Until Ofcom hammers out the mechanics of the processes outlined in the bill, it’s impossible to say how we’ll be affected. We take a look at some of the worst-case scenarios.
Watch copyrighted content
No shizzle, Sherlock. Accessing copyrighted movies and music is illegal already, but with just a minimal amount of know-how it’s easier than falling off a slippery log in the rainy season. The bill aims to make it more difficult to access copyrighted content, by blocking Web sites built around sharing such material. From the other side, the bill creates sanctions that can be applied to you, the user, should you be caught with your fingers in the copyright cookie jar.Download from us
Download.com is part of the big happy CNET family. Among the available software are peer-to-peer file-sharing tools. The bill specifically states that Web sites such as Download.com can be blocked if they’re providing tools that infringe copyright.Use Napster
In the same clause, the bill targets sites that have infringed copyright in the past. That theoretically includes sites such as Napster, which have cleaned up their act since their early days under the Jolly Roger of copyright piracy. This may overturn the recently set legal precedent in which a high court judge ruled against a blanket ban of Usenet-indexing Web site Newzbin.Use WikiLeaks
But most worrying is that the same clause also specifically allows for blocking sites deemed ‘likely to’ infringe copyright. We don’t yet know how the government will divine whether a site is ‘likely to’ do anything, unless Ofcom is going to start employing soothsayers. There’s also a clause relating to national security, which could see legal restrictions on material ‘they’ don’t want us to see. This may even extend to gagging sites that currently do a bang-up job of making a mockery of ’super-injunctions’.Full article here
