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thessalianSoooo ... the Digital Economy Bill passed.
I'm meeting up with my mother next weekend and I know what she'll say if I bring this up: the words "Well, if you're not doing anything wrong, what's the matter with it?" will come up in some iteration or other. And I won't be able to explain that the dozen or so people who actually discussed this late last night (as opposed to the 260-odd that actually voted on it) didn't seem to understand how any of the technology that they're trying to regulate actually works.
I didn't see the BBC Parliament discussion on this, but I got a few choice snippets from the Twitter accounts of people I trust. And I'm trying to do better than "proposed by the unelected, debated by the uninformed, passed by the absent" as a descriptor for what the hell just happened and can't do it. Because ... seriously, let me get this straight. Some guy who not only is not an elected official but who was removed from government positions twice for various acts of political fuckwittery spends a weekend on David Geffen's yacht and then turns up to government proposing this bill that basically obliges ISPs to police every bit of data that their users download and then shut down any household found doing things it shouldn't, and never mind which individual household member is actually doing it or how many others might be punished for things they didn't do in the process. Not only that, but there's also the thing about site-blocking on, and I quote, "a location on the internet which the court is satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright". This mess was pushed through in a 'wash-up' period in which bills are not given the usual examination and there was protest about this but hey! What do you know? They pushed it through anyway. With maybe a dozen people actually debating it and 260-odd votes total in the end.
I know there's an election coming up, and at this point, I have no idea who to vote for. The Tories are apparently saying that if they get in, some of the more unwanted and unwarranted bits of this idiocy are going to be scrapped. Problem is, what do they consider unwanted and unwarranted? Who can say? Labour has been nothing but a cesspool for the last decade or so, and I'd vote Lib Dem like I usually do but ... well, fine, they voted against it later when they saw what it was being turned into (or the problems with it) but the fact is that this idiocy was Lib Dem's brainchild in the first place. I want my voice to count vote-wise but it's clear that it doesn't and never will at this rate. It sometimes feels like anything politically motivated in this country is covered by a thin layer of pond scum - not enough to see, just enough to be really skeevy.
I'm meeting up with my mother next weekend and I know what she'll say if I bring this up: the words "Well, if you're not doing anything wrong, what's the matter with it?" will come up in some iteration or other. And I won't be able to explain that the dozen or so people who actually discussed this late last night (as opposed to the 260-odd that actually voted on it) didn't seem to understand how any of the technology that they're trying to regulate actually works.
I didn't see the BBC Parliament discussion on this, but I got a few choice snippets from the Twitter accounts of people I trust. And I'm trying to do better than "proposed by the unelected, debated by the uninformed, passed by the absent" as a descriptor for what the hell just happened and can't do it. Because ... seriously, let me get this straight. Some guy who not only is not an elected official but who was removed from government positions twice for various acts of political fuckwittery spends a weekend on David Geffen's yacht and then turns up to government proposing this bill that basically obliges ISPs to police every bit of data that their users download and then shut down any household found doing things it shouldn't, and never mind which individual household member is actually doing it or how many others might be punished for things they didn't do in the process. Not only that, but there's also the thing about site-blocking on, and I quote, "a location on the internet which the court is satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright". This mess was pushed through in a 'wash-up' period in which bills are not given the usual examination and there was protest about this but hey! What do you know? They pushed it through anyway. With maybe a dozen people actually debating it and 260-odd votes total in the end.
I know there's an election coming up, and at this point, I have no idea who to vote for. The Tories are apparently saying that if they get in, some of the more unwanted and unwarranted bits of this idiocy are going to be scrapped. Problem is, what do they consider unwanted and unwarranted? Who can say? Labour has been nothing but a cesspool for the last decade or so, and I'd vote Lib Dem like I usually do but ... well, fine, they voted against it later when they saw what it was being turned into (or the problems with it) but the fact is that this idiocy was Lib Dem's brainchild in the first place. I want my voice to count vote-wise but it's clear that it doesn't and never will at this rate. It sometimes feels like anything politically motivated in this country is covered by a thin layer of pond scum - not enough to see, just enough to be really skeevy.
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Date: 2010-04-08 06:19 pm (UTC)So... Where were they all last night? That was only a third of the HoC in there, and they only showed up for the actual vote (only a couple of dozen MPs turned up for the debate and 2/3 of them had absolutely no clue what they were talking about). Nick Clegg certainly wasn't there to set an example to the Lib Dems. Not a priority compared to battle bus duty, I guess. Who cares about petty stuff like laws being made by industry special interests when there's an election coming?
The MP for Finchley and Golders Green didn't show up either. Apparently he hasn't shown up since early December. I know he's standing down at the May election, but that's still five months' salary he can claim for not even showing his face in the Commons. I'm assuming he's still alive as we haven't had a by-election, but he's just not turning up to do the damn job. And people wonder why I'm angry.