Drafts talk:Digital Economy Bill

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Omygod... Does my future mean I have to read and understand, and comment on, documents like this !? --JohnB 22:10, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

I've added a summary at the end --Duke 03:29, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Clause 4 - Obligation to notify subscribers of reported infringements

My answer to this, and to perhaps other elements of the bill, is the Pirate policy to declare non-commercial private use, communication, and sharing as exempt from copyright, not by license, but as of right. Therefore there is no need for any of these provisions, there is no loss to creative people, and there is no need to introduce such regulation and control.

The purpose of copyright, as defined since 1709/10, is to encourage the creation of new work, by securing to the authors of those works, a limited duration monopoly of reproduction and commercial sale, to provide an opportunity to earn a reward and an incentive to create new work that benefits us all - and that becomes part of public knowledge, information, and culture, within a reasonable time.

If that is the message to be sent, then I will be in the forefront of shouting it from the rooftops. Rather greater reforms than proposed by the present Bill will be needed to achieve this, however. I see no need to address the deeply flawed provisions of the present Bill in greater detail, which are so biased towards control and historical/obsolete industry that they cannot be debated in their own terms but must be overturned.

[edit] General

The "Enabling Act" provisions which allow the Secretary of State (present or future) to change the law directly through secondary legislation/statutory instruments, without the consent of Parliament, are unconscionable. These are opposed by industry (internet service providers) and by individuals, and are driven only to support obsolete industry providers who have vested interests in opposing change and adapting to new ways to make money, create employment and foster economic development and encouraging creativity. These new methods are inevitable and beneficial, a tide flowing through our experience of human culture and development for the 21st century.