UK's Digital Economy Act

As you can see the turn out for the debate was standing room only.....sigh

It seems BT and TalkTalk have lost their case regarding the Act and it will mean ISPs will have to send warning letters to alleged illegal file downloaders, as well as potentially cutting users off.....


This firmly puts the responsibility into the ISP's hands which means they have to police their networks, which means they will have to actively monitor every single user they have, which can mean only one thing.... The cost of having a broadband connection will rise to cover that cost.... 


But what the idiotic politicians don't realise is that once you stop one method of file sharing they will simply develop another method to share music and films, only this time they will make it impossible for anybody to eavesdrop on what they are doing..... Look what happened with Napster ? They then moved to P2P file sharing, they are now moving to magnet links......The politicians will simply drive file sharing underground and there will be a massive subculture, sharing just as much as they used to but under the protection of hard encryption.... and the thing is how does an ISP distinguish between an encrypted bit of information and a violation of the UK's Digital Economy Act ? 


The simple truth is they can't... which is why this whole Digital Economy Act is a load of utter tripe, all it will do is get innocent parents in trouble with the law when their 10 year old kid decides to download the latest film and they will be pounced on by the ISP because they are upholding the law. Meanwhile the hardened filesharers will be blissfully sharing away underneath the detectable breaches of copyright in a darkened netherworld of encryption and push button privacy. Fortunately I've blocked all such activity on our home network and encrypted our connection, I've also done the same with my parents connection, just so they won't be taken advantage of once all this kicks in.


I sometimes wonder how politicians get to be politicians, do they have to prove how stupid and idiotic they are before a committee before they are allowed to practice politics ?


What does concern me is that all the broadband users who have open WiFi connections and have no idea what encryption is let alone why they are getting letters stating they are infringing copyright ? It opens up a whole new can of worms, but apparently ignorance is a crime in the digital economy act, an open WiFi connection is no excuse apparently.


Whilst I am all for artists protecting their work and making a living from it, the digital economy act is akin to trying to close Pandora's box.... but its been opened and there is no putting things back or trying to bolt the gate after the horse has gone.... 


While ever people have the ability to copy music or films they will, it's not even considered particularly bad these days if you do copy a film or music.... until people are made to feel like its shoplifting or smash and grab any policies or laws put in place simply will not work, end of.......


In the meantime we continue to be watched and controlled..... the backlash off this will be huge..... just watch what happens.......

Had to laugh at this

it's a knee generator developing 5 watts of power, and at the moment is at the design stage......as you can clearly see..... because you couldn't wear THAT under your jeans, apparently it is only good for charging mobile phones at the moment and does slow the walker down, and the designers say it has applications for hill walkers etc

you have to ask the question why would a well prepared hill walker go out in the wilds with a mobile phone where the battery was flat, but they had the forethought to pack this metal brick in their backpack ?

Surely it would be better to make sure your phone was charged before you left the house ? plus I can't see walkers walking around with one of these strapped to their knees ruining their very expensive all weather walking trousers, and the last thing you want on a trip up Snowdon is this mechanical leech sapping your very last energy reserves to top your phone up !!! mind you if you are lying injured in some ditch and your mobile phone is flat I can't think of a better device to use to summon help.....mind you, you would need to do 500 knee jerks before you got a usable signal ;¬)

Falkland Islands

First of all I'll correct him on Nether Wallop which has a population of 829, The Falkland islands has a population excluding military personnel of 3140 if he can't get that fact right what hope is there ? Nether Wallop are British, the Falklanders are British, if Argentina asked for Sovereignty over Nether Wallop they would get the same answer they are getting over the Falkland Islands...... NO !!!! Besides George Galloway lost all credibility with me when he pretended to be a cat with Rula Lenska on Big brother and other minor Z list "Celebs" ....yawn....

Nice (not)

Then of course we have his views on Syria .....I quote "all dignified people in the world, whether Arabs or Muslims or others with dignity, are very proud of the speech made by president Bashar al-Assad a few days ago here in Damascus. For me he is the last Arab ruler, and Syria is the last Arab country. It is the fortress of the remaining dignity of the Arabs, and that's why I'm proud to be here." 


....Oh he means that civilian murdering despotic spawny eyed wazzock in Syria ? shelling Homs and killing more of his own people as you read this now ? ... of course how silly of me to question Mr Galloway's far superior grasp on foreign policy ... he is such a good judge of character as well......

lets face it he's an utter dickhead twat idiot,  He seems to forget that the Falklanders want to remain British and while ever they do we should support them or the deaths of 255 British servicemen and 3 female Falklands Island civilians  who were  killed during the Falklands War, will have been utterly pointless.....

Royal Navy – 86 + 2 Hong Kong laundrymen 

Royal Marines – 27 (2 officers, 14 NCOs and 11 marines)

Royal Fleet Auxiliary – 4 + 4 Hong Kong laundrymen

Merchant Navy – 6 + 2 Hong Kong sailors

British Army – 123 (7 officers, 40 NCOs and 76 privates)

Royal Air Force – 1 (1 officer)

Falklands Islands civilians 3 (women)

The war was fought because Argentina took the islands by force and we took it back by force.

On the Argentine part this whole thing is about oil now and any other resources the islands may have. Listen to the people who live there

THEY DON'T WANT YOU ARGENTINA GET OVER IT !!!

Now go away in short jerky movements Mr Galloway back to your saucer of milk there's a good kitty......