Fair Trial!
I’m sure many of you will have heard in the news that the government is planning to push through legislation that will give police the option to disconnect a person from the internet using a three-strike systm.
Basically the way it’ll work is as follows;
- Your downloading the latest episode of House from your favourite torrent tracker. Your ISP gets wind of this and there you have it… STRIKE 1 -A nicely printed letter informing you that ‘You have been warned!’
- Ignoring this letter, you download copyrighted music from a dodgy P2P engine. STRIKE 2 – A second letter plops onto your door mat telling you that you have one last chance… or else!
- You think your untouchable, so start downloading Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. STRIKE 3 – Your broadband account is terminated and your name recieved a black mark, meaning you can’t set up a connection with another provider for a determinate amount of time.
Luckily we belong to the Europeam Union, and therefore as a member state, we are entitled to human rights identified in the European constitution. One of these rights is the right to a fair trial.
Piracy and copyright theft does cost the industry millions of pounds each year and can cause small software houses to pack it in. Unfortunatly the MPAA and RIAA tend to make fools of themselves by pushing through example cases where-by the setlements are extortionate (see RIAA v Tanenbaum).
Surely though in this society of democracy and human rights, we should be entitled to a fair and unbiased trial, judged by our fellow peers of twelve men and women good and true, so the three strikes mechanism of disconnection, we dont recive a trial and we are forced to commence punishment (of being disconnected) before appealing…
If you disagree with this method and approach of the British Government, please sign the petition…
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/dontdisconnectus/
