A glorious sunny day today, with just a hint of a cooling breeze, easily warm enough to go out for a walk with el doggo without needing a coat when I got in from work.
So, the digital economy bill passed its second reading, and despite all of the promises of review and scrutiny there doesn't seem to be any political will to stop it being steamrollered into law. I chanced to see Feargal Sharkey on the news this morning, who seems to have been transformed into the worst sort of oleaginous politico since his days in the Undertones. Of course he was all in favour of the bill and said that the provisions "didn't change anything" because he can currently take illegal filesharers to court. That's all well and good, but mounting a court case requires proof before a conviction is made and then a punishment issued that is proportionate to the offense.
This bill requires merely an allegation and puts the burden of proof on the defendant to show that they weren't filesharing. Do you know who was on your wifi at three in the morning, or whether your teenager has had filesharing software set up on his PC without knowing what it does? From our house I can see at least one completely unsecured network, and others with just basic WEP encryption turned on. This is a bad law, in every sense.
In other news, we had the house to ourselves last night and celebrated by having pie and chips with mushy peas and gravy from the chippy down the road. Naughty, but oh, so nice ...
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