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back to article LibDems drop net blocking, blame activists

LibDem peers agreed to drop their controversial net-blocking clause from the Digital Economy Bill after the government advised that the proposal would be legally unenforceable. It means the Bill now heads for the Commons with one of the key copyright infringement countermeasures up in the air, although it's likely to be a return …

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  1. A J Stiles
    Pirate

    Time the content industry realised

    It's time the content industry realised something.

    Until the mid-19th Century, purple dyes were extremely rare. The only way to get a stable purple pigment that would not wash out or fade with exposure to sunlight was from a rare, tiny shellfish -Murex brandaris- that lived in only a few places. For this reason, purple clothing became intimately associated with nobility; princes and dukes would wear purple, while commoners had to make do with green or brown.

    Then, a young lab assistant named William Henry Perkin invented mauve -- the first artificial dye -- by accident. (He was trying to clean some black stuff off his apparatus after a failed experiment, and discovered that it dissolved in alcohol -- and was really a deep purple colour. And it wouldn't come out of his shirt.) Mauve could be made much more cheaply than the old shellfish dye. Good news if you liked wearing purple; bad news if you were transporting a load of -Murex brandaris- over from the Middle East.

    The recorded music industry only ever existed by historical accident. Since Thomas Alva Edison stole the idea for the phonograph from one of his assistants in 1877, and until the invention of the CD-R in 1995, not everybody had the wherewithal to manufacture records. Therefore, there was value in providing this service.

    The simple fact is, recorded music -- like purple dye -- is only worth what anybody's prepared to pay for it. Modern computer technology has done for the content industry what Perkin did for the suppliers of shellfish-based purple dye.

    We have spent our whole lives being ripped off, and aren't going to take it anymore. Get used to it, and either sell content cheaper than people can rip it off for (illegal downloading *isn't* free. It costs in searching time. It costs in bandwidth. It can cost in blank CDs or whatever storage media you are using. It can cost in failed operations. It costs in tying up a computer that could be used for something else) or try not to let the door hit you in the backside as you leave. Because modern computer technology has *also* done for music fans what William Henry Perkin did for everyone who enjoys wearing purple.

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  2. bluest.one
    Flame

    Neo-Feudalism

    When a new technology comes along that turfs out the serfs and smashes their ploughshares, replacing them with GPS controlled super-tractors, then 'that's the price of progress'.

    When a new technology comes along that replaces a monopolistic stranglehold on the production, reproduction and distribution of media with a zero-cost destruction of the previously practiced artificial scarcity that threatens to turf out the rich and powerful middlemen then the 'sky is falling!' and the government is lobbied to protect their interests with ever more draconian powers.

    Fuck these Barons and the way they use their power and wealth to undermine the democratic process and buy laws that benefit themselves at the expense of progress and the people as a whole. And fuck the politicians who abrogate their responsibilities as supposedly democratic representatives and engage in what should be called treason.

    Fuck 'em all.

    (Non-literally, obviously).

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    Allofmp3

    There used to be a media download site called Allofmp3, apparently it was owned by the Russian mafia, it grew to be one of the biggest music distributors on the web. The reason? The data was charged for, by the megabyte, so one could buy a tune at 128kb or as a full wav file and the price for this was reasonable, and the database was absolutely masive. The people that ran it, mafia or not, contributed a proportion of the fee to a copyright holders fund, as far as I know, it was never accessed by these organisations.

    At this point, it would have made sense for the record companies to adopt the model (music by the megabyte) and give people what they want, instead, they effectively shut it down by blocking access to the payment systems. The punters that wanted quality, and not some sh*tty " drm'ed aac file, resorted to the Pirate Bay and others, and everyone lost.

    This could have been sorted out years ago. If a company insists on behaving like Luddites, they are merely slowing down the rate at which they collapse. If they adapted and charged a reasonable fee for the quality that people want, they would have increased their profits.

    As is usual, with politicians, they don't understand the process that they are attempting to legislate for (which is why they are politicians), they habitually side with big-business (they like the free lunches), and in years to come, they will shrug their shoulders and move on to the next target.

    In a few years, most of these companies will be defunct and the big money will be in piano and sheet music sales.

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    1. Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)
      Reply Icon

      Re: Allofmp3

      "The people that ran it, mafia or not, contributed a proportion of the fee to a copyright holders fund, as far as I know, it was never accessed by these organisations."

      It's amazing what cock some people can write.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    problems with women?

    Try this feller: http://www.francisdavey.co.uk/2010/03/new-amendment-gives-copyright-owners.html

    example "If an ISP is persuaded to resist a request to block your site and you then intervene in subsequent court proceedings brought by the BPI, the case could go on a long time — copyright cases can be quite complicated. Maybe there are important issues of law at stake that will take the matter to the Supreme Court and back. The result an enormous costs bill. Who will have to foot it if you lose? Ordinarily, the ISP. You can see why an ISP is going to require a lot of persuading not to just roll over and do what its told."

    - hope this isn't too infringing!

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  5. Hadrian

    Affordability

    If this law means that "legal" downloads became as cheap as getting the CD/DVD off ebay (or the local charity shop, etc) then I'm all for it. Ooh look, a pink elephant with wings!

    Anyhoo... I actually think that by blocking off the 'illegal' routes there will be no incentive to reduce prices in the UK for legal downloads; quite the opposite. So while the rest of the world (except China) will download and enjoy British films and music for free, the British public won't be able to afford them.

    I propose that in return for kowtowing to the copyright holders and blocking (allegedly) infringing sites, parliament should legislate for a maximum price chargeable on content downloaded to British IP addresses - say £2 per GByte. I'm sure we could rush that amendment through parliament before the election, along with everything else.

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