Core Dump

In his latest editorial in The Guardian, Cory Doctorow takes on the 3-strikes and you're disconnected anti-piracy laws that are being proposed in Europe (and in Canada too, if our fearless leader and his minions have their way). Worth reading and keeping in mind when the next version of Bill C-61 is launched in Parliament.

The internet is an integral part of our children’s education; it’s critical to our employment; it’s how we stay in touch with distant relatives. It’s how we engage with government. It’s the single wire that delivers freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. It isn’t just a conduit for getting a few naughty free movies, it is the circulatory system of the information age.

To understand just how disproportionate this is, consider the corollary: what if Peter Mandelson proposed a rule to terminate the internet access of any movie studio or record company accused of three baseless copyright claims against the public? We could go down to all Universal offices and data centres with a huge pair of boltcutters and snip its net wires at the junction box.

It would be a corporate death penalty. Families that receive this penalty — without a judge or trial — will face a similar terminal fate, cut off from the system that connects them to life and livelihood.

Labels: intellectual property, Internet, politics