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For those who follow the goings and comings of the Internet, in particular it’s changes, both by technology and by law must be closely watching the goings on in England these days.

Those “virtuous” organizations responsible for the protection of all the “stuff’ ( sorry I’m trying to be kind here ) coming out of Hollywood and of course all the CD makers are actively leveraging and possibly succeeding in getting the British Parliament to pass an altogether immoral law there to shut down a households ( note I did not say individuals ) access to the Internet because someone copied what the powers may be consider ‘copyrightten material’ and that would even mean if it was their neighbour who piggy-backed on their unencrypted wireless access. So much for free wireless in Britain me-thinks….

What really makes the whole thing quite ridiculous is that both police forces and those super sneaky spook forces have pleaded with the government to NOT implement such a policy as it will then make their job a whole lot worse  ( and quite  possibly impossible ) than what it was before – catching the ‘real’ bad guys…. as this will pretty well guarantee that everyone will eventually move to encrypted addressing and messaging and who knows what else in the future….

I came across a really smart article today on this subject posted on the Times of London website – www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6896049.ece which I think lays the whole thing out quite nicely and points out both the extreme danger of implementing this sort of process AND the folly of it.

The article was written by Cory Doctorow who has found that by publishing his own works online for free, it generates interest and sales for his hard copies as well. I really don’t understand why the media moguls of the world ( mainly focusing on the US of course ) don’t do the same thing, or better yet, DO IT BETTTER!

Instead, when they “sort of embrace” the Internet they still screw it up… Case in point, many US networks are now allowing their reruns of hit shows to be viewed online. This is really important for those people who may have missed a key episode in an ongoing story etc and I think it’s great. Unfortunately, for what ever reason they have restricted access to the denizens of the US – which is great for them… but anyone else outside of the US  gets a wonderful message saying essentially “…sorry you don’t count”  This of course led to other companies who did a brisk business hiding ( for a fee ) peoples addresses and making them appear so that they could view that long lost episode…. which guess what….. has now led these brilliant media moguls to now take these nefarious businesses to court in order to get them to cease and desist from allowing non Americans from viewing these shows…. www.pcauthority.com.au/News/159360,picking-the-perfect-home-entertainment-box-hulu-blocks-international-access-via-witopia.aspx

I think Cory nailed it on the head….  these media moguls really are dinosaurs, who are trying to keep us in the dark ages.  I am actually kind of surprised that they let HD TV’s get into the market place…. obviously the lure of making $$$ out of selling over-priced blue-ray disks blinded them from the fact that I really don’t want to see most of these actors in all their “made up” glory….. some of them look quite scary in large screen high def!

Here is a small bit of that article that Cory wrote in the Times ( which I have taken from Cory’s website in order to hopefully avoid any copyright guards out there…. )

Even more radical is the Mandelson proposal to disconnect entire families from the internet if a single member — or a neighbour who uses their internet connection — is accused, without proof, of violating copyright. Leave aside the fundamental injustice of collective punishment, a practice so abhorrent that it is outlawed in the Geneva Convention; think instead of the utter disproportionality of this.

The internet is an integral part of our children’s education; it’s critical to our employment; it’s how we stay in touch with distant relatives. It’s how we engage with government. It’s the single wire that delivers freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. It isn’t just a conduit for getting a few naughty free movies, it is the circulatory system of the information age.

Read the full article on the Times Website –  “Denying physics won’t  save the video stars” you won’t be disappointed….