Most of usre in the digital world now and most of you, the readers of this blog work in the space.  I am a member of the Open Rights Group (ORG) and here's what they say about the issue. Can you help protect open access to digital information by supporting this petition ?

Thanks to Martin Kleppmann for this neat summary which hit my in-box shortly after the ORG email:

Dear all,

I hope you are well. As you know, I very rarely forward on petitions and that sort of thing; however, today I would like to make an exception and draw your attention to one very important issue. It is URGENT — in one sentence, please go to 38Degrees and sign the petition NOW, ahead of an important consultation on Monday.

I support the Open Rights Group   — an organisation dedicated to raising awareness of digital rights and civil liberties issues. As our world becomes more and more dependent on digital communication, these guys are doing an excellent job of promoting policies which help to protect our basic freedoms. Some of their campaign points are related to surveillance, government databases, ID cards, copyright law, security in electronic voting, data protection and more.

Background on this particular campaign (copied and pasted from several sources, apologies for the length of text):

The freedom for each and everyone of us to express our views on the internet is under threat like never before. The UK government is now considering laws that would allow individuals to be cut off from the internet. They say the reason is to protect the economic prosperity of the creative industries.

The 38 Degrees coalition comprises organisations, charities and people who believe disconnection from the internet would mean that people like us would be unable to engage in banking, socialising, campaigning, home admin and many other activities that are increasingly moving online. Worse, disconnection would restrict our long standing right of freedom of expression just at the time when we all need to be able to critique and engage more than ever.

If Lord Mandelson's plan becomes law, disconnection may start for copyright infringement, with no guarantee it would not be extended for other things.

The Open Rights Group has just been asked to meet Mandelson's staff on Monday afternoon. In the meeting we'll make sure Mandelson knows how many of us oppose the extreme internet laws he is rushing through.

Over 3,000 of us have now signed the petition. Can you help us reach 5,000 signatures before our meeting with Mandelson?

Pressure is building today on Lord Mandelson to stop rushing through his plans to cut the internet connection of anyone that downloads copyrighted material. Today, a coalition of musicians, songwriters and producers spoke out calling his plans, "Expensive, illogical and extraordinarily negative". [1]

Since we launched our petition last week, hundreds of us have signed up to ask Mandelson to stop rushing through new rules. Now, if we all work together and ask our friends to sign, we can quickly make the petition grow even bigger. Please can you forward this email and ask your friends to sign by clicking this link?

http://38degrees.org.uk/message2mandy

The artists which include Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Damon Albarn said in their statement today that "We vehemently oppose the proposals being made and suggest that the stick is now in danger of being way out of proportion to the carrot." Meanwhile, internet service providers and consumer groups, including BT and Which?, today warned that these plans will create a Kangaroo court which would "place serious limits on freedom of expression" in the UK. [2]

Only in June this year the government had ruled out draconian measures like these but it appears Mandelson decided to change government policy just days after a dinner with an industry executive in Corfu.

If enough of us take action, Mandelson will have to back down. 
Recently, he had to give up on his plan to privatise the post office after a popular outcry.

Thanks for getting involved!

[1] See for example here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/sep/03/youtube-prs-deal-file-sharing

[2] See for example here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article6819093.ece
 

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