LEAKED! Britain To Get Really Draconian With File Sharing

If this is true it would mean that Britain is totally ignoring history, and the witch hunting and hunters of the past.
When we added a little mustache to Mandelson we did it in jest as the resemblance to a certain dictator in history was just uncanny, who knew the crazyness too was so close?

A source close to the British Labour Government has just given me reliable information about the most radical copyright proposal I’ve ever seen.

Secretary of State Peter Mandelson is planning to introduce changes to the Digital Economy Bill now under debate in Parliament. These changes will give the Secretary of State (Mandelson — or his successor in the next government) the power to make “secondary legislation” (legislation that is passed without debate) to amend the provisions of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988).

What that means is that an unelected official would have the power to do anything without Parliamentary oversight or debate, provided it was done in the name of protecting copyright. Mandelson elaborates on this, giving three reasons for his proposal:

1. The Secretary of State would get the power to create new remedies for online infringements (for example, he could create jail terms for file-sharing, or create a “three-strikes” plan that costs entire families their internet access if any member stands accused of infringement)

2. The Secretary of State would get the power to create procedures to “confer rights” for the purposes of protecting rightsholders from online infringement. (for example, record labels and movie studios can be given investigative and enforcement powers that allow them to compel ISPs, libraries, companies and schools to turn over personal information about Internet users, and to order those companies to disconnect users, remove websites, block URLs, etc)

3. The Secretary of State would get the power to “impose such duties, powers or functions on any person as may be specified in connection with facilitating online infringement” (for example, ISPs could be forced to spy on their users, or to have copyright lawyers examine every piece of user-generated content before it goes live; also, copyright “militias” can be formed with the power to police copyright on the web)

Mandelson is also gunning for sites like YouSendIt and other services that allow you to easily transfer large files back and forth privately (I use YouSendIt to send podcasts back and forth to my sound-editor during production). Like Viacom, he’s hoping to force them to turn off any feature that allows users to keep their uploads private, since privacy flags can be used to keep infringing files out of sight of copyright enforcers.

Read the rest of the article and commentary on BB

Somebody should remind this moron, if you dont pay heed to history/the past, you are doomed to repeating its mistakes in the future. And while we are on the subject, anybody have any idea whats the going price for a Secretary of State? Our calls to the MAFIAA asking them to tell us how much they paid have not been returned, it could be because they get a discount price for buying politicians in bulk.

UPDATE:
Just after an hour of us picking up the story from Boing Boing, TF has written a related article..it’s worth checking out as well!

Related posts:

1. Time to Invest In Customer Awareness.. Not Lawsuits or Draconian Measures
2. In The Ring Today: Draconian Copyright Vs. Ridiculous Copyright
3. A Quick Hash Up of Articles of the Mash That Makes The Digital Economy Bill
4. Britain Say Bye Bye to Free WiFi!
5. UK’s Proposed Laws: ‘Much Much Worse’!
6. Brits Don’t Want A Crazy Dictator Of Their Own
7. Joss Stone Wades Into The File Sharing Debate – Bashes Lily Allen