Digital Britain: leaving consumers out of the picture

Jim Killock, 29 January 2009

We are looking at the report in detail, but we are extremely concerned that the voice of consumers and citizens is being marginalised.

We are concerned that there is no suggestion that consumers and citizens should be represented on the proposed copyright 'Rights Agency'. Without our voices, such an agency could easily be dominated by industry's concerns at the expense of civil rights. Consumer would be very likely to get a bad deal.

We are concerned at the government's proposals for technical 'solutions' for rights enforcement - technical 'solutions' to social issues tend to be expensive and fail.

One by one digital music providers like iTunes and Amazon are moving away from DRM, and trusting their customers. This is a much better example for industry and government to follow.

We also intend to look closely at proposals for recording and reporting alleged rights infringers. While we welcome the proposal to ask the courts before taking action, we are concerned at the potential for further erosion of privacy online.

Owen Blacker

Reply #12 on : Thu January 29, 2009, 17:09:14

I was thinking something pretty similar (despite having only read part of the 11-page Executive Summary!).

Sounds like we could do with insisting ORG gets a seat at that particular table.

I reserve further judgement until I've waded through the whole document :o)

Joan Lunn

Reply #11 on : Thu January 29, 2009, 20:06:56

I think that we should have a say, so someone should have a seat on the public's behalf.

Joan Lunn

Anon

Reply #10 on : Thu January 29, 2009, 21:15:03

How can ordinary netizens go about promoting ORG as a consumers rights advocate? I will be honest and say that i have heard very little about ORG until today, when i read the report on the BBC website about Digital Britain. Perhaps ORG needs more publicity and media coverage in order to get its self more widely recognised as a voice for our rights online?

Jim

Reply #9 on : Thu January 29, 2009, 21:47:46

Anon, the fist things to do are to sign up to the mailing list, and if you feel like it, also join as a paying supporter. Link to us from your blog or website. When we campaign, help us out. We'll be doing more to help people promote us and campaign alongside, but now you've found us, stay in touch!

Digital Britain leaves commentators dismayed | socialmediainfluence.com

Reply #8 on : Fri January 30, 2009, 11:28:38

[...] Killock at the Open Rights Group expresses concerns that Digital Britain marginalizes the voice of consumers and ci..., saying: “We are concerned that there is no suggestion that consumers and citizens should be [...]

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Reply #7 on : Fri January 30, 2009, 20:16:18

[...] não lhes deu. Quem também criticou o texto foi organização de defesa dos direitos digitais Open Rights Group que receia que os consumidores e cidadãos acabem por ficar de fora da Rigths Agency. Por seu lado, [...]

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Reply #6 on : Sat January 31, 2009, 10:11:34

[...] they are threatened by the poor implementation and regulation of digital technology”) makes a brief comment here. Snip: “We are concerned at the government’s proposals for technical ’solutions’ for [...]

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Reply #5 on : Sat January 31, 2009, 11:56:16

[...] to present the alternatives to destroying the Internet and all is messy, unruly creativity. The Open Rights Group are trying to do this - let’s get behind them and make this more than just a few tech-savvy [...]

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Reply #4 on : Sun February 01, 2009, 21:06:06

Dynamo_ace

Reply #3 on : Mon February 02, 2009, 16:43:37

Once again, the state doesn't have a clue what its doing. Strangly, the element mentioned has not popped up once in any mainstream news report.

So sadly, this is a showing that the ORG may need to take a stronger stance like its American Equivalents.

This Week in "Three Strikes" : Easy Idiot - get better knowledge

Reply #2 on : Mon February 02, 2009, 23:35:02

[...] Another one of the Digital Britain report’s proposals, one that would create a “Rights Agency” where ISPs, copyright owners and users could address matters pertaining to copyright infringement, has set off even more alarm bells. While the report reassuringly states that its aim is not to “support business models that will become increasingly obsolete,” the Open Rights Group has warned that consumers are not adequately represented in the Rights Agency .... [...]

Joss Winn

Reply #1 on : Sat February 07, 2009, 21:38:23

We've recently re-published the Digital Britain - Interim Report so that people can comment paragraph by paragraph. An Open Letter has been published and sent to Lord Carter and supporters working in government are spreading the word, too.

http://writetoreply.org/digitalbritain

More details here:

http://writetoreply.org/actually

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