Richard's Kingdom

Despite massive public opposition the Digital Economy Bill was voted into law last night. Here’s how Sheffield MPs behaved:

Constituency
MP
Party
At 2nd reading?
At 3rd reading?
How they voted

Attercliffe
Clive Betts
Labour
No
No
FOR the Bill

Brightside
David Blunkett
Labour
No
No
ABSENT

Central
Richard Caborn
Labour
No
No
FOR the Bill

Hallam
Nick Clegg
Lib Dem
No
No
ABSENT

Heeley
Meg Munn
Labour
No
No
FOR the Bill

Hillsborough
Angela Smith
Labour
No
No
FOR the Bill

Frankly, I’m appalled. Any illusions I had about Britain being a representative democracy have been shattered. [...]

The Gagged Geeks protest against the Digital Economy Bill in Sheffield yesterday exceeded all my expectations. Around thirty protesters handed out 300 leaflets – our entire stock – in less than 20 minutes. We were joined by Paul Scriven, leader of Sheffield Council and Lib Dem PPC for Sheffield Central, who handed out leaflets and [...]

I’m excited to announce that the Open Rights Group, in association with the GIST foundation, is hosting a free unconference and workshop on the Digital Economy Bill in Sheffield this month:

Date:
Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Time:
13:30 – 21:00

Location:
The Showroom Café Bar, Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX

The Digital Economy Bill will affect you:

If your home Internet-connection contract is [...]

I’ve been following debate on the Digital Economy Bill quite closely since it was announced and have written about it here a couple of times. One issue with this legislation is that it may have the effect of killing public wifi.
My Mum is a librarian. In conversation with her earlier today it occurred to me [...]

Last Friday I travelled to London to see a talk by security visionary and cryptographer Bruce Schneier. The event was a fund-raiser for the Open Rights Group, and was chaired by its Executive Director, Jim Killock. His was not a demanding role. The capacity crowd of disciples, many of whom were also ORG supporters, needed [...]