The Digital Economy Act limps on – Government demands £20 to prove your innocence.
Two important bits of the Digital Economy Act were republished by Ofcom in the summer - and despite Ofcom having had two years to work on them, fundamental problems remain. Crucially people accused of infringement will have to pay £20 to appeal the accusation. The fee is refunded if your appeal is upheld, but the aim is to deliberately prevent innocent people from appealing.
The Act still puts public Wi-Fi provision at risk because Wi-Fi providers may be liable for their customers' alleged infringement.
The Lords will shortly be debating whether to approve the charges. The Digital Economy Act is a mess of a law: expensive, error-ridden and unlikely to work. It needs repealing.
Read more
ORG fights Snoopers’ Charter
ORG ran two sessions this year on the Communications Data Bill at the Lib Dem and Labour conferences, working with Big Brother Watch and Index on Censorship. ORG supporters leafleted all three Conferences - a big thank you to everyone who helped!
It was a great opportunity to talk to MPs about the Comms Data Bill. We found the Labour MPs bogged down in details about costs, but unconcerned about the essential right to privacy. The Conservative and Lib Dem conference sessions recognised the fundamental issues; all speakers acknowledged the need for lawful access, and were concerned with how gaps in data might be reasonably dealt with. However this is not enough.
Please challenge your MP by telling them that the CDB is not a “technical issue” or one with only practical concerns: it is a civil liberties battle.
More social media arrests
In the last few weeks Matthew Woods was given 12 weeks for posting jokes about April Jones. Azhar Ahmed was given a community order for posting very stupid comments about soldiers. Offensive as they were, these words should not be landing people in jail.
Section 127 (1) of the Communications Act 2003 is aimed at 'public communications networks’, a broadly drawn target. These cases are just more examples in a string of social media prosecutions. Read our further analysis.
ORGZine celebrates
Alongside our main website ORG run a magazine for discussion and debate on digital rights issues.
In the last month there were some big celebrations related to the digital world. Last week on ORGZine we celebrated Ada Lovelace Day, where Milena Popova wrote about some of the great women in digital rights. During Banned Books Week, we ran a piece about how the reasons we protest library book bans are the same reasons we should be protesting about online censorship and discussing why they are seen as different issues.
New writers and discussion are always welcome! If you have an idea for a topic or want to write, get in touch with our editor, on orgzine.editor@openrightsgroup.org
You're not alone.
Without your donations, we would not be able to continue our campaigns. That's why we would like to ask you to support us against government and corporate actions limiting your digital rights. Please join today!