes out, I just pay for the upgrade, not the full priced version. Why can't the film industry upgrade my DVD copy of X-Men to Blu Ray for, say, two thirds of the RRP.
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bobafett34
August 25th
11. 'They want you to pay again and again for the same stuff
VHS > DVD > Blu-Ray > Digital download
If i paid for Aldin on VHS why should i have to pay for it another 3 times in a different formats!?! The same with Music'
Sloman, if I buy a hardback book I don't expect to be given a paperback copy, and the DVD of the movie of the book, and the audio book, gratis.
And you don't 'have' to buy a movie on different formats – it's your choice.
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avi
August 25th
10. I don't give a monkey's about the record industry, I don't even like them and I certainly don't see why our government needs to get involved in alleged illegal file sharing.
This has to be the most incompetent and wasteful government in history, they should be saving our money not spending it.
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