New UK Bill Would Ban Open Wi-Fi Hotspots
New UK Bill Would Ban Open Wi-Fi Hotspots
Posted 02/28/2010 at 2:50pm
| by Justin Kerr
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Back in November we found ourselves sympathizing with a UK bar owner who was facing a $13,000 fine for copyright infringement as a result of operating an open hotspot, but little did we know this was only the tip of the iceberg. It was a clear cut case of misplaced accountability, but it looks like the UK government is planning to go one step further to keep this from happening in the future. A new "Digital Economy Bill", if passed, would ban the use of open Wi-Fi hotspots outright anywhere in the UK. The bill would ultimately make any home or business operating an internet connected router 100 percent accountable for the traffic that passes over it.
Making users accountable for locking down their own connection doesn't sound like a bad idea in principal, but it ultimately closes off opportunities for businesses to offer internet access to the latté sipping masses at the local coffee shop. The bill will require all networks to be secured with a password, and to maintain a log of all users who access it in order to be in compliance with the new law. "This is going to be a very unfortunate measure for small businesses, particularly in a recession, many of whom are using open free Wi-Fi very effectively as a way to get the punters in," said Lilian Edwards of Sheffield University.
I'm sure nobody here minds trading up a few more civil liberties in exchange for giving the folks over at the RIAA a good nights sleep do you?
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topcat2021
March 01, 2010 at 4:42pm
Here is a quote from long long ago that seems to sum things up quite well
“A
society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose
both, and deserve neither"Thomas Jefferson
good luck my English friends maybe your parliment will listen to common sense......maybe....
Zazubovich
March 01, 2010 at 4:35pm
And all the people that work for content creators? The girl that brings the nose powder to J-Lo? The people who go to long boring meetings trying to convince stores to keep selling content in solid form? It is a drag to have to pay people for the products of their labor when it is so easy to steal it instead. Unfortunately this isn't the Star Trek economy where people work for the sheer joy of working, people have to get paid somehow.
lostcause64
March 01, 2010 at 9:32am
Of how the "two of the most democratic countries" in the world are run by the best governments money can buy...
John
Have you ever wondered why intelligence can normally be found in an individual, but runs screaming in terror from a group? Though, there are exceptions...
damazeen
February 28, 2010 at 8:59pm
Everyday it becomes more evident that governments no longer serve the people who put them in power, but rather the corporations and big business of what-have-you.
They never saw the internet coming, and now that it's here, they have to control it to control you and your access to information. If this law gets passed you can bet that every government in the world of what ever flavor of "ism" will be watching to implement it. On the surface it might seem that they just want to stop you from downloading some mp3 track from the PirateBay, but they really just want to know what you're doing.
Sick.
Here today, gone tomorrow. Live life.
NSA
March 01, 2010 at 7:04am
They have been stealing elections long before FBI agents began perjuring the testimony of other officers just to keep me locked up and silenced because of what I knew before the 911 attacks happened!
Google> Wiki Youssef Hmimssa
I'm the guy who had to notify the FBI that the most wanted man in America after 911 was already locked up and was in prison BEFORE the 911 attacks!
Prison security cameras were recording him in cell 21 at least 3 days prior to the 911 attacks and phone records at Milan Michigan will show that I had to notify the FBI as to his wherabouts through my mother because Prison officials diddn't want to hear any of it and instead were calling me a snitch for trying to notify the FBI during a Nationwide manhunt for the Most Wanted Man in America for the Most Serious Crime in U.S. history!
The fact is, Hmimssa's charges were dropped because I wouldn't shut up about it and began writing letters to several people in the Government, including, but not limited to Richard Covertino (Hmimssa's Prosecuting Attorny, Senator Charles Grassley, D.O.J. and several news organizations)
I myself was sentenced to a plea agreement I did not accept, was refused a jury trial, was not allowed to fire my court appointed attorney and was not allowed to appeal my case for a crime that I did not commit simply because I knew too much before the 911 attacks!
********I've removed your comments about how certain people need to die. You are now banned after multiple tin foil hat excursions into our articles. Guess what? If you find that people in real life tend to stay away from you after you go off on one of these tangents of yours, you will also find people in the digital realm don't have much patience for it either. This simply IS NOT a forum for politically charged, agenda meeting diatribes. There are thousands of other places on the Internet for that. GO FIND ONE!
-QuakindudeMod*********
avenger48
February 28, 2010 at 4:49pm
just post a sign on the cafe wall which states the password for the wifi.
Keith E. Whisman
February 28, 2010 at 5:21pm
Doesn't matter. Anything that happens the owner of the Wifi Hotspot is responsible. So if you download an MP3 from PirateBay on someones Wifi in GB then that person that owns the hotspot is responsible. He will be the guy that goes to jail and gets sued.
Keith E. Whisman
February 28, 2010 at 4:49pm
Damn the English are such an enlightened society. Can a UK citizen do anything anymore? Pretty soon there will be a civil war in the UK. Over zealos laws and taxation is what lead the American Colonies to rebel against the empire. I believe we are seeing the end of monarchy in the UK. Every brit friend I've ever had hated the law makers and the queen. Knives are against the law over there for crying out loud. The UK and USA are turning into more of a communist type government than the Soviet Union ever was.
WarCrime342
February 28, 2010 at 3:11pm
Even though I am a US citizen, this angers me quite a bit. Yet another law will be passed that gives the government even more control of citizens' lives. A government is not protecting its citizens, but instead accomodating a corporation of nazi-like lawyers hell-bent on the objective of making thier out-dated policies work in an ever changing world! This will ultimately result in no small business progress and push the great rift between the lower class and the ever-so-wealthy corporate moguls.
I'm really sorry for any UK member who is affected by this. You have my sympathy. I wish I could do more.
nekollx
March 01, 2010 at 9:39am
Silly man, The People are to stupid to know what's go for them, that why Parlement needs to protect them, for the Children.
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