[Infowarrior] - UK to create "Pirate Finder General"

[Richard Forno]

(Hrmmm Medieval Law Merchants are coming back??? --rick)

BREAKING: Leaked UK government plan to create "Pirate Finder General"  
with power to appoint militias, create laws

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/19/breaking-leaked-uk-g.html

A source close to the British Labour Government has just given me  
reliable information about the most radical copyright proposal I've  
ever seen.
Secretary of State Peter Mandelson is planning to introduce changes to  
the Digital Economy Bill now under debate in Parliament. These changes  
will give the Secretary of State (Mandelson -- or his successor in the  
next government) the power to make "secondary  
legislation" (legislation that is passed without debate) to amend the  
provisions of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988).

What that means is that an unelected official would have the power to  
do anything without Parliamentary oversight or debate, provided it was  
done in the name of protecting copyright. Mandelson elaborates on  
this, giving three reasons for his proposal:

1. The Secretary of State would get the power to create new remedies  
for online infringements (for example, he could create jail terms for  
file-sharing, or create a "three-strikes" plan that costs entire  
families their internet access if any member stands accused of  
infringement)

2. The Secretary of State would get the power to create procedures to  
"confer rights" for the purposes of protecting rightsholders from  
online infringement. (for example, record labels and movie studios can  
be given investigative and enforcement powers that allow them to  
compel ISPs, libraries, companies and schools to turn over personal  
information about Internet users, and to order those companies to  
disconnect users, remove websites, block URLs, etc)

3. The Secretary of State would get the power to "impose such duties,  
powers or functions on any person as may be specified in connection  
with facilitating online infringement" (for example, ISPs could be  
forced to spy on their users, or to have copyright lawyers examine  
every piece of user-generated content before it goes live; also,  
copyright "militias" can be formed with the power to police copyright  
on the web)

Mandelson is also gunning for sites like YouSendIt and other services  
that allow you to easily transfer large files back and forth privately  
(I use YouSendIt to send podcasts back and forth to my sound-editor  
during production). Like Viacom, he's hoping to force them to turn off  
any feature that allows users to keep their uploads private, since  
privacy flags can be used to keep infringing files out of sight of  
copyright enforcers.

This is as bad as I've ever seen, folks. It's a declaration of war by  
the entertainment industry and their captured regulators against the  
principles of free speech, privacy, freedom of assembly, the  
presumption of innocence, and competition.

This proposal creates the office of Pirate-Finder General, with  
unlimited power to appoint militias who are above the law, who can pry  
into every corner of your life, who can disconnect you from your  
family, job, education and government, who can fine you or put you in  
jail.

More to follow, I'm sure, once Open Rights Group and other activist  
organizations get working on this. In the meantime, tell every Briton  
you know. If we can't stop this, it's beginning of the end for the net  
in Britain.