An Open Letter to Jeremy Hunt
Dear Mr Hunt,
By not voting against the Digital Economy Bill you have just lost my vote.
It really is that simple. As an internet expert, a creator, a recognised patent-holding contributor to the digital age, a businessman and one who respects intellectual property; I have watched you and your party collude to allow the passage of a bill which you yourself acknowledged as flawed.
How can any elected representative tasked with upholding our democratic processes act in such a way?
It is, in my considered opinion, now highly-likely those like myself who often work from internet cafes, hotels and pubs will find it increasingly difficult to do so. By not voting against this bill, your party has directly contributed to the likely death of open WiFi when you could have stopped this hurried and badly-drafted law.
Furthermore, amendment 2 of clause 8 lays the foundation for censorship of the internet. When this fails to stop infringement, as it surely will, what next? Proxy services to be made illegal? Since a majority of employees with remote access to their employer’s intranet have access to some form of internet proxy I’d advise that such legislation be carefully worded!
Of course I wouldn’t – I’d advise that such legislation gets nowhere near the statute books.
I’m alluding to the “boiling a frog” analogy. The gradual erosion of our rights of access to information and freedom of speech. Censorship is very clearly not the answer - in this case - in any case.
Those who want something for free will innovate whilst the innocent law-abiding internet users like myself, my household, friends and colleagues will suffer in the crossfire. Democracy will suffer if a future government ever chooses to abuse the sweeping powers you failed to stop, for example abusing the Bill's powers in order to prevent circulation of embarrassing or damaging facts.
It's simply not good enough to say "they did that, Labour made this happen."
Whilst I appreciate what you did on the broadband tax, to be frank you represent a party which sees Cider Tax more important an issue in the Finance Bill than clause 59, a sweeping change granting HMRC powers to secretly inspect mail without a warrant. And I mention this because it's another case of breakneck lawmaking that went unchallenged by the Conservative benches.
I sincerely wish to be represented by a politician who not only speaks his or her mind, but puts that conviction to the vote.
Parliament is shamed, and the internet watched this happen in slow motion, tweet by tweet.
With sadness,