Banned from the internet

[thod]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7240234.stm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080212/wl_uk_afp/entertainmentbritaininternetfilmmusic;_ylt=AgeIV41gy4mRuBc_iGRiqums0NUE

So the UK is going to cave in to the IP property owners and ban people from the net. How is this different from banning people for using the roads or the telephone network. As someone that makes a living from using the net it would be serious. Is there some means to declare this ban illegal?

[Google Monster]

ummm people do get banned from the roads. If ya speed excessively you lose your license. Although ya can jump on a bus or ride with someone else. You can also jump on the net at someone else's house. I'm not for it, just thought I'd point out their defense.

[puzzled-observer]

Wow, the internet is officially ruined.

[Thevenin]

IP owners need a new business model because their current one is failing. Rather than being creative and coming up with new ways to use technology and make money, they're using lawyers and lawmakers to intimidate people at the same time they're losing money. The old laws won't work with the new technology.

[V Profane]

They'll take my broadband from my cold, dead hand. My hands are always cold, but I'll definitely have to be dead. I doubt this will get anywhere, but how about expressing your disgust to your MP http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ as a start? The record industry loses credibility by the day. I particularly liked how when EMI announced the layoffs everybody pointed out that they shouldn't have given a talentless fuck-puppet like Robbie Williams such astronomical sums of money when even Mystic fucking Meg could have told them his popularity had already peaked.

[thod]

Yes you can lose you license but you are not banned, you can still use a bicycle for example. You can still use buses and trains to get about. An equivalent would be if you were not even allowed to walk on the roads or sidewalks.

You have no way to do all those things that are only doable on line. To me it is the same as cutting off the electricity supply since then you cannot access the net. They are not restricting your access to the IP material but to all other material which is unrelated. Much of this material is needed for functioning in the modern world.

I suspect its officials that have no understanding of the many uses the net is put to and have come up with the idea of a blanket ban after talking to the IP representatives. Ofc they would prefer summary execution for violating IP property rights. Since the loss they claim is simply monetary ,the solution should be likewise.

[Nighthawk]

Sounds like, once again, lawmakers trying to regulate something of which they have very little understanding.

[Google Monster]

Yes you can lose you license but you are not banned, you can still use a bicycle for example. You can still use buses and trains to get about. An equivalent would be if you were not even allowed to walk on the roads or sidewalks.

You have no way to do all those things that are only doable on line. To me it is the same as cutting off the electricity supply since then you cannot access the net. They are not restricting your access to the IP material but to all other material which is unrelated. Much of this material is needed for functioning in the modern world.

I suspect its officials that have no understanding of the many uses the net is put to and have come up with the idea of a blanket ban after talking to the IP representatives. Ofc they would prefer summary execution for violating IP property rights. Since the loss they claim is simply monetary ,the solution should be likewise.

It's not a total ban, you can still use public internets or at a friends house. I already covered that in my first post. If a pizza delivery driver loses his license due to excessive speeding, is it unjust? You decide. That example to no different than a person who abuses the internets and gets banned, even if he uses the net to function in the modern world.

[Tuesg]

Blame France or something.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7110024.stm

[LastRailway]

How can this function? Proxy servers and stuff? One can change IP at will.

[jp007]

This kind of outright banning is EXTREMELY shortsighted (what a fucking surprise). Everything is getting getting wired to the internet for some stupid reason or another. Given enough time, you won't be able to open the refrigerator without initiating some kind of connection.

"Put the milk back, and step away from the Internet!"

[puzzled-observer]

It's not a total ban, you can still use public internets or at a friends house. I already covered that in my first post. If a pizza delivery driver loses his license due to excessive speeding, is it unjust? You decide. That example to no different than a person who abuses the internets and gets banned, even if he uses the net to function in the modern world.

What if you're a true internet master and don't have any friends? Public internet isn't always available.

[tinribz]

I mean seriously how are they going to stop access, I would just change my ISP, or name or move. They gonna rip out my carputer, bar me from airports and trains? Block my neighbour’s wifi? Make me wear a faraday suit?

What a joke, the only people it would worry are the ones that don't do it. P2P are the amateurs anyway.

This is just the latest round of scaremongering in the absence of the impossible amount of resources needed to do anything about it, in a hopeless war against the inevitable.

The maddening part is the answer is sooo fucking obvious, sell more cheaper. But the dinosaurs still clinging on to power would rather try to criminalise their customer base than think outside the box. Good luck with that then.

[Stoned_Rider]

wow, British downloaders are going to have it worse than Saudi Arabian shoplifters. Come to think of it, they probably stole the concept from Sharia law. Yeah, sounds about right... I think I'll blame it all on the Islamists :dont:

[Karl]

I actually think this makes a lot of sense from the government's perspective. This would be very easy to doge, but most people who download music don't bother to find out what a proxy server is or that sort of thing. I think the threat paired with most people's ignorance towards the internet would make this fairly effective in slowing down illegal downloading.

Now, I haven't decided whether illegal downloading is good or bad. I used to think it was horrible and that I'd never do it, then for a few years I thought it was good, and more recently I've put a moratoriumon it until I can decide what I think. But if it IS bad, this is a good start, but would be horrible as an end.

[Rozza]

That'll be the day! I'd like to see that in action!

Name a government regulator that could organise a piss-up in a brewery. I don't think downloaders (legal or illegal) have anything to worry about on that front... :rofl:

I don't wish to give the impression that I'm encouraging law-breaking... but, I don't think law-breakers have anything to worry about on this front. They're always 100 steps ahead of the regulators. In the free-market economy (yeah, you guessed it - the same one that pays footballers 150 times more than nurses), the IP providers will simply move to unregulated parts of the world. They couldn't beat the pirate radio stations of the 60s, 70s & 80s with such basic technology, so it beats me how they think they can tackle this one. :stupid:

The average nerdy 12 year has more technical savvy than all of the out-of-touch regulators put together. :nerd:

[LastRailway]

I actually think this makes a lot of sense from the government's perspective. This would be very easy to doge, but most people who download music don't bother to find out what a proxy server is or that sort of thing. I think the threat paired with most people's ignorance towards the internet would make this fairly effective in slowing down illegal downloading.

On the contrary, I'd say people searching for torrents, etc, (cause it's not only music, there is software etc) would most probably be able to use a proxy server successfully.


Now, I haven't decided whether illegal downloading is good or bad. I used to think it was horrible and that I'd never do it, then for a few years I thought it was good, and more recently I've put a moratoriumon it until I can decide what I think. But if it IS bad, this is a good start, but would be horrible as an end.

I find it ok, myself. Some years ago people recorded tapes with music or burned cds or simply listened the radio. It's the same thing with downloading from the internet. And I'm pretty sure "illegal" downloads don't minimise the benefits of the companies. Maybe they don't even affect them (not that I find any reason to care too much about companies' interests).

[Seanan]

I find it ok, myself. Some years ago people recorded tapes with music or burned cds or simply listened the radio. It's the same thing with downloading from the internet. And I'm pretty sure "illegal" downloads don't minimise the benefits of the companies. Maybe they don't even affect them (not that I find any reason to care too much about companies' interests).

I don't think it does any more than when we used to make a copy that cirulated among friends/family who had friends.. on and on. That used to be okay. I think what's changed is corporate greed. True, mass distributers making bucks off copies hurts them but I don't see private as doing anymore than it used to.

[charred_heart]

hmm, time for the British to look into encrypted connections and HTTP Tunneling...

We know all about that in the middle east :D


How can this function? Proxy servers and stuff? One can change IP at will.
they'll just log the ip changes.

One way would probably be some sort of spyware that can send information from your computer. Then the IP address would be a m00t point

[dubbeltop]

Banned from the internet

The Brits have turned into Big Brother........

[V Profane]

The Brits have turned into Big Brother........

Celebrity Big Brother, actually.

[rainfall]

Sounds like, once again, lawmakers trying to regulate something of which they have very little understanding.

They understand enough: the internet is not a dump truck. It is not something you dump something on. It is a series of tubes. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f99PcP0aFNE)

[rr9876]

Now, I haven't decided whether illegal downloading is good or bad. I used to think it was horrible and that I'd never do it, then for a few years I thought it was good, and more recently I've put a moratoriumon it until I can decide what I think. But if it IS bad, this is a good start, but would be horrible as an end.

I thought you were a Marxist??? Copyright law strikes me as being extremely capitalistic.

[SensEye]

Typical case of industry corrupting the law to serve it's own profit goals. Sad that people let them get away with it.