Europeans suspected of putting movies and music on file-sharing networks could be thrown off the web under proposals before Brussels.The powers are in a raft of laws that aim to harmonise the regulations governing Europe's telecom markets.
Other amendments added to the packet of laws allow governments to decide which software can be used on the web.
Campaigners say the laws trample on personal privacy and turn net suppliers into copyright enforcers.
MEPs are due to vote on the so-called Telecom Packet on 7 July. The core proposals in the packet were drawn up to help European telecoms firms cope with the rapid pace of change in the industry.
Technological and industry changes that did not respect borders had highlighted the limitations of Europe's current approach which sees national governments oversee their telecoms markets.
"The current fragmentation hinders investment and is detrimental to consumers and operators," says the EU document laying out the proposals.
View: BBC News
sad thing is, with lobbying, i can see this happening. but if it does than the underground will come out in full force and we'll see encryption & freedom like we've never seen before
the tighter the governments make the rules, the more motivated they'll get and the harder they'll push back. that's the beauty of the internet. the very premise of it is to share information; and that will be the governments undoing
Hell, I'm sure I'll be on the front line should a huge demonstration occur in Brussels!
Anyway, I'm glad I see someone else who feels the same way.
The part about the potential to overlook software as being "ok" and the rest forbidden seems like a scary sort of whitelist to me. Anytime a government bureaucracy gets involved, you know there are going to be problems.
but...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7495085.stm
link
basically there's more than one reading of the legislation and it has to be approved by the council as well (the upper house)
its impossible to win a war against the internet
So does this mean that software companies would need a licence to access the web? And does this mean that if (hypothetically) Microsoft feed a government money, Firefox could be banned from web access (not that it will happen)?
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Stories like this are exactly what I imagine to be the start of the end of the internet. ISP's are there to Provide an Internet Service. ISP's don't need to 'big brother' my connection, I can tell them that I do occasionally break the law regarding the internet, instead they should work on keeping their systems and hardware up to date to provide me with the best connection I can get. Don't like it? Don't be an ISP.
In the end, if ISP's start monitoring connections and inspecting packets then people will just end up encrypting their connections, and all the taxpayer money spend on bull like this is nullified.
Only if a Democrat wins the next election
Only if a Democrat wins the next election
well, if McCain wins, it's another 4 years of Bush politics. we have bad choices on either side of the fence but pick the least of two evils. politicians are politicians, they are all about themselves
just like the movie hackers screamed, if they do get this put into law, hack the world!!!!
Only if a Democrat wins the next election
Which will only speed up the process.
Only if a Democrat wins the next election
Which will only speed up the process.
Yep, sad to say, the liberal controlled and dominated media in America certainly wants a democrat in office, they are far easier for the liberals to manipulate than a republican is.
Say goodbye to privacy and freedom of speech and hello to intimidation and censorship.
Also, they can't do this. They can't throw you off the internet if you're suspected of downloading illegal stuff. You have to have been caught downloading illegal stuff, and they can't do that, because they can't see what you're downloading, as that's an invasion of your privacy. If in the future, they can see what you're downloading, you can hide your P2P connections behind an encryption (uTorrent has this feature), and you're safe; because it is illegal to hack an encryption. And if they made it legal, the hackers would just run riot!
They can't do a thing to stop people downloading illegal stuff. Period.
Your priv... what?
If this law gets finally aproved you won't have such thing.
And a lot of people actually don't have a clue about what's happening. Just feed them a few lines of disinformation and they'll just say "Right, ban those pirates, stop the terrorists!" and be done with it.
Like the song, that article about "regulating the internet": the masses are asses
It's about time the EU gets a bit more democratic, too! The way the voting happens now is way too fragmented...
http://torrentfreak.com/how-to-encrypt-bittorrent-traffic/
Anyway, should something dramatic happen to the internet, I guess we'll all be going back to taping songs on the radio and taping shows on tv. (I had a LOT of vhs tapes many moons ago) If DRM allows it, of course!
Sharing information on the internet is great but sharing pirated information is not.
There is no law against it and if questioned by your ISP as to "why" you just say "To keep nosey bastards like you looking at my traffic"
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