Because geek is cool and clever

Mandy makes a mockery of democracy September 1, 2009

Posted by David in Comment.
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What would you think if I were to tell you that you could soon be punished for a crime you didn’t commit and had no knowledge of?

Of course I know that, like me and every fair-minded person in the country, you would be appalled and assume it couldn’t happen in a democratic society.

However, a new law set out by Labour’s Secretary of State for Business and ‘Comeback Kid’ himself, Peter Mandelson, would see just such an eventually.

It was only a few weeks ago at the beginning of the summer that the government rejected lobbying by various figures in the film and music industries who wanted anyone found guilty of illegal filesharing to have their internet connections terminated as punishment.
Listening to arguments from top Internet Service Providers (ISPs) against the proposal, the government correctly surmised that it would be potentially unjust and largely impossible to enforce such a plan.

But while most of us have been watching the bank balance and enjoying a ‘staycation’ holiday as guests of the UK’s non-existent summer season, the more privileged in society, like, for example, the aforementioned Lord Mandelson, have been holidaying in sunnier climes with the rich and famous.

One such figure sharing the Corfu Mediterranean sun with ‘Mandy’ was American record producer and Hollywood mega-investor, David Geffen, a man who once tried to ban MP3 players and is, as a record label and movie studio owner, a vigorous campaigner against internet piracy.

Some time after Lord M enjoyed dinner with Mr. Geffen at the Rothschild family villa on Corfu, the government announced a U-turn in its policy.

Despite Gordon Brown declaring only weeks before that domestic internet access is ‘an essential service’ that is as ‘indispensible as electricity, gas and water’, the plan to cut people off was back on the statute books.

Entire households now face losing their internet access if their kids download the number one single.

If your wi-fi is unsecured and used without your knowledge, you and your family will be held responsible.

What’s more, anyone with any decent technical know-how can easily overcome the likelihood of detection.

This is a law made by a government which doesn’t understand basic concepts of technology and seems all too willing to favour the wishes of big business over the rights of its own electorate.

It’s also a law that needs to be overturned.