Dear Mr Livin De Past

From Rory responding to Mr Livin De Past: "I believe that this is what Mr De Past was referring to. It would be worrying if the companies and authorities weren't such a bunch of utter muppets. Free Culture is too fast to be held back. Put in place a regulation, there will be a work around in days. Look at the 'unhackable' DRM on the HD formats, that one took about 2 weeks as I remember. You can make DRM stronger but the result is ever more resource hungry operating systems which burn up 10x as many processor cycles as necessary (Hmmmm - Vista is popular isn't it). So you get to destroy the environment and cost your customers unnecessary amounts of cash on hardware and power bills, in order that the behemoths can protect their precious IP."

Comments

[Brad Bell]

I feel I spend too much of my time lurching from laughter to tears and back.

From the BBC article:
"It would see users receive two warnings if they download copyright material without permission, followed by a complete web ban."

Do I need BBC's permission to copy and paste that text? Who decides? Or do I just self-censor everything and stop participating as I can't risk my livelihood? Does the complete web ban only affect one's home? Can one still use the web at work and internet cafes? Does it mean creating multiple identities to protect the identity that earns a living? Are the authorities policing this sort of thing breaching copyright by recording what I publish? Can I bring a web ban against them? Is it like an ASBO?

This sort of legislation should really help the jobless rate. Take away my internet access and you destroy my capability to work. (Perhaps I could get a job on the assembly line in the phonograph factory.)

It would be more economically productive to put people under house arrest, but allow them to stay connected to the digital economy. Now *that* would be good for the environment. I knew true tele-commuting would arrive one day.

[James Cherkoff]

That's it Brad - you're banned! Turn your computer off right now!