August 25th, 2009
UK caves to Hollywood, orders net cut-off for 'hardcore' downloaders
In June, the U.K.’s Digital Britain report rejected the Draconian demands of Hollywood to cut off “hardcore” downloaders from the Internet. Now the British government has changed its tune:
Stephen Timms, the minister for Digital Britain, said that proposals previously considered by the Government to simply restrict the internet connection speed of persistent offenders did not go far enough, and would be too slow to implement. Instead, he proposes that alongside measures to block access to illegal downloading sites and throttling connection speeds for repeat offenders, persistent filesharers should also have their internet connections terminated.
But, wait a minute: it was just months ago that Digital Britain looked at the issue - which France approved, to widespread opprobrium - and rejected it. What gives? Some people are looking askance at a meeting between the Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, and David Geffen, where the peer was wined and dined, then returned to Britain to order the cut-off order, The Times of London reports.
They dined with members of the Rothschild banking dynasty at the family’s holiday villa on Corfu … The peer was reported to have ordered officials to prepare a U-turn on his return from holiday days later, although officials in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills insist it was not his decision alone.
The change probably has to do more with political philosophy than secret meetings. Mandelson has been said to be chomping at the bit to tighten the screws on hardcore filesharers, and Mr. Timms is the brand new head of Digital Britain, replacing Lord Carter.
Tom Watson, the Labour MP who until two months ago oversaw the Government’s internet policy, accused the Business Secretary today of caving in to a “big lobbying operation”.
Watson said overturning the previous policy was a “mistake” that “panders to rights-holders who have failed to find new business models for the digital age. [The move will] “lead to accusations that the Government has been captured by the big lobby operations of powerful rights-holders.”
