Last week I spent a very enjoyable evening with freelancer group, The Farm at the Florist pub with Simon Burgess. Not only was it a great opportunity to enjoy a convivial drink with a group of fascinating people but it was also very useful to have some in depth discussions with experts knowledgeable about Brighton’s freelance and digital scenes.
I was also interested to hear from people concerned about the controversial Digital Economy Bill currently going through parliament. In particular, I’m interested in how we can do more to make Brighton a buzzing, innovative centre for tech start ups.
About the Digital Economy Bill: I oppose it. Firstly, I don’t think any law should pass through parliament without being properly scrutinised, consulted on and amended. Rushed law is bad law and the Digital Economy Bill is being pushed through without the careful consideration it deserves. It’s not an urgent bill and I think it can wait until the next parliament.
Process aside, it’s a bad bill. It’s a very big bill that touches all manner of areas including DAB radio and Channel 4 and much of that law is uncontroversial. But it’s the aspects related to file sharing that concern me. In particular, the penalties it levies are too punitive and don’t necessarily punish the right people. I don’t think that I should be held responsible if someone uses my internet connection to download copyrighted files, for instance.
On a very practical level it will be bad for people who use free wifi in public areas such as pubs and cafes. In Brighton those people are co-workers, freelancers, students and plenty of others. I think it would be very harmful to our vibrant digital culture if we didn’t have so much wifi publicly available.
Tags: digital economy bill, The Farm
Posted on April 7, 2010 in Economy, Out and About in Brighton.
