I spent most of last night thinking about my options, and decided to try keep going with a drastically reduced income, praying for the best, would be unwise.

I’ve been near  to closing down twice before.

Most recently, in 2007, “I’m afraid time and money have run out for p2pnet.net and I’m going to have to sell it,” I posted, continuing, “I’m looking for offers starting at $30,000.”

A patron who believed p2pnet was worth keeping online stepped forward at the last minute and has been paying most of the bills ever since. Unfortunately for us both, however, he’s now struggling to keep his own businesss going and has had to stop.

So now, in 2009, once again I’m looking for offers starting at $30,000.

If you’d like to talk about possibilities, please email me at  p2pnet @ shaw. dot ca and I’ll be glad to call you back, anywhere in the world.

Beneath is the Awststats chart for 2009.

I use it because I understand it’s one of the most reliable, drawing its stats from the log.

As I said yesterday, “If you’d like to go into partnership with me, or buy me out and monetise the site with me continuing to provide content, or if  you know someone you think might be interested in any other way, please let me know.”

It “might be hard to sell a site that’s burdened with existing lawsuits,” said Martin in a Reader’s Write to yesterday’s post.

However, “The site isn’t burdened with lawsuits,” I replied. “I am.

“I’m being sued, not p2pnet. One case resulted in a major, precedent-setting victory for free speech in Canada, and the other, brought against me by Kazaa boss Nikki Hemming, has been hanging over my head for four years. It’s slated to be heard in February. Other threats weren’t followed up.”

Cheers! And thanks. And all the best …

Jon Newton – p2pnet

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

come to an end – p2pnet: close to collapse, November 20, 2009
going to have to sell – For Sale: p2pnet, January 18, 2007

Conservative shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt (right) says he doesn’t believe the Digital Economy Bill will get through Parliament before then, “even with Tory support,” according to Times Online, which goes on:

“The Conservatives back most of the proposals, which include disconnecting persistent internet pirates,” the so-called ‘graduated response’ developed by Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music, and Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom, NBC Universal and Sony Pictures, it says.

And it’s just been revealed that secretary of state Peter Mandelson, who’s representing the entertainment industry in Britain, is demanding changes to the bill.

They’d mean he, or his Tory successor, another unelected official, would be free to do anything they wanted without parliamentary oversight or debate or, as long as it was in the name of  ‘copyright protection’.

Or as the story puts it, “The Bill will also contain a controversial last-minute amendment that will give ministers the ability to change copyright law to combat file sharing. The clause will grant ministers the right to update the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 in response to new technlogies as they appear, which has led to accusations from online campaigners that it would give future governments too much ammunition against pirates.”

Stay tuned.

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Times Online – New Digital Bill unlikely to become law before election, warn Tories, November 20, 2009
demanding changes – Biggest copyright sting in history, November 20, 2009

Japan Set To Extend Posthumous Copyright Billboard
Recently elected Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama has vowed to extend posthumous copyright protection on compositions from 50 to 70 years. Speaking at a party celebrating the 70th anniversary of the establishment of JASRAC, the Japanese composers and authors’ society, the prime minister threw his support behind the plan which has long been sought by JASRAC, other rights holders societies and music industry bodies in Japan. The proposal would extend the posthumous period of protection for compositions from the present 50 years to 70 years, bringing Japan in line with international standards. The prime minister did not lay out a timetable for the plan.

MySpace acquired Imeem–now what? CNet News
MySpace on Wednesday acquired social-networking site Imeem for an undisclosed sum, but sources with knowledge of the deal say is worth about $8 million. The News Corp.-owned MySpace has agreed to pay $1 million in cash, but the total figure also includes money for accounts receivable and employee earn outs. Regardless, the price is a big loss for investors who poured upwards of $30 million into the pioneer ad-supported music service. An Imeem spokesman declined to comment. Imeem will continue to operate as a standalone site, at least initially, according to the sources. One source said that Imeem’s brand will unlikely live on as they expect Imeem’s assets will be folded into MySpace Music. At least half of Imeem’s staff will likely lose their jobs, according to the sources.

Linus Torvalds For Nobel Peace Prize? Slashdot
An anonymous reader writes “I’m as much of a Linux fanboy as anyone else, but I’ve never thought of anything in computing as being worth a Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently, there are those who take global collaboration seriously, though…” The suggestion has been bouncing around the Portland Linux community, where Torvalds lives. Is it worthy of wider attention and discussion?

Peru villagers likely murdered to make cosmetics Toronto Star
Police in Peru have cracked a gang that allegedly lured and killed local farmers in order to harvest their fat for use in the beauty industry. “We have arrested people who have talked about crimes for the purpose of extracting fat in rudimentary laboratories,” said police commander Angel Toledo in a BBC report. “The plan was to sell it on for up to $15,000 a litre.” Victims were targeted in remote parts of the Andes, lured to a house known locally as the “laboratory” with promises of employment. Once there, they were killed, their fat was boiled down and what remained of them was buried in shallow graves. The break in the case came when a pair of men was caught at a Lima bus station carrying a litre of human fat in a pop bottle. [Cheers, Marc. Fight Club, anyone?]

Google to Add Captions, Improving YouTube Videos New York Times
In the first major step toward making millions of videos on YouTube accessible to deaf and hearing-impaired people, Google unveiled new technologies on Thursday that will automatically bring text captions to many videos on the site.

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

November, 2009

It’s almost the season of goodwill and if p2pnet is going to get into difficulties, somehow, it always happens around Christmas.

2009 continues the tradition.

p2pnet isn’t a business, it’s a commitment, corny though that may seem, and it’s my sole source of income. My chequered past means I don’t have a pension or bonds, or anything like that, and the site has been able to continue only thanks to the advertisers, and an anonymous supporter.

However, as of next month, the tank runs dry. The person who for almost two years has been providing most of the money to keep the wheels turning, on- and offline, is having to call it a day.

So here’s where it’s at: p2pnet will be able to keep going until the end of December. After that …

p2pnet’s advertisers say they’re still with me but in addition to the revenue they provide, I need another $3,000 a month to keep food on the table, and pay my mortgage and other bills.

If you’d like to go into partnership with me, or buy me out and monetise the site with me continuing to provide content, or if  you know someone you think might be interested in any other way, please let me know. All genuine suggestions  will be gratefully received — but not, please, T-shirts and coffee-mugs. Been there, done that.

A voice which can’t be ignored

For now, why have I kept on publishing p2pnet? This’ll seem corny too, but I believe the net for the first time allows very ordinary people to make a difference — to stand up to the powers that used to be.

As I say here, we used to be called the Great Unwashed, the Silent Masses. But that’s no longer true, and we’re no longer silent. In the 21st digital century, we have a voice which can’t be ignored. The world is changing and as our online communities continue to grow, our powers of persuasion and our abilities to directly influence actions and events are expanding exponentially.

It’s called People2People Power. No one can stand against it, and I’d like to continue being a part of it, speaking up for people who can’t speak up for themselves, and sticking my finger in the eye of Big Bidniz.

While things get sorted, there’s a donation button at the bottom of this, and it’ll also be on the bottom of every story for the next little while. If you can help, it’ll be very much appreciated.

Cheers! And thanks. And all the best …

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

November, 2009

As I posted yesterday, I have a lot of stuff happening in the background (as well as being hit by this bug that’s going around) so from today until next week,  sometime,  I’ll mainly be posting headline roundups, although they’ll be interspersed with stories, if and when I can manage it.

But normal service WILL be resumed, and as soon as possible.

If  you want to help out in the meanwhile, please send submissions (anonymous or named) to p2pnet @ shaw dot ca.

Cheers! And thanks …
Jon

____________

Sony Unveils Its Answer to Apple’s iTunes BusinessWeek
Sony is taking a page from Apple’s playbook (AAPL). On Nov. 19, Sony said it plans to launch an online store selling music, movies, and books as well as other downloadable applications for mobile products. Sony’s top executives didn’t specify when the Internet store, tentatively called Sony Online Service, would go live or what it would look like. But the online storefront, announced at a management strategy meeting in Tokyo, is likely to bear some similarities to Apple’s iTunes store and would be Sony’s most ambitious attempt to link its products to its own vast library of digital content. Coming up with a software strategy for Sony has been Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer’s mission since taking over in mid-2006. The adjustment hasn’t been easy. Long known for the world-class designs of its flat-screen Bravia TVs, Walkman music players, and Cybershot cameras, Sony has struggled to use software to its advantage.

Google Says It Doesn’t Want to Be a Utility New York Times
Ed Lu, the former astronaut and now program manager for advanced products at Google, wants to be clear: Google is not interested in competing with utilities. ‘We are not in the business of providing electric power,’ Mr. Lu said in a discussion this morning at the GreenBeat 2009 conference in San Mateo, Calif. The assertion came in response to a line of questioning by the conference organizer, Matt Marshall of VentureBeat, who ticked off Google’s dominance in search, online advertising, and other Internet markets — and its more recent foray into cellphone operating systems.

Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos CBC
A Quebec woman on long-term sick leave is fighting to have her benefits reinstated after her employer’s insurance company cut them, she says, because of photos posted on Facebook. Nathalie Blanchard, 29, has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Que., for the last year and a half after she was diagnosed with major depression. The Eastern Townships woman was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from Manulife, her insurance company, but the payments dried up this fall. When Blanchard called Manulife, the company said that “I’m available to work, because of Facebook,” she told CBC News this week. She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on the popular social networking site, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday — evidence that she is no longer depressed, Manulife said. Blanchard said she notified Manulife that she was taking a trip, and she’s shocked the company would investigate her in such a manner and interpret her photos that way. [Cheers, Marc]

Power-guzzling TVs to be banned BBC

Energy-hungry television sets will soon be banned across California in a landmark move by state legislators to reduce energy consumption. The state will be the first in the US to impose a mandatory energy curb on TVs, an often-overlooked power drain. Supporters say the move will help save California residents more than $8bn over 10 years in energy costs. But some 25% of TVs currently on sale would not meet the minimum standards, an industry group in Virginia said.

Prince of Persia: Original Source Code Documentation [PDF] – Reddit

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

November, 2009

That’s the last sentence in a TechDirt post intriguingly entitled ‘Are The Record Labels Using Bluebeat’s Bogus Copyright Defense To Avoid Having To Give Copyrights Back To Artists?’

Then, “A federal judge in Los Angeles granted Capitol Records’ request for a preliminary injunction today against a San Jose-based website that had put the Beatles catalog online for digital downloading at 25 cents a track, without permission from the band or its record label.”

That’s the first sentence in a Los Angeles Times post slugged ‘Music download site BlueBeat hit with a preliminary injunction; site’s founder responds’.

Not  so intriguing, until one gets to that part of the story referring to’site’s founder responds’ where, from Bluebeat’s Hank Risen, one sees »»»

Can you comment on today’s injunction?

I’m shocked, because we worked with EMI directly, and the RIAA [Recording Industry Assn. of America], in secret agreements to create these works lawfully. We’ve been doing so for many, many years. We were about to provide the court with such evidence that EMI knew we had in our possession. We worked with these guys.

The evidence wasn’t presented because we haven’t had a hearing, and the judge made a ruling.

In Techdirt, “As you hopefully know, back in 1999, the RIAA had a Congressional staffer named Mitch Glazier slip four words into a totally unrelated bill on satellite retransmission of broadcast TV, literally in the middle of the night, that effectively changed the way copyrights worked on songs by major label artists,” says Mike Masnick. [Note: By an amazing coincidence, Glazier went on to become an RIAA lobbyist.]

This, “effectively took much of the control out of the hands of the artists and handed it right to the labels,” says Masnick, continuing »»»

Remember that the next time the record labels claim they’re representing the best interests of artists. The use of four simple words, buried deep within the bill, which no one other than the RIAA knew about (seriously, those who voted on it later said they had no idea), turned songs recorded by artists signed to record deals to works made for hire. That meant that those artists could not reclaim the copyrights to their songs later on via a “termination” right, as any other content creator could. Glazier, the staffer who slipped this into the bill, ended up going to work for the RIAA just three months after putting this text into the bill. He was apparently hired with a $500,000 salary. Not a bad payoff for changing a key component of copyright law in the middle of the night when no one’s looking.

Luckily, soon after this passed a few people did notice, leading to a big uproar from artists, and an eventual backtracking from Congress, who never did believe the RIAA’s line that this “change” just “clarified existing law” rather than changed it entirely.

But, it’s important to remember all of this when discussing termination rights for music. Back in October, we had discussed how the songs of many top musicians were quickly approaching those termination rights, and some of the major record labels stood to lose the copyrights on some of their biggest hit albums. Wired recently ran a similar article about this “ticking time bomb,”Mesanna pointed out one little factoid down at the bottom: and I wasn’t going to post it, because I wasn’t sure it added much new, until reader

The second option is to re-record sound recordings in order to create new sound recording copyrights, which would reset the countdown clock at 35 years for copyright grant termination. Eveline characterized the labels’ conversations with creators going something like, “Okay, you have the old mono masters if you want — but these digital remasters are ours.”

Labels already file new copyrights for remasters. For example, Sony Music filed a new copyright for the remastered version of Ben Folds Five’s Whatever and Ever Amen album, and when Omega Record Group remastered a 1991 Christmas recording, the basis of its new copyright claim was “New Matter: sound recording remixed and remastered to fully utilize the sonic potential of the compact disc medium.”

Now, of course that sounds ridiculous, to hear that record labels can get a new copyright on just remastering a work… but, that sounds an awful lot like the argument made by Bluebeat.com, concerning its “psycho-acoustic simulation” re-recordings of famous songs, that enabled it to claim a new copyright.

“Now, the record labels are crying foul about this, and the vast majority of copyright law experts say that Bluebeat’s claim has no chance at all,” says Masnick, adding:

“But, if that’s the case, then the record labels own attempts to get new copyrights on remastered albums to avoid the termination rights might also be in jeopardy. It seems like any argument that is made against Bluebeat can soon be used against the labels as well if they really do try to claim copyright on remastered albums.”

Stay tuned.

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

TechDirt – Are The Record Labels Using Bluebeat’s Bogus Copyright Defense To Avoid Having To Give Copyrights Back To Artists?, November 19, 2009
Los Angeles Times – Music download site BlueBeat hit with a preliminary injunction; site’s founder responds, November 19, 2009

‘Workers of the World Unite’ was “one of the most famous rallying cries of communism,” says the Wikipedia, and the phrase has been lampooned over and over again.

However, with the first word replaced by ‘Music Lovers’, it’s no joke in 2009 as the entertainment industry, with the major record labels out front, subborns world governments in purely corporate interests.

The Hollywood and Big Music appointee in the British Labour government is ‘lord’ Peter Mandelson — unelected. Rather, he was inserted “by his friend Gordon Brown,” as KevinH points out in a Reader’s Write.

He’s been named Britain’s official government ‘face’ as national elections, expected in spring, approach.

He’s now demanding dictatorial powers to wield against  online music lovers. And if he gets them, it’ll be the thin end of a wedge which will eventually be used every time the government wants something, anything, done without public knowledge or consent.

We can’t let this happen and I’m proposing the formation of a global OMLC – Online Music Lovers Coalition.

Mandelson, Gordon Brown, and every other politician who believes vested corporate interests come before those of the people, must be shown we, and not they, call the shots.

‘The power to do anything’

Secretary of state Peter Mandelson “is planning to introduce changes to the Digital Economy Bill now under debate in Parliament,” said Boingboing yesterday, continuing:

“These changes will give the Secretary of State (Mandelson — or his successor in the next government) the power to make “secondary legislation” (legislation that is passed without debate) to amend the provisions of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988)”.

That would give an unelected official “the power to do anything without Parliamentary oversight or debate, provided it was done in the name of protecting copyright,” said Cory Doctorow in the post, going on »»»

Mandelson elaborates on this, giving three reasons for his proposal:

1. The Secretary of State would get the power to create new remedies for online infringements (for example, he could create jail terms for file-sharing, or create a “three-strikes” plan that costs entire families their internet access if any member stands accused of infringement)

2. The Secretary of State would get the power to create procedures to “confer rights” for the purposes of protecting rightsholders from online infringement. (for example, record labels and movie studios can be given investigative and enforcement powers that allow them to compel ISPs, libraries, companies and schools to turn over personal information about Internet users, and to order those companies to disconnect users, remove websites, block URLs, etc)

3. The Secretary of State would get the power to “impose such duties, powers or functions on any person as may be specified in connection with facilitating online infringement” (for example, ISPs could be forced to spy on their users, or to have copyright lawyers examine every piece of user-generated content before it goes live; also, copyright “militias” can be formed with the power to police copyright on the web)

“If we can’t stop this, it’s beginning of the end for the net in Britain,” says Cory Doctorow in the Boingboing post, going on »»»

It’s a declaration of war by the entertainment industry and their captured regulators against the principles of free speech, privacy, freedom of assembly, the presumption of innocence, and competition.

This proposal creates the office of Pirate-Finder General, with unlimited power to appoint militias who are above the law, who can pry into every corner of your life, who can disconnect you from your family, job, education and government, who can fine you or put you in jail.

But Britain is only the tip of the iceberg.

This isn’t a local issue, and Mandelson is no more than the UK front man for Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music, and Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom, NBC Universal and Sony Pictures, as they try to use their Three Strikes and you’re Gone scheme to gain control of online product and content distribution by turning governments into copyright agents, the bill footed by local taxpayers, and ISPs into enforcers, acting against their own clients.

Online Music Lovers Coalition

I’m proposing the formation of a global OMLC — Online Music Lovers Coalition — with individual chapters in countries such France, New Zealand, and South Korea where  entertainment cartel lobbyists with unlimited  and financial  and political resources have set up shop, usurping elected administrations.

We can use it to make it clear that in the 21st century our will, and not theirs, is what’s important.

This morning (November 20), at the National Press Theatre, 150 Wellington, Ottawa, at 10:00 am, UK recording artist Billy Bragg will join New Democrat Charlie Angus to “talk about how artists, not corporate lawyers, are taking the lead on establishing basic rules for the development of digital culture online”.

“The internet brings fans and artists closer together than ever before and brings great benefits to both,” said Bragg, a co-founder of the new artists-to-fans-to-artsts site, a2f2a.com. “Let’s not allow the record industry to keep us apart in order to protect their old broken business model.”

Let’s not.

Also present will be the Songwriters Association of Canada’s Don Quarles, and Wide Mouth Mason’s Safwan Javad, who’ll represent the Canadian Music Creators Coalition.

But the most important people of all,  the ones  upon whom everything political, musical, you name it, depends, are missing.

You and I. Because we have no one to represent us.

Corporate corruption is now endemic around the world with industry efforts to gain control of music on the internet only one manifestation of it.

We used to be called the Great Unwashed, the Silent Masses, but thanks to the net, that’s no longer true, and we’re no longer silent.

In the 21st digital century, we have a voice which can’t be ignored. The world is changing and as our online communities continue to grow, our powers of persuasion and our abilities to directly influence actions and events are expanding exponentially.

It’s called People2People Power and no one can stand against it.

Can an Online Music Lovers Coalition be put together?

I believe it can and if you agree, as a first step, no matter what country you’re in, email me at  p2pnet 2 shaw dot ca and let’s see if we can create a working group to hammer out the how-to’s and get the ball rolling.

10 years ago, this could never have happened, but the net is the Great Equaliser, so in the words of John, Paul, George and Ringo, let’s come together.

Right now …

Stay tuned.

Jon Newton – online citizen

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

government ‘face’ – Anti-P2P politician UK government ‘TV face’, November 16, 2009
protecting copyright – Biggest copyright sting in history, November 20, 2009
Boingboing – Leaked UK government plan to create “Pirate Finder General” with power to appoint militias, create laws, November 19, 2009
establishing basic rules – Billy Bragg, Charlie Angus, on digital culture, November 19, 2009

Porn and gaming sites common destinations for city workers: study The Local
Surfing for porn, illegal file sharing, and online gambling are common activities for users of municipality-owned computers in Jönköping in central Sweden, a recent analysis shows. Over the period of one month, officials measured how employees and students in Jönköping used the municipality’s 8,000 computers.
The results, which were presented on Wednesday, took city officials by surprise. At times, up to 80 percent of the municipality’s internet capacity was used for file sharing, an activity which is oftentimes illegal. In addition, employees and students spent an unexpectedly large amount of time visiting websites featuring pornography, weapons, racist messages, games, and online gambling.

New Program Offers Bloggers Free Legal Help MediaPost
The Citizen Media Law Project is launching a new program that will provide free legal help to small news sites and bloggers. The initiative, Online Media Legal Network, aims to assist Web publishers with a broad array of legal issues, ranging from handling complaints about copyright to dealing with threatened defamation lawsuits to filing incorporation papers. A large roster of lawyers, including First Amendment specialists like Marc Randazza and firms like Baker & McKenzie, Davis Wright Tremaine, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal has already signed on. In addition, nine law school clinics have agreed to participate. The Citizen Media Law Project is jointly affiliated with Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and Arizona State University’s Center for Citizen Media; the Knight Foundation is funding the new initiative. The new program is designed for independent journalists who write about matters of public interest. People who engage in original reporting (or “use traditional news sources in new and innovative ways”) and adhere to standards of “truth, fairness and transparency,” will receive first priority, according to the program’s FAQ.

College students arrested for not paying tip Philly.com
It was an evening out that college students Leslie Pope and John Wagner will long remember. Not only did they get what they called lousy service, they got handcuffed and arrested. All over a $16.35 tip. They were with a half-dozen friends at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem last month, so the establishment tacked what it called a mandatory 18 percent gratuity onto the bill of about $73, according to reports. Pope and Wagner refused to pay.

UK police make 2 Trojan computer virus arrests Associated Press
A couple suspected of helping spread some of the Internet’s most aggressive computer viruses has been arrested in the English city of Manchester, police said Wednesday. Scotland Yard’s electronic crimes unit said a man and a woman, both 20, were arrested Nov. 3 on suspicion of helping spread malicious Trojan computer programs sometimes known as “Zbot” or “ZeuS.” Police said the viruses are thought to have infected tens of thousands of computers worldwide, and one technology consultant described them as the “most notorious pieces of malware of recent times.”

EU ombudsman rebukes EU over errors in Intel case Reuters
The European Ombudsman rebuked European Union regulators on Wednesday for procedural errors in their antitrust probe of Intel but the censure will not affect a 1.06 billion euro ($1.58 billion) fine against the U.S. chipmaker. The European Commission levied the record fine in May for illegally shutting out rival AMD. The ombudsman’s decision is non-binding but it could help the world’s No. 1 chipmaker in its appeal against the ruling to Europe’s second-highest court.

James Murdoch sees smaller role for newspapers Reuters
Newspapers will play a smaller role in News Corp’s operations in future as the group focuses on more profitable pay-TV operations in western Europe and India, the group’s head of Europe and Asia said. James Murdoch, son of News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch, also said the company would remain conservative in its use of capital. “We do not feel, looking at the overall environment, that we are out of the woods yet,” he said. “We have got to continue to be pretty cautious.” James Murdoch, told an investor conference that News Corp, the world’s biggest news company, expected to have smaller audiences for online news when it starts charging readers next spring, but journalism would still play a part in the group.

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

November, 2009

More radical than disconnecting people if they fail to toe the corporate entertainment cartel party line?

Yup.

Head slap, who told us about this in a Reader’s Write, wonders if it isn’t some kind of joke, quoting a cut from the post, to wit »»»

Secretary of State Peter Mandelson is planning to introduce changes to the Digital Economy Bill now under debate in Parliament. These changes will give the Secretary of State (Mandelson — or his successor in the next government) the power to make “secondary legislation” (legislation that is passed without debate) to amend the provisions of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988).

What that means is that an unelected official would have the power to do anything without Parliamentary oversight or debate, provided it was done in the name of protecting copyright.

But it’s no joke, no more than is the Three Strikes entertainment industry business plan that’ll soon become law in the UK, if Mandelson and his Big Music and Hollywood pals have their way.

‘Unworkable and unlawful … ‘

Beau Bo D’Or (from whence came the pic) says Petey is trying to “set up biggest copyright sting in history,” linking to a Guardian article which states »»»

In a letter to Harriet Harman, the leader of the house and head of the committee responsible for determining changes to such legislation, Mandelson says he is “writing to seek your urgent agreement” to changes to the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act “for the purposes of facilitating prevention or reduction of online copyright infringement”.

By writing to Harman, the business secretary is seeking to get the change made through a “statutory instrument” – in effect, an update to the existing bill that the government can push through using its parliamentary majority.

That can be done with the minimum of parliamentary time, which is already at a premium.

The letter, which is circulating inside the government, comes as ministers prepare to publish the digital economy bill at 7.30am tomorrow. That is expected to set out a “three strikes” policy under which people who are found to be illicitly downloading copyrighted material have their internet connections withdrawn after three warnings.

Internet service providers have warned that the scheme is unworkable and unlawful.

The proposed alteration to the Copyright Act would create a new offence of downloading material that infringes copyright laws, as well as giving new powers or rights to “protect” rights holders such as record companies and movie studios – and, controversially, conferring powers on “any person as may be specified” to help cut down online infringement of copyright.

The changes proposed seem small – but are enormously wideranging, given both the breadth of even minor copyright infringement online, where photographs and text are copied with little regard to ownership, and the complexity of ownership.

Mandelson says in his letter that he is concerned about “cyberlockers” – websites that offer users private storage spaces whose contents can be shared by passing a web link via email.

“These can be used entirely legitimately, but recently rights holders have pointed to them as being used for illegal use,” Mandelson writes in the letter.

But the proposal to alter the Copyright Act in this way has caused alarm within government, where some fear that an incoming Tory administration could use it to curry favour with Murdoch, head of the News International publishing group.

“They’ve seen that file-sharing is essentially unpoliceable, but the net effect is that a future secretary of state could change copyright law as they see fit,” said one Labour insider.

In his letter, Mandelson sets out the expected reaction from the three groups who would be affected by the changes: rights holders such as record companies, internet service providers (ISPs), and consumers.

“I expect rights holders to welcome this and to support it. ISPs are likely to be neutral until it is clear what effect it will have on them in terms of costs.” Consumer groups “are likely to oppose [the move] but will see it may lead to further unquantifiable measures against infringing consumers.”

“He also expects “a great deal of scrutiny” of the idea in parliament, says the story.

But not worry, eh Pete? Your mates — Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music and Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom, NBC Universal and Sony Pictures — will be busily greasing wheels behind closed doors.

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Boingboing – Leaked UK government plan to create “Pirate Finder General” with power to appoint militias, create laws, November 19, 2009
Guardian – Mandelson seeks to amend copyright law in new crackdown on filesharing, November 19, 2009
entertainment cartel party line – Britain changes 3 strikes to 2 strikes, November 18, 2009

—- a Cult of Scientology computer.

“In January 2008, online hackers launched a massive attack on the Church of Scientology’s websites, forcing the church to hire computer security experts to reinstate its online presence,” says nj.com.

In the end, only one Guzner, from Verona, New Jersey, “caught the attention of federal authorities after a YouTube video of a protest of the Church of Scientology in New York City identified one of the participants — the individual in the center — as ‘Aendy,’ which is also Guzner’s online handle,”says the story, going on:

“According to the Anonymous website whyweprotest.net, the group was upset by the church’s attempts to suppress a leaked promotional video featuring actor and Scientologist Tom Cruise, who made enthusiastic claims about the religion.”

“I think they were relying on a very simple premise, that the number of people arrested and convicted of these kinds of attacks is very low,” said Jose Nazario, manager of security research at Arbor Networks, which helps companies keep their websites secure.

The FBI and US Secret Service, as part of the Electronic Crimes Task Force in Los Angeles, “worked together to identify Aendy as Guzner,”says nj.com, continuing, “They searched his home in Brooklyn and turned up a Guy Fawkes mask.”

Prosecutors “have recommended Guzner be sentenced to 12 months to 18 months with no chance of parole, followed by two to three years of probation,” says nj.com adding:

“Three weeks ago, a second man was charged in connection with the DDoS attack. A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Brian Thomas Mettenbrink on charges of conspiracy and transmission of a code, information, program or command to a protected computer. The 20-year-old is accused of participating in the attack from his Iowa State University dorm room, according to the indictment.

“In March 2008, before his arrest, Guzner posted on an online message board a link to a site he created for a class. Instead of using filler text for one sample page, he included a narrative that spoofs the Tom Cruise video, based on Cruise’s claim that Scientologists are the only ones who can help in a car crash.”

Cruise is “depicted rescuing a woman from a four-car pileup on the freeway: ‘Stand back, emergency workers,’ Cruise says in the story, which is widely copied on Anonymous websites. ‘Put down your jaws-of-life and crowbars. I am a Scientologist’.”

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

nj.com – Verona man admits role in attack on Church of Scientology’s websites, November 16, 2009
leaked promotional video – It’s wild, it’s wooly! Tom Cruise video transcribed, January 18, 2008