The Possible Future of the American Internet- A Warning

Here’s what’s going on in terms of the Net Neutrality battle across the pond:

It seems Great Britain has fallen.

According to this, their Digital Economy Bill would enforce a three-strikes rule, violation of privacy, draconian fines for violation of copyright, as well as provision for the Business Secretary to make additional rules such as these without checks or balances. It seems clear that this bill is completely against a “Digital Economy”.

Obviously, people are not happy. A entertaining case-in-point:

Now, some people reading the news are like “Well, that’s too bad for them.”. I suggest they wake up, since I envision the same type of legislation to be heavily lobbied in the immediate future, here in the US. This kind of law stifles innovation across the board for all internet-based industry, and it is not the answer. The music and movie corporations need to evolve their business model with the times. That’s how a free-market system works: Evolve or Die.

My favorite hippie, Richard Stallman, has a very good lecture on copyright law on YouTube. I recommend watching it and enlighten yourself. He might be a hard guy to agree with in terms of the free-software religious wars, but for this, I think he is spot-on.