Via the Devil’s Kitchen, this piece of totalitarian nastiness:
Europeans suspected of putting movies and music on file-sharing networks could be thrown off the web under proposals before Brussels.
The powers are in a raft of laws that aim to harmonise the regulations governing Europe’s telecom markets.
Note the word suspected. Not convicted, no proof required; suspected. So you can be kicked off the web because some fascist says so, because they suspect you of violating copyright. No need to worry about all that tedious evidence stuff or innocent until proven guilty.
It gets worse:
Other amendments added to the packet of laws allow governments to decide which software can be used on the web.
I’m sorry!?! WTF!?! I decide what software I use on my computer. I decide what software I use on my websites. The EU commission can go fuck themselves with the rough end of a pineapple. I decide, not them.
Presumably they would like us all to be using IE because that’s about all politicians can manage themselves. As DK points out, MPs are techno illiterates:
And what the living fuck do government ministers know about technology? Most of them are so fucking tech-illiterate that they are barely able to turn off the burglar alarm as they stumble drunkenly through the front door with their giggling, half-naked researcher thrusting her hips into said bureaucrat’s crotch. The vast majority of them are barely able to use a phone.
And our MPs seem to be terminally confused by a standard desktop PC; or at least, this is what they would have you believe as they justify their sodding massive staff costs. The twats.
Quite so. Are there no limits to what these evil people will try to control?
No… Don’t answer that one.
“Other amendments added to the packet of laws allow governments to decide which software can be used on the web.”
I guess they’ve finally figured out a sure-fire way to curb those pesky bloggers – outlaw blogging software. In the EU, that is, I don’t see how they think this could affect anyone else.
In fact, I can’t see how this would be made to work at all in practice, but I guess they don’t sweat mere details…
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This blog is hosted in the USA. I wonder how they would control that?
Go read this: http://dmca.cs.washington.edu/
To summarise, the authors found that the organisations which try to police the USA’s DMCA bill (draconian copyright enforcement) are quite incredibly crap at doing so, and can readily be spoofed.
The researchers managed to frame many networked devices on their campus network such as printers, wireless access points and so on, and get the copyright enforcers to send out take-down notices for these devices.
This being the case, and the European ones being no better, it should be quite possible to exceed the “three strikes and you’re out” for every single IP in the House of Commons network in fairly short order, which might just concentrate a few minds there.