Craig in feed form

The following is a copy of the letter I sent to my MP regarding the Digital Economy Bill.

Dear Don Foster,

I have read of your position on the Digital Economy Bill and I am mostly pleased by it; we all like carrots over sticks.

I am writing to first add another voice to the mêlée pressuring MPs to ensure any self serving items introduced at the behest of lobbies are removed and that Labour’s draconian approach is resisted. Aside from any discussion on the societal cost of copyright, an act that press-gangs one group of companies into acting as policemen for another group is a many faced abomination.

Second; to give you the perspective of a PhD student at the University of Bath; one of the stereotyped targets for this bill. I can tell you we would dodge any stick you might try to hit us with. Without meaning to sound arrogant; I and my peers are more familiar with IT than you and yours. We know of and can use technology, to make ourselves anonymous and to encrypt the data we send.

Third, I fully believe the whole system of copyright in this country has lost sight of its original intentions and now solely benefits copyright holders while preventing creative endeavour. Not unsurprisingly, the current argument playing out is framed entirely as a dichotomy, ‘stricter controls’ or ‘what we have now’? But I’m sure an intelligent and interested man such as yourself will already be fully aware of arguments for the drawing-back of copyright. I would be thrilled to see you make your peers just as aware.

On this topic I recommend Jamie Boyle’s book The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind (ISBN:978-0300137408).

Finally, I am extremely disappointed in the behaviour of the Lib. Dem. lords in introducing an amendment such as they did.

Yours sincerely,
Craig Loftus

P.S. I never download music or films; I buy CDs and rent DVDs. I do however enjoy the occasional YouTube clip.