peter mandelson

For the last two years the spectre of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA as it's better known, has loomed large on the horizon.

For many the Treaty stands as a threat and is synonymous with corporate control of the man in the street and his creativity.

Unfortunately, I can't find who first sent this in, but the site Inieoma recently had an interesting multi-part "discussion" on how independent artists are dealing with the issue of "piracy." Some of the parts are quite interesting.

38D

Dan Bull, who wrote, recorded and made videos for his brilliant open letters to both Lily Allen and Peter Mandelson, was asked by UK ISP TalkTalk if he would be interested in creating a new song concerning the Digital Economy Bill.

Back in January, while in France, I experienced firsthand one of the "unintended consequences" of France rushing forwarding with a "three strikes" law that kicks people off the internet based on accusations (not convictions).

Because of that, the idea of open WiFi is now pretty much gone (which, amusingly, was pissing off the very same music execs who were such big fans of the law).

Remember how the UK was just playing a word game by claiming that it wouldn't disconnect users from the internet via Peter Mandelson's Digital Economy Bill?

That was quickly debunked, as people realized that the gov't was simply changing how it described the disconnection, calling it a "temporary account suspension" instead.

Of course, that's still a disconnect. Another unresolved question, however, was how long is temporary?

There were a smattering of reports that the UK gov't was backing down on plans to implement three strikes rules as part of Peter Mandelson's Digital Economy Bill.