We now take a break from our irregularly scheduled programming.
There is a piece legislation going through Parliament in the UK at the moment called The Digital Economy Bill. The UK government is attempting to set up a policy and legal framework regarding the ongoing workings of the Interwebs and it's denizens. This is important and worthy because, obviously, the Interwebs are The Future.
Unfortunately, thanks to some lobbying by certain organisations (largely from areas of the music biz attempting to live in The Past) and a couple of confused individuals in the House Of Lords the Digital Economy Bill now contains some rather dangerous clauses that would enable copyright holders to switch off parts of the web on the basis of an accusation of infringement. No trial. No burden of proof. Nowt.
Which, frankly, is fucking terrifying if the interweb is in any way involved in how you make your living.
Luckily for us, Parliament has a duty to carefully consider any such legislation and there's a process whereby matters of concern or dispute are debated, a wide range of opinions heard the correct amendments or compromises made... and then it's passed into law. Except that Lord Mandibles Mandleson and the record companies are trying to get this rushed through without any debate before the General Election.
Now, Fellow Britishers, this next bit is important. You need to write to your MP and ask them to push for debate time for this bill. If enough folks ask them to they'll have to - after all, they're working for us. It's easy to do too... 38 Degrees have organised a campaign page / emailing tool with a form letter that searches for your MP by postcode:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/digital-economy-billIt honestly takes about two minutes. Alternatively, if you're so apoplectic with rage that you'd like to put everything in your own words (or, indeed, just wish to commune with your MP about anything) try this more general site: http://www.writetothem.com/
