BPI Says That UK Spies Are Against Digital Economy Bill
from the strange-bedfellows dept
The debate over the Digital Economy Bill in the UK (the attempt to ratchet up copyright law to repay favors to an entertainment industry that is slow to adapt) has taken an odd twist. Cory Doctorow over at Boing Boing has the details of a leaked memo from the BPI (pdf) to a bunch of recording industry execs and lobbyists, that details the state of the bill and the ongoing strategy for getting it approved. There are a few items worth noting:- The BPI seems to think that the UK intelligence community is now the biggest threat to stopping the bill. Seriously. Apparently, UK spies are afraid that passing this bill will drive a very large number of people to switch to using encrypted internet tools, making it that much more difficult to spy on them. This may be an accurate concern, but it's surprising to hear that the intelligence community is now considered the biggest hurdle to getting the bill passed. Apparently, the BPI is fairly unconcerned with consumer rights groups. The BPI seems so paranoid about the intelligence community, that it actually suggests in the memo that the British spying agency MI5 may have paid for a recent survey released by the ISP Talk Talk, saying that 71% of those 18-34 years old would continue to file share, using "undetectable means."
The memo also mocks the fact that this particular bill now has the Open Rights Group on the same side of an issue as MI5 -- when the two are normally somewhat diametrically opposed.
- While the BPI sounds fairly confident that the bill will get through, it recognizes that it could get stalled if enough Members of Parliament start asking questions about the speed with which the bill is being pushed through:
As for the House of Commons -- which will be sent the Bill next week -- there is a strange sense of detachment. MPs with whom we spoke back in Autum are already resigned to the fact that they will have minimum input into the provisions from this point on, given the lack of time for detailed scrutiny. One leading backbencher has told us that there is "little point in meeting, since the Bill will be determined at wash-up". That said, John Whittingdale -- an inveterate "timing sceptic" (i.e. he's for the Bill but doesn't think it will get through in time) has said this week that he still thinks it could be lost if enough MPs protest at not having the opportunity to scrutinise it. Whilst true in constitutional theory terms, the hard politics of the situation makes it seem unlikely. And inveterate opponents like Derek Wyatt and Tom Watson continue to blog and tweet with critical comments, but there is not the sense of a groundswell of massive opposition to the Bill.
In other words: if you live in the UK, now is the time to start speaking up and contacting your elected officials, as well as letting others know that a bill to greatly take away your rights is about to be pushed through the House of Commons, unless you speak up now.
- Finally, among the "upcoming" activities, the memo mentions that on Wednesday the 18th, there will be a release of a report from TERA on "The importance of saving jobs in the EU's Creative Industries." We see these types of reports all the time, and they're usually poorly thought out and poorly argued, assuming, incorrectly, that a loss of jobs in one part of an industry might not be made up elsewhere, and rarely (if ever) paying attention to the fact that artificially propping up one part of the industry has massive negative consequences for other areas in the economy. So let's see what this report says. But assuming you start seeing press reports about this later this week, make sure to read through them with a critical eye.
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Filed Under: bpi, copyright, digital economy bill, encryption, intelligence, mi5, security
Companies: bpi, mi5, open rights group
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If true
"a very large number of people to switch to using encrypted internet tools"
As Mike and other have stated, drive file sharers underground.
It is becoming evident that the Record/CD industry and the politicians who's palms have been generously greased.
Are the only ones that believe that clamping down on file sharers will return their business to its former glory.
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Re: If true
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Being spied on FTW!
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example
so as a hacker i went and took one of there informants to the taliban news website...OH MY what did he see....or more importantly DIDN'T see.
anyhow next day ol georgy S-MART pants goes on tv saying and ill quote this.
"ok hehe(usual goof laugh) hackers aren't terrorists but can ya leave that site alone we want to see what they do next"
OMG i thought are they retarded in the usa
was the 9/11 attacks on the taliban news website prior ?
HAHA no this isn't about spies or terrorists, its about drugs,gangs , and any other morons that think they have any security on the net in communicating.
ya think the spies know like i do id rather have these kids doing a lil p2p then joining up with a gang ?
maybe?
naaaaa
british intelligence isn't that intelligent is it.
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correction sept 12th 2001
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Re: Re: If true
No - the point is that currently ONLY the criminals and terrorists are using encryption - and so it is (relatively) easy to target them (You can learn a lot from the fact that an encrypted message has been sent at a particular time -even if you can't read it)
- but if large numbers of ordinary people start doing it too then the targets will become much more difficult to find amongst the crowd.
It's the same logic that drives the intelligence community themselves to fill up their own secure networks with trivial content all the time so that there is never any variation of traffic that could give a clue to the opposition.
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If they give large numbers of ordinary people reasons to hide that are relatively trivial or entirely innocent, you will get strong tools to do so with, and you won't be able to tell the terrorist from the child pornographer from the organized crime figure from the lawyer sending confidential data from the thirteen year old sharing mp3s from the college student... you get the idea.
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MI5 = Counter Intellance = Spy Catchers
MI6 = Intellance = Spies
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Re:
MI5= The Security Service, Domestic security including spying
MI6= Secret Intelligence Service, External Security, spying outside GB
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MI5 and MI6
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It's quite odd that the BPI recognises that the securtiy services are worried about the digital economy bill encouraging more people to use encryption, but fail to see that will also undermine what they are trying to acheive in the digital economy bill.
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Elected officials don't give a damn
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The future of cryptography for the masses
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No Spies
stainless steel rice cooker
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