a2f2a

Britain’s plans to implement the entertainment cartel three strikes and you’re off the net bidniz plan have just been doomed.

“With their MPAA as the front, the major Hollywood studios have escalated their efforts to force ACTA, their secret copyright ‘initiative’,  into being,” said p2pnet recently, continuing:

” ‘Our interests in a robust ACTA are broad, ranging from providing ex-officio authority for law enforcement and customs officials to securing both the legal and practical tools necessary to protect intellectual property rights online,’ says the LaLaLand enforcer.

“Ex-officio authority for law enforcement? Hollywood pseudo-cops with powers to do whatever they want without  reference to any legal authority. But it isn’t only the MPAA. Big Music’s RIAA is also pushing ACTA for all it’s worth.

“And it isn’t only ACTA. The entertainment industry — read the Big 4 record labels and Hollywood — is simultaneously hammering its Three Strikes plan, trying to have it adopted as law in countries such as Britain and France.”

Protests from hundreds of millions of customers and voters around the world have had little, or no, the effect

But things have changed in the UK, at least.

eBay, Yahoo, Facebook and Google, made privy to the US end of the secret (to the people they’ll affect, anyway), don’t like the idea.

Playing along with the pretence that Peter ‘Mandy’ Mandelson has anything to do with the scheme beyond fronting it on behalf of  Hollywood and Big Music, “Dear Lord Mandelson,” say the four online commercial units which answer only to their shareholders and investors >>>

As the providers of online services used by millions of people in the UK, we are enthusiastic supporters of the impressive ambitions set out in the Digital Britain report.

As the Digital Economy Bill has its Second Reading in the House of Lords today, we want to express our grave concerns regarding the inclusion of measures which risk stifling innovation and damaging the Government’s vision for a Digital Britain.

We strongly share the Government’s belief that an open Internet available to all and offering consumers the broadest range of innovative services brings huge social and economic benefits. We support measures to ensure this common goal. We are also convinced that the value of copyright will help unlock the potential for Digital Britain. Our companies play an active role in adapting content distribution models to the online environment and partner with providers, including the music and film sectors. A shared respect for copyright is, of course, key.

We fear, however, that the unexpected new clauses of the Digital Economy Bill will hinder, rather than contribute to, the Government’s vision. In particular, we believe the bill’s Clause 17 – which gives any future Secretary of State unprecedented and sweeping powers to amend the Copyright, Design and Patent Act – opens the way for arbitrary measures. This power could be used, for example, to introduce additional technical measures or increase monitoring of user data even where no illegal practice has taken place. This would discourage innovation, impose unnecessary costs, potentially unsettling the careful balance of responsibilities for enabling market change which Lord Carter outlined in the Digital Britain report.

This clause is so wide that it could put at risk legitimate consumer use of current technology as well as future developments. We all acknowledge that new business models need to emerge to support creative content. They are inherently risky and entrepreneurs rely heavily on there being a consistent and stable approach to copyright enforcement. This clause would inject an unprecedented level of uncertainty in this regard.

The industry as a whole had hoped that the outcome of Digital Britain would be a clear, workable set of principles by which the industry could operate. On the contrary, Clause 17 creates uncertainty for consumers and businesses and puts at risk the UK’s leading position in a digital Europe.

We urge you to remove Clause 17 from the bill.

Yours sincerely,
Alasdair McGowan, Head of Public Affairs,
eBay UK,
Richard Allan, Director of Policy, Europe,
Facebook
Emma Ascroft, Director, Public & Social Policy,
Yahoo! UK & Ireland
Sarah Hunter, UK Policy Manager, Google

Not only but also, British ISPs have also come out against the entertainment industry effort.

“ISPs are being asked to police content but this isn’t about serious crime but to protect one particular set of rights holders,” says Malcolm Hutty, from net association Linx.