An oppressive digital future awaits
Technical ignorance and vested interests are conspiring to crush any sense of freedom from our future.
One: MPs vote today on the government’s ill-conceived ID card scheme. This is despite a report detailing serious fundamental failings, and despite their own Information Commissioner saying it is a disproportionate response to the problem of identity.
Two: MEPs are approaching a vote on legalising software patents, which can only stifle innovation and any tech business which can’t afford a dedicated patents department.
Three: The US Supreme Court has overturned an appeal court ruling, and has allowed media businesses to sue those who create file-sharing services which might allow copyright infringements.
It’s all a slow drip-drip. A Guardian leader today points out a subtlety in the US court decision — they made their decision because the services were “not merely passive recipients of information about infringement”, but also because “each of them clearly voiced the objective that recipients use the software to download copyrighted works and took active steps to encourage infringement”.
But the pattern is clear. As they say in the forthcoming film Marvin Meets Alien (which I’ve just made up): in cyberspace no-one can hear you be very, very depressed.
