Google Search

Monday, July 4, 2011

Leaked: UK copyright lobby holds closed-door meetings with gov't to discuss national Web-censorship regime

Cory Doctorow

A group of UK copyright lobbyists held confidential, closed-door meetings with Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries to discuss a plan to allow industry groups to censor the Internet in the UK. The proposal has leaked, and it reveals a plan to establish "expert bodies" that would decide which websites British people were allowed to see, to be approved by a judge using a "streamlined" procedure. The procedure will allow for "swift" blocking in order to shut down streaming of live events.

Public interest groups like the Open Rights Group asked to attend the meeting, but were shut out, presaging a regulatory process that's likely to be a lopsided, industry-centric affair that doesn't consider the public. The process is characterised as "voluntary," but the proposal makes reference to the Digital Economy Act, which allows for mandatory web-blocking (thanks to the action of LibDem Lords who submitted a proposal written by a record industry lobbyist as an amendment to the DEA).

Read More


Latest Big Brother/Orwellian
- Cancer Surges In Body Scanner Operators; TSA Launches Cover-Up
- Orwell, eat your heart out: 'TSA denies having required a 95-year-old woman to remove diaper'
- Patriot Act Debate: Is the FBI Collecting Your Phone Data?
- 95-yr-old woman dying of leukemia asked to remove adult diaper during TSA search
- TSA stands by officers after pat-down of elderly woman in Florida
- U.S. Using 'Mystery Shoppers' to Check on Access to Doctors
- Senator Leahy Praises US Gov't Censorship Of Websites As ICE Takes Another Victory Lap
- MPAA, RIAA, Major ISPs Preparing 'Graduated Response' To Piracy

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for the purposes of news reporting, education, research, comment, and criticism, which constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (found at the U.S. Copyright Office) and other applicable intellectual property laws. It is our policy to remove material from public view that we believe in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our members or users.
About Us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened..." - Winston Churchill


View the original article here