Parliament | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 01 Nov 2016 11:27:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Parliament | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Pirate Party secures third place in Iceland elections https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/pirate-party-secures-third-place-in-iceland-elections/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/pirate-party-secures-third-place-in-iceland-elections/#respond Tue, 01 Nov 2016 11:27:21 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=310485 Although there was much speculation that suggested the Icelandic Pirate Party had the momentum to come first in the recent general elections there, it only managed third place in the end. Still, that represents a huge upswing in its popularity over the previous election and gives it a chance that as part of a coalition, …

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Although there was much speculation that suggested the Icelandic Pirate Party had the momentum to come first in the recent general elections there, it only managed third place in the end. Still, that represents a huge upswing in its popularity over the previous election and gives it a chance that as part of a coalition, it could become part of the government.

In the 2013 elections, the Pirate Party was able to secure three seats at the election – despite being only a few months old at that point. In 2016, it polled higher than all other parties, again, despite being quite different from most established parties and at least some of that has translated to the voting booths.

In the 2016 elections, The Pirate Party earned 27,449 votes, or 14.5 per cent of the total. That jumped it up to a total of 10 seats, an equal number to the second place Left-Green party, which earned just over 30,000 votes. The Independence Party secured the top spot, gaining a couple more per cent of the vote this time around, but its main partner in the coalition it formed for the last parliament, the Progressives, were almost cast out entirely.

ppiceland

Source: Day Donaldson/Flickr

That's where much of the Pirate Party's gains came from and it puts the future of Iceland's parliament in an interesting position. 32 seats are required for a majority in the 63 seat parliament, which means that the traditional Independence and Progressive alliance will still be three seats short. The Pirate Party however is five seats short with its proposed coalition partners.

With the Pirate Party ruling out working with either of the previous standing parties, it will be interesting to see what it can do over the coming days and weeks as Iceland works out who has the right to start trying to form parties first.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: If the Pirate Party were to get a seat at the international level like this, it would be a major boon for much more progressive ideals. A more direct democracy, a more transparent parliament – the kinds of things that seem to find little footing in the governments of larger countries. 

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UK politicians want to fine search engines for piracy https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/online/jon-martindale/uk-politicians-want-to-fine-search-engines-for-piracy/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/online/jon-martindale/uk-politicians-want-to-fine-search-engines-for-piracy/#respond Thu, 27 Oct 2016 08:31:01 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=309813 A number of British politicians have made it clear they want search engines to do more to help tackle piracy. One proposed solution suggested that if those search firms don't come to a voluntary agreement with copyright holders, that the government could step in and fine them. One of the biggest arguments made by those …

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A number of British politicians have made it clear they want search engines to do more to help tackle piracy. One proposed solution suggested that if those search firms don't come to a voluntary agreement with copyright holders, that the government could step in and fine them.

One of the biggest arguments made by those who run linking websites – thereby not directly hosting copyright protected content themselves – is that Google, Bing, Yahoo and any other search engines, all link to the same content, its just not indexed the same way. That's always been true, but that's not to say that search engines aren't attacked by rights holders too, they just tend to be bigger, more well funded targets.

As the king of search, Google has made a few efforts over the years to appease rightsholders. It's removed certain phrases from its autocomplete system, removed listings based on DMCA takedown requests and stopped advertising deals with certain websites. But it seems that that's not enough for many, including some of the UK's political system, who want to see stricter controls and greater punishments.

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Source: Diliff/Wikimedia

The plan is to modify the currently under discussion, Digital Economy bill (as per TorrentFreak), which looks to force age gates on pornography websites and create a minimum 10Mbps connection speed across the UK. The new clause being proposed, is called Power to provide for a code of practice related to copyright infringement,” and would require search engines to voluntarily comply with rightsholders, or face the government forcing it to.

“The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for a search engine to be required to adopt a code of practice concerning copyright infringement that complies with criteria specified in the regulations,” it reads.

It goes on to mention enforcement action for non compliance, like financial penalties – though to what extent, isn't discussed.

This clause has received support from both Conservative and Labour MPs, so could well end up being added to the bill. However, minister for digital culture, Matt Hancock, has urged MPs to not push for this addition, citing the importance of other parts of the bill and not wanting to bog them down with additional debate.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Although the digital economy bill has some nice additions, the pornography ruling is ridiculous and this one sounds very easily exploitable. Perhaps if we taxed companies like Google properly, we would have the resources to better educate the ‘vulnerable' children about the dangers of online browsing.

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Pirate Party proves most popular in Icelandic polls https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/pirate-party-proves-most-popular-in-icelandic-polls/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/pirate-party-proves-most-popular-in-icelandic-polls/#comments Mon, 14 Mar 2016 11:07:31 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=286817 The Pirate Party may not have huge success in every country it operates, but the Icelandic branch is making great strides. Although the next parliamentary election isn't set to take place until 2017, the Pirate Party is currently polling with 38 per cent of the vote, putting it more than 10 points ahead of its …

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The Pirate Party may not have huge success in every country it operates, but the Icelandic branch is making great strides. Although the next parliamentary election isn't set to take place until 2017, the Pirate Party is currently polling with 38 per cent of the vote, putting it more than 10 points ahead of its closest rival.

In the previous 2013 elections, the Independence Party took control with just 26.7 per cent of the vote, forming a majority government with the Progressive Party, so it my well be the case that by this time next year we'll see the Icelandic Pirate Party set to take control of the whole government itself.

pirateparty

Icelandic Danny Zucko and friends are already members of the Icelandic Parliament

This represents huge growth. The party was only founded in 2013, and as TorrentFreak points out, it garnered five per cent of the vote in that year's election. Less than three later though, and it's now the most popular party in the country with surveyed groups. Even if it didn't maintain all of that support through to voting day, if it even achieved half of its current numbers, no majority would likely be formable without its cooperation.

Also interesting is where those votes would come from. The Independence party has maintained its support for the most part, but the previously second place Progressive Party, has seen its support dwindle by half.

It may be that the Pirates never take power though, as they are more fore change, than fore being in control.

“We don’t really want to govern, but rather have the system working as a whole where everyone in it has responsibility for their actions,” Pirate MP Ásta Helgadóttir said in a statement.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Pirate Party UK has no such upswing in its favour, but the UK's political system is far more entrenched in the two party dynamic than many of our European counterparts. 

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The EU will end data roaming charges in 2017 https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/the-eu-will-end-data-roaming-charges-in-2017/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/the-eu-will-end-data-roaming-charges-in-2017/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2015 22:00:49 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=273332 The European Parliament has passed a law today that will put a stop to mobile roaming data fees by June 2017. This law was passed as part of a larger legislation, which also wanted to strengthen Net Neutrality laws but unfortunately was left with some major problems that could allow for internet fast lanes- the …

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The European Parliament has passed a law today that will put a stop to mobile roaming data fees by June 2017. This law was passed as part of a larger legislation, which also wanted to strengthen Net Neutrality laws but unfortunately was left with some major problems that could allow for internet fast lanes- the same ones that the FCC put a stop to in the US earlier in the year.

The ban on roaming charges in Europe will make it illegal for networks to charge you additional fees for calls, texts or data usage across the EU from June 2017. This means that users will just need to pay the same rates they would do in their home country.

European_Parliament_Strasbourg_Hemicycle_-_Diliff
Image Source: Wikipedia 

Obviously, there is still quite a bit of time before roaming charges are put to rest in Europe, so from April 2016, new charges will be put in to place to keep costs down while the changes are made. On the 30th of April next year, roaming charges will be capped at €0.05 per minute for outgoing calls, €0.02 for texts, and €0.05 for every megabyte of data. The data charge is still pretty high but a year later, these charges will be phased out entirely.

Another important thing to note is that roaming data usage is only free up to a certain point. There is a ‘fair use' clause and once you use a certain amount of data, charges will begin to incur, though we don't know what the fair use limit is at this time.

KitGuru Says: This is a pretty important law to pass as roaming charges have been looked down upon for years now and they have often seemed unfair. Unfortunately, the laws weren't quite as strong as some had hoped, leaving some net neutrality loop holes. 

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China’s new digital security laws could increase censorship https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/chinas-new-digital-security-laws-could-increase-censorship/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/chinas-new-digital-security-laws-could-increase-censorship/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:22:06 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=258025 A new draft law being considered by Chinese parliament could increase the censorship of its internet even more, making information harder for average citizens – without the knowledge of proxies – to access. It's raising concerns among international businesses operating in the region too, as they would need to comply with many of the new …

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A new draft law being considered by Chinese parliament could increase the censorship of its internet even more, making information harder for average citizens – without the knowledge of proxies – to access. It's raising concerns among international businesses operating in the region too, as they would need to comply with many of the new stipulations the law enshrines.

“To safeguard national cyberspace sovereignty, security and development,” the new legislation – if voted in – will give the government more controls over what content is viewable online and theoretically should make it easier for it to shore up networks against hackers and other international threats.

chinainternet

As with many laws relating to personal privacy, government spying and internet management as a whole, the language describing the law is very vague. This is deliberate and it's what has many entities worries, since it's difficult to predict how far the administration will take its potential new powers. Theoretically, it could instigate all sorts of new tracking and blocking systems, but nobody will know for sure until the law comes into play.

While not all aspects of it may ultimately be enforced, the legislation would force ISPs to store data on the internet usage of Chinese citizens and those travelling within Chinese territories. To prevent the likes of the NSA installing malware to hard drive firmware also, all networking equipment must be approved for use under new testing standards set by the government.

As Reuters points out, the biggest change for internet users in China could be that the law talks about forcing real-name login systems for online interactions, though this is an initiative that has been tried before and didn't take off.

The bill is set to be debated in parliament in August and will likely face several adjustments and amendments before it is ever enacted.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It's really worrisome that none of this sounds too dissimilar to the kind of laws David Cameron wants to instigate in the UK.

Image source: Pixabay

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Snooper’s Charter dropped from counter-terrorism bill https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/snoopers-charter-dropped-from-counter-terrorism-bill/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/snoopers-charter-dropped-from-counter-terrorism-bill/#respond Tue, 27 Jan 2015 11:50:18 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=232640 Just last week we learned that within a couple of days time, a group of lords would attempt to pass through the counter-terrorism bill with added measures from the much decried “Snooper's Charter,” which would have forced ISPs to retain details of their customers, for up to a year. These measures seem to have lacked support …

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Just last week we learned that within a couple of days time, a group of lords would attempt to pass through the counter-terrorism bill with added measures from the much decried “Snooper's Charter,” which would have forced ISPs to retain details of their customers, for up to a year. These measures seem to have lacked support however, as during debate they were shot down, leaving the privacy invading additions on the House of Lords' cutting room floor.

While the measures themselves were worrying in their own right, what caused most concern among privacy advocates was the way in which the additions to the counter-terrorism bill seemed to have been made. By bundling them with other legislative acts, it seemed like there was an attempt to sneak the measures past public scrutiny. Indeed, one of the lords behind the proposed changes, Lord Carlile, said previously that he believed that we should not wait for reviews of whether these changes were necessary to be completed.

houseoflords

We have taken the view that if the head of the security service and the current Metropolitan police commissioner argue that these powers are needed urgently to retain communications data due to changes in technology, then we needed to act now rather than wait for reports that we do not know when they will be completed,” he said.

Pirate Party campaign officer Andy Halsall commented on the news, stating how pleased he was that it hadn't passed.

“The Snoopers' Charter itself has been controversial,” he said. “It poses a significant threat to privacy and hands more powers to a government that still has questions to answer about its surveillance activities.  The Charter has already been broadly criticised within parliament and elsewhere. I think it's clear that these amendments should never have been offered.”

However, he and other privacy advocates believe this won't be the last time that politicians and/or lords attempt to pass these measures. David Cameron himself has promised tighter controls on digital communications if re-elected, including the banning of effective encryption techniques.

KitGuru Says: It's good to see that debate highlighted the problems with legislation like this. It really is amazing how many times someone has tried to have these measures passed into law.

Image source: Parliament.uk

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Authors call for copyright talks in school assemblies https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/authors-call-for-copyright-talks-in-school-assemblies/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/authors-call-for-copyright-talks-in-school-assemblies/#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2014 12:29:01 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=202496 Clearly suing downloaders and pirates doesn't work. That's obvious at this point, so some creative types have come up with a new idea: educate children about copyright while still in school. According to a bunch of authors that took to parliament yesterday to put forward some new ideas on combating the pirating of online media, …

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Clearly suing downloaders and pirates doesn't work. That's obvious at this point, so some creative types have come up with a new idea: educate children about copyright while still in school. According to a bunch of authors that took to parliament yesterday to put forward some new ideas on combating the pirating of online media, the best way to do it would be an assembly on copyright law once a year.

As you might expect, this idea comes from people who are a little up there in years. 50 year old Joanne Harris was one member of the group that spoke to MPs this week, suggesting that children need to learn that downloading books or films was not “sticking it to the man.” She also showed a quick stab of bitterness at J K Rowling's success, despite her own, by saying that not everyone can get paid Hollywood money because “we happened to write a little story about wizards one day.”

Her companion in this venture was Wendy Cope OBE, who was born at the close of World War II and seemed concerned that photocopying her poems was a major problem.

“There is a need of education, because so many people are so completely ignorant of the basic fact of copyright,” she said. “It seems to me it would take five minutes to explain, once a year in assembly, that there is such a thing as the law of copyright. Assemblies in every school in the country that such a thing of copyright exists – so these people who tell me I have photocopied your poem and sent it to all my friends know that they are breaking the law.”

bored
Today kids, we're going to learn about copyright law violations and how you can promote legal media sales!

This isn't the same ideal shared by all authors of course. Back in 2012 BitTorrent Inc. partnered with Tim Ferriss, author of several highly popular books, to release it for free as part of a bundle of extra materials not available elsewhere. Other authors have done similar things, giving them huge promotion at the cost of giving away a few copies of their books.

Regardless though, trying to explain anything to a group of children is challenging. When you bring up the subject of copyright law, it seems very unlikely that you'll get an attentive audience.

KitGuru Says: I'm an author and as a heads up, if you want to torrent my book, that's awesome. Thanks for reading it.

[Thanks TorrentFreak]

Image Source: Christinao Betta

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EU defends net neutrality and kills off roaming charges https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/eu-defends-net-neutrality-and-kills-off-roaming-charges/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/eu-defends-net-neutrality-and-kills-off-roaming-charges/#respond Wed, 19 Mar 2014 11:15:45 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=183033 Hot off the back of helping to improve the privacy of European citizens, the EU parliament has just voted in favour of improving net neutrality across the entire region too, making it much harder for internet providers to throttle or block services from competitors. It's also called for an end to roaming charges, something that …

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Hot off the back of helping to improve the privacy of European citizens, the EU parliament has just voted in favour of improving net neutrality across the entire region too, making it much harder for internet providers to throttle or block services from competitors. It's also called for an end to roaming charges, something that has caught many a mobile user out in the past when travelling.

“We have built in further safeguards for internet openness, by ensuring that users can run and provide applications and services of their choice as well as strengthening the internet as a key driver of competitiveness, economic growth, social development and innovation,” said Pilar del Castillo, rapporteur for the parliamentary meeting where the vote took place. Reforms on net neutrality and roaming charges were eventually carried with 30 votes to 12, with 14 choosing to abstain.

eu

There were some caveats to the clauses voted in though. In the case of both roaming and net neutrality, special circumstances were mentioned as allowing a company to bypass regulations. For example, if certain business-critical data needed to be moved around, it could technically be given precedence over other, less important data – but only as long as it doesn't interfere with customer internet speeds.

Internet rights groups aren't happy about that clause. Expect them to contest it and push for stricter measures in the future.

Still, this vote doesn't come into law until potentially the end of April, when it will be put to a vote with the entire parliament. If it again passes, it will be signed in and we'll see roaming charges killed off by the end of the year.

KitGuru Says: This is a step in the right direction, but it sounds like more could be done to make these laws a little stricter. 

[Thanks Wired]

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Leveson says leave KitGuru alone, Queen not so sure https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/jules/leveson-says-leave-kitguru-alone-queen-not-so-sure/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/jules/leveson-says-leave-kitguru-alone-queen-not-so-sure/#respond Thu, 21 Mar 2013 06:20:10 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=128777 While the kick off point of the Leveson Report was the hacking of celebrities phones, the final solution to the problem seems to be shrouded in a cloud of uncertainty and contradiction. KitGuru ponders life behind bars for those found to be on the wrong side of at least one law. Lord Justice Leveson's report …

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While the kick off point of the Leveson Report was the hacking of celebrities phones, the final solution to the problem seems to be shrouded in a cloud of uncertainty and contradiction. KitGuru ponders life behind bars for those found to be on the wrong side of at least one law.

Lord Justice Leveson's report specifically ruled out trying to govern internet-only sites on the basis that many of them are one man blogging outfits, so going after them would amount to an attack on one person's point of view – which contradicts the idea of a society which cherishes free speech.

At the other end of the scale, printed publications could find themselves in a world of grief of they step outside their bounds.

No matter what you think about press freedom, it's a case of so far, so good as far as ‘understandability' goes.

Enter the Royal Charter of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (by the grace of god etc). It has a completely different definition. It specifically states that websites should be regulated if they comment on the news.

Exact wording for the Bill arising from the Leveson Report will be made clear at the start of next week, but an analysis from the BBC of the various legislation being prepared at the moment indicates that a website can be lined up and shot if it has:-

  • Multiple Authors
  • Editors who control content
  • Procedures that mean it runs like a newspaper

Guilty as charged your honour.

Nate Dogg and Warren G did a bang up job of regulating - no Royal Charter required

.

For the most part, KitGuru can't imagine the Labs doors being blown open at 3 in the morning while heavily armed guards lock us in dungeons/towers for a very long time.

That said, the kind of politically-sensitive commentary we generate around privacy, security and freedom issues could single us out for special treatment at Her Majesty's pleasure.

We are not the only ones to be confused about what is to happen next. Culture Secretary Maria Miller has gone on record as saying (a) she wants the million pound fines etc laid out in Leveson's report, but (b) she does not want to accept Leveson's limitations on who that might apply to. All the time sounding, on camera, as if she is talking about a single thing (Leveson Report + Royal Charter) – which unfortunately does not exist.

What can you do about a girl like Maria? We'd suggest common sense, salads and a little exercise

.

KitGuru says: Leveson had no intention of punishing online publications, while the Queen's charter specifically puts sites like KitGuru into the ‘monitor closely' category. Given that Leveson was chosen to set up an inquiry and recommend positive action, we like the idea of following his well-researched advice.

Comment below, in the KitGuru forums or join up over on Facebook (if you're not too afraid to be seen chatting with a known publisher of newsworthy material).

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System builders take a beating from hung parliament https://www.kitguru.net/channel/faith/system-builders-take-a-beating-from-hung-parliament/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/faith/system-builders-take-a-beating-from-hung-parliament/#comments Fri, 07 May 2010 09:25:52 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=580 While interesting for the world as a whole, the UK's complete lack of decision when it comes to selecting a government is going to have a potentially disasterous impact on the system builder market. Already working off low margins, the currency market's response to a hung parliament has seen a highly destructive movement toward the …

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While interesting for the world as a whole, the UK's complete lack of decision when it comes to selecting a government is going to have a potentially disasterous impact on the system builder market.

Already working off low margins, the currency market's response to a hung parliament has seen a highly destructive movement toward the dollar. Trading at $1.52 to the pound around a week ago, sterling fell to $1.46 earlier today. What difference does that make in real terms?  For a system with a cost price of $1,000 and a 10% mark-up, this kind of currency move can reduce the profit made by the system builder from over £54 down to just £13. That's tragic.

KitGuru says: We all love diversity. Diversity comes from a thriving local system builder market. These companies cannot survive a substantial drop in profits, which can lead to business closures. Let's hope the country pulls itself together soon and we see a rally. It will be much better for all of us technology lovers.

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