The Digital Economy Bill – a noxious concoction of entertainment industry fear and our government’s desire to license and monitor everything – is likely to be passed imminently.
Under the guise of protecting copyright holders, the Bill seeks to monitor your internet use, close down your ability to use popular services and restrict access. Your internet connection will be cut off if you are suspected to have repeatedly infringed others’ copyright. Your ISP will be required to track your download habits and share their records with copyright holders. It could see the death of open wifi in public spaces. The bill is opposed by ISPs, internet experts and web giants like Google and Yahoo.
Fortunately, even slackers like you and I can help prevent this happening. There’s a clever, automated find-and-email-your-MP site that takes just two minutes to complete. If you go with the pre-written text, it looks like this:
I’m writing to you today because I’m very worried that the Government is planning to rush the Digital Economy Bill into law without a full Parliamentary debate.
The law is controversial and contains many measures that concern me. The controversial Bill deserves proper scrutiny so please don’t let the government rush it through. Many people think it will damage schools and businesses as well as innocent people who rely on the internet because it will allow the Government to disconnect people it suspects of copyright infringement.
Industry experts, internet service providers (like Talk Talk and BT) and huge internet companies like Google and Yahoo are all opposing the bill – yet the Government seems intent on forcing it through without a real debate.
As a constituent I am writing to you today to ask you to do all you can to ensure the Government doesn’t just rush the bill through and deny us our democratic right to scrutiny and debate.
If you have a few more moments, then write to your local paper.
picture credit: nolifebeforecoffee
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