The word is out, the Digital Economy Bill has passed and people are pissed… or rather people on twitter, blogs and online communities are pissed.. the ‘nerds’ as referred to during the 2nd reading. Most of the british public won’t know about this bill, infact the first time they will even know of its existence will be when Virgin Media send them a letter saying ‘we know what your doing’, by this time anyone with any technical sense will have moved to tor, vpn technology, torrent encryption or the next new fangled technology (and yes that includes anyone using piracy for profit).
What is interesting this morning as I read the feedback and backlash isn’t about the bill, sure a lot of people are annoyed at the contents but its more the process that has shocked people, I don’t know how many people tuned into the debate last night via the BBC feed but I bet it was a lot more than usual, I’d probably go as far as to estimate that it was the most watched stream that BBC Parliament have ever had (but I’ll bug one of my friends at the BBC to confirm that 
)
I won’t repeat again how much money had been raised to put up a newspaper ad, the calls weren’t just even stop the bill but rather carry on the debate, there just wasn’t enough time publicly to get a proper sense of what the bill would actually do.
Many of the MP’s last night used terminology which they obviously weren’t comfortable with, with one MP spouting off names of some recent bands then looking chuffed at himself for looking seeminly ‘with it’.
With all the letters, emails and phone calls, less than 40 MPs stayed for the whole debate, many of the MP’s just waited in the halls to vote nay (I learned yesterday what a 3 line whip was)
So what do we do now?
I’ve joked on twitter about running as an MP and whilst yes I could raise £500 and run, would that make the best difference? with my local area already so wrapped up in labour (and no if that’s what your asking) that I have to wonder if my time would be better spend somewhere else?
Do we start a group that has the objective ‘to work with the government on technology and digital issues’, if we started this, would they even listen or would they just pass us off as a group of nerds?
Do we start our own party? Digital Democrates
Do we just shout and moan a lot on twitter?
Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying I know everything and have all the solutions, like many people in the UK I know naff all about the day to day work of an MP (I have been reading a lot), but we’ve had so much scandal, back and forth and lack of anything that I’ve got to at least give something a go.
I support both the pirate party and the open rights group (although in honesty I’ve given money to neither) but I feel that they both come with strong opinions (and in one case – a stupid name).
I firmly understand the need to cut piracy and have a few ideas myself but its give and take, it took an hour and 20 minutes yesterday for someone to mention the fact that the creative companies haven’t exactly made it easy to get media online without piracy (and for a reasonable price), Mike Butcher mentioned rightly that the record companies own a good stake in Spotify and yet, I didn’t hear it mentioned once yesterday as a viable alternative to piracy and to be honest, its a damn good one, I haven’t downloaded any music since I got my invite, the system works well and is multiplatform, I know there is a problem with the artists and record companies not getting enough money but we can work these things out, lets look at product rather than prison.
Like many others, I want to give a special thank you to Tom Watson who seemed to be the voice of the 20,000 ‘nerds’ who emailed, wrote and phoned. If I do become an MP, will you be my Obi-Wan?
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Those that “shout and moan a lot” had better be voting in a few weeks time, otherwise what’s the point in being vocal if you’re not going to do one tiny thing that could actually make a difference and put a cross in a box.
I’m disappointed on a number of levels, not only just that Bill was passed, but also the fact that my MP, Ben Champman (you may remember him from the Expense scandal as claiming interest on a non-existent mortgage), didn’t even see it fit to turn up to the second reading according to the Did My MP Show Up or Not? website.
I presume he couldn’t be bothered as he’s standing down in a few weeks time!
It frightens me that these people elected to stear us in the right direction for the future, don’t actually understand the present, proving they are still disconnected from society.
Hmmm, problem with any of these things is that (no offense) I don’t trust any of my fellow geeks with many other social issues. What I do think is that we need to make ORG a bigger force to be reckoned with. A voice that shouldn’t just be noticed, but actually listened to and respected.
I’m wondering if it should become ORGs responsibility to teach the public their digital rights. At the moment they don’t seem to be very good at this. I was at the protest in front of parliament last week and the guys had printed some unreadable flyers for us to give to the public.
I really think that if we can “market” (sorry to use that word) ORG to more non-geeks, we can bring in more funding for ORG and allow them to have a much greater effect when it comes to influencing the MPs. In the end it seems to all be about the amount of time and money you can spend lobbying the MPs and at the moment that’s just not possible.
Also, side note, as someone who is quite familiar with various political systems, I say a) scrap the house of lords, b) put a max term length in place for MPs.
The newly drafted legislation we were promised at the last General Election to update the anacronies of Parliament and it’s procedures including removing the Whips & thus 3 line Whips on voting was actually voted out in the House of Commons on Tuesday. I watched it live.
This was the long awaited reform of Parliamentary Business Act and yes just a few MP’s were in the house to vote and they (all parties) didn’t give a real toss about allowing it to be approved before the election and the fine details sorted out post election.
It was at that point I realised there will never be a democratically elected proportionately represented two tier chamber Parliament working for me in my lifetime, I’ve been a voter for over 40 years. It is now Freeloaders Hall another liveried company in the clutches of the City of London.
I emailed my MP, the tory limp handshaking, Owen Patterson about the DEBill & he wrote a letter back saying he had strong concerns on the efficacy of the Bill. He did not attend any of the debates nor vote. So really, he couldn’t give a toss.
If you want to make a difference in UK politics at all levels from Local Councils to MP’s I believe 2 things must happen:
Compulsory voting (as in Australia) is no longer a problem issue since we have postal voting, and Proportional Representation to prevent the 3 Party stichup of 1st past the post.
Oh, and online voting would be nice too.
Run as the Pirate Party candidate for Leeds… http://thenextweb.com/uk/2010/04/08/pirate-party-uk/