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Britain's new Internet Law: Death of the Startup in Britain?

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Re: Britain's new Internet Law: Death of the Startup in Britain?

#41

Post by foldr »

bumblebird wrote: post #39
foldr wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Because it negates the whole point you put them in prison. So you think that being in prison would be perfectly pleasant just as long as you had a broadband connection? Some life you must lead.

It's a really slippery slope. And to be honest, yeah - having a net connection is a pretty big luxury I don't think criminals serving at her Majesties' pleasure should actually be entitled to. Obviously if they're to be rehabilitated, then it would make sense to allow them that, but whilst they're serving time, isn't the whole point to take away the home comforts? There was also some call (Probably from EU) to give c…

>They're in there to separate them from society. And that includes 'online' society IMHO - hence they should not have net connections.

And presumably they shouldn't be allowed to send letters or have visitors either right? There's a "slippery slope" in both directions.

Re: Britain's new Internet Law: Death of the Startup in Britain?

#42

Post by foldr »

philwelch wrote: post #40
foldr wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's a fair question. To me, it's a positive thing to criticize the decline of civil liberties in one country, but a negative thing to respond to that criticism with a "at least we're better than another country" flame. The OP's comment was clearly a flame of precisely that sort. It wasn't making any constructive commentary on civil liberties issues, just asking a dumb and inflammatory rhetorical question. I sugges…

And if there were an HN article about American alcohol and health care policies, I'd criticize them along with you. The OP wasn't a good comment either, but the response was even worse, which is another way of saying "internet flamewars escalate".

But it was the OP who broadened the topic of discussion by asking if there were "any" freedoms left in Britain. That naturally invites comparisons outside the area of copyright law.

>especially when you're doing it in a dishonest attempt to make British law seem better.

I don't think he was trying to make British copyright law seem better; at least, I didn't read that into the post.

Re: Britain's new Internet Law: Death of the Startup in Britain?

#43

Post by algorias »

Renai wrote: post #33
bumblebird wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you'd post about it on twitter+reddit and the whole baying mob of sheep that compose the modern internet would track down said councilor and make their life a living hell forever.

Not everyone is so popular, and not all audiences are so political.

Exactly. And that kind of action shouldn't be the only way of enforcing your rights.

Re: Britain's new Internet Law: Death of the Startup in Britain?

#44

Post by thaumaturgy »

This is fantastic. It's great news.

No, seriously. This kind of thing is exactly what's needed to make services like i2p (http://i2p2.de) popular enough to go mainstream.

Or another way to look at it, oft-quoted, is: the internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.

Re: Britain's new Internet Law: Death of the Startup in Britain?

#45

Post by jrockway »

bumblebird wrote: post #21
russell wrote: post #6

Things are bad here with the DCMA, but things are really frightening in the UK which doesnt have the fundamental constitutional concepts of privacy, freedom of speech, and reasonable constraints on libel. Charlie Stross, a UK SF writer, has a blog today on this topic. http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/11/imbecile... BTW: he's one of us.

FWIW: "things are really frightening in the UK which doesnt have the fundamental constitutional concepts of privacy, freedom of speech, and reasonable constraints on libel" Only if you believe everything you read on the internet.

The statement you quoted is technically true, however. That doesn't mean that the UK exercises all the authority available to it or that the US does not pass illegal laws.

Re: Britain's new Internet Law: Death of the Startup in Britain?

#46

Post by noste »

bumblebird wrote: post #39
foldr wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Because it negates the whole point you put them in prison. So you think that being in prison would be perfectly pleasant just as long as you had a broadband connection? Some life you must lead.

It's a really slippery slope. And to be honest, yeah - having a net connection is a pretty big luxury I don't think criminals serving at her Majesties' pleasure should actually be entitled to. Obviously if they're to be rehabilitated, then it would make sense to allow them that, but whilst they're serving time, isn't the whole point to take away the home comforts? There was also some call (Probably from EU) to give c…

>There was also some call (Probably from EU) to give criminals in jail the right to a vote. Which I also strongly disagree with.

Going by the stats at http://felonvoting.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=28... felony disenfranchisement is not that popular in western democracies.

Re: Britain's new Internet Law: Death of the Startup in Britain?

#47

Post by weavejester »

russell wrote: post #6

Things are bad here with the DCMA, but things are really frightening in the UK which doesnt have the fundamental constitutional concepts of privacy, freedom of speech, and reasonable constraints on libel. Charlie Stross, a UK SF writer, has a blog today on this topic. http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/11/imbecile... BTW: he's one of us.

Just a small nitpick; whilst the US has better freedom of speech laws and more reasonable libel laws than the UK, the UK (along with most EU countries) does have stricter privacy laws.

Re: Britain's new Internet Law: Death of the Startup in Britain?

#48

Post by antipaganda »

algorias wrote: post #43
Renai wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone is so popular, and not all audiences are so political.

Exactly. And that kind of action shouldn't be the only way of enforcing your rights.

Especially since the Dark Side can afford to hire a LOT more lawyers, who are second only to politicians in their ability to make your life a living hell.

Re: Britain's new Internet Law: Death of the Startup in Britain?

#49

Post by cabalamat »

foldr wrote: post #32

It's really irritating when people write the title to make it sound as if a bill which hasn't gone through parliament yet is already law.

Given that both the government and the main opposition party broadly support these measures, it's probable that something along these lines will become law, unless there is widespread public opposition. There will be a general election in Britain within the next 8 months, so it may well happen after then.

Incidently, I've recently started a Facebook group where anyone can pledge that they won't vote for any MP or candidate who supports this -- http://cabalamat.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/wont-vote-for-any-...

Re: Britain's new Internet Law: Death of the Startup in Britain?

#50

Post by cabalamat »

RevRal wrote: post #16

This is why we need to overthrow some government and establish a hacker nation. I think something similar happened in the movie Igor.... In all seriousness, this is pretty scary. There is a fierce dichotomy here. There aren't very many people who believe file-sharing is that morally wrong (or morally wrong to begin with), it is just becoming very illegal. Things are going to get more and more ridiculous, until we are…

Y'know, a hacker nation would have an awesome economy, at least its internet / high tech sector.
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