Let me address this straight up. Politics is not usually a topic that us Internet Geeks, or Music Geeks care about all that much, but if you follow my twitter stream or short posts (hopefully you are still following after my 6 week long rant), you will have noticed how engrossed I have been with political topics of late.
Campaigning against a Tory government, shortly after campaigning against the Digital Economy Bill (#DEBILL), which was rushed through parliament during a wash up before the general election.
There was a lot of talk before the election about whether this would be an “Internet election”. Whether it would follow the precedent set by last year’s American presidential election which was fought and won online, thanks to a colossal Social Media Strategy.
It was clear very early on, however, that TV and printed media are still the election deciders here in the UK - and Rupert Murdoch’s media properties fought hard for a conservative government.
Not an “Internet election” in that sense then, but it was to me in another way. The Digital Economy Bill got everyone online hooked on politics.
The controversy surrounding draconian measures that could see ISP’s, at the request of copyright owners, disconnect you from the web if your network was found to have been used to download copyrighted material illegally – even if it wasn’t you who did it….
The revelations that, the prince of darkness, Lord Mandelson, the man putting all his political might behind the campaign to get this legislation passed had been wined and dined in a yacht in Corfu by music industry execs, and that the Tory shadow chancellor, George Osbourne, was there too….
The fact that the first draft was so one sided, that it might as well have been written by the Music and Movie industries….
To us internet geeks, this was more compelling than an American conspiracy-action-drama. And all of us that care for internet freedoms, pushed along by great campaigners like 38 degrees, got involved by making sure that as many people as possible knew what was going down and lobbied their MP’s to oppose this bill.
But, on this first round at least, we were fighting a losing battle. The DEBill was voted through and became DEAct (Digital Economy Act) after a second reading.
How could this happen?
Too many of the MP’s who are elected by us to represent us in parliament, simply do not understand the digital world. Some of those who understand a bit more felt pressured by their party leadership to vote for the passage of the bill during the second reading. And those who are knowledgeable about the online world and the need for it too be freed of creative restrictions, were simply too few and struggled to make their voice heard.
One MP who does know about digital matters, and fought to make it a fairer act for the people was Tom Watson, former Minister for Digital Inclusion. This is what he had to say after the passage of the bill….
With the DEAct, and the grossest lack of democracy witnessed by most of us out of the way, the election campaign was next.
The vast majority in the UK won’t have followed or been concerned by the DEBill and instead gathered their views from publications like the Sun and broadcasters like Sky News, not from blogs or twitter.. which is possibly the biggest reason that we now have a Conservative lead government.
But online, the Liberal Democrats got their biggest gain. Partly because of Nick Clegg’s performance on the televised debates, but mostly because of their opposing of the second reading of the DEBill (even though they initially backed it and caved in to public pressure later) and their stance on the matter during the campaign.
This is what Nick Clegg said about it…
Had the election had been up to the web. We might have had a Progressive alliance. Here is the outcome that Dave’s poll had predicted 
So where are we now with the Digital Economy Act?
The fight is not over. Many politicians are hoping that we will forget about this. But people are campaigning hard to have this Act repealed.
The Lib-Dems have apparently voted almost unanimously within their party to push to have the DEAct repealed, but the Tories and most of Labour won’t want this. That is why it is important for everyone to put pressure on their MP to push for repeal. You can lobby your MP through the Open Rights Group site here. It only takes two minutes.
Here are some of the reasons why I think the Digital Economy Act is Bad…
1. The DEACT serves only to protect the status quo and old business models. It is a block to creative development and creative business models of the future. For example, I have a vision of the music industry becoming a much more open marketplace, in which fans have a much greater choice and many more artists are able to make a living.
2. Future business models will involve free content and monetization through merchandising, touring, sponsorships.
3. There is absolutely no point to the TV and Radio digital switch-over (especially not Radio which is 4 years away). Focus on building the infrastructure to deliver super-fast Internet to every home in the country, and IP will become the standard for TV and Radio.
4. If, with all the bureaucracy and legal advice, the political parties can get caught up in copyright infringement when replicating images in a creative way, then what chance have the rest of us got?
Do you have any thought about it? Are you for or against? Please leave your views in the comments….
UPDATE:
New culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who lead to Tory efforts to pass the bill, has today said that the coalition government will not be repealing the DEAct. That means that it is now even more important that as many people as possible put preasure on their MP’s to push for this to happen.
Remember, they are elected by us to serve us!
Follow this link to the Open Rights Group site to send an email to your MP and ask him/her to join a cross party group set up by Eric Joyce, Falkirk MP. Details here.
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9 Comments
MrGiraffeMay 21, 2010 7:27 pm
I can see how some would argue that the DEact shows a lack of understanding of the on-line music industry. Taking strong arm tactics against ”illegal downloads” is not productive and forward thinking. The game has changed and so has the music business.
People working in industry have accepted the new rules and are working on creative solutions to leverage the new on-line music industry.
dave @EvenFLowDave May 23 2010 10:27 am
Yep, I think pretty much everyone that is right now trying to make it in the music industry has accepted that the game has changed.
For the artists, it's a good thing. It has opened up so many more opportunities. Crucially, there's no need for the middlemen anymore.
But the Corporate Moguls are not prepared to let go, and as long as they have the money and power to make it happen, I'm afraid we will see more bullshit like this.
Lee McAndrewMay 22, 2010 4:00 pm
The bill was passed through in a very dishonest and underhand way. Further proof that politicians represent their masters (including the people that fund them) rather than the people in their constituencies.
Musicians like Metallica that are opposed to file sharing on the internet, need to embrace this relatively new medium and take advantage of the opportunities that it presents. There are plenty of ways for them to make money from their music (and let’s face it, they’re not exactly living in poverty).
There have been artistis that I’ve discovered via file-sharing that I wouldn’t have otherwise have known about. I’ve then gone on to put their other releases on my birthday/Christmas list or even bought them myself via Amazon. If it wasn’t for file-sharing these albums would never have been bought either by me or on my behalf.
dave @EvenFlowDave May 23 2010 11:05 am
Good point about finding artists that you probably wouldn't have, Lee.
Like I said, free content and distribution through file-sharing is a great way for new artists to get better known.
It's alright for Metallica, they're used to making profits for every single track they sell. Of course it's not in their interest for content to be free, but for how long are they gonna think about their own interests, before that of new artists and the future music industry?
CaronMay 23, 2010 11:46 am
Good post.
One thing the Lib Dems did secure when the Bill was stitched up between Labour and the Tories before the election was that the regulations for disconnection would come back before Parliament so at least that’s something.
The Lib Dems’ special conference on the coalition deal last Sunday passed this amendment to the main motion on the DE Act:
“Conference urges Liberal Democrat ministers and MPs to take all possible steps to ensure the repeal of those sections of the Digital Economy Act 2010 which are inconsistent with policy motion Freedom, Creativity and the Internet as passed at Spring Conference 2010.”
Eric Joyce, the Labour MP for Falkirk is trying to set up an All party Parliamentary Group at the moment so encouraging people to write to their MPs to join that would also be helpful.
This awful bill needs repealing and replacing with something better.
dave @EvenFlowDave May 24 2010 10:05 am
Thanks Caron.
Hopefully Lib Dems and other opposers can push for repeal as quickly as possible. It seems Jeremy Hunt is adamant in leaving it, at least for a while, so let's keep pushing.
I forgot to mention Eric Joyce's group. I will link that up on the post.
cyberdoyleMay 23, 2010 5:00 pm
I don’t profess to understand all the different bits of the deact. I doubt many do.
I do understand ‘piracy’ though. I do not pirate files myself, but I know how to do it without being caught, and I am not even techie.
We have told the politicians many times that they can’t stop pirates, but still they persist in this stupid act, which is going to cause far more trouble than it is worth, it will put people off using the internet, it will harm legal fileshare, it will stop people discovering music by sharing good songs, and it won’t stop the pirates. It will cost the ISPs a lot of money, which they will pass on to the people.
All because the dark lord mandelson went power mad in the days of a dying parliament…
dave @EvenFlowDave May 24 2010 10:13 am
Well said cyberdoyle,
Politicians need to understand that you cannot stop replication in the digital age. Instead of fighting a losing battle against it, we need to move on to business models that will benefit from replication and free distribution.
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