Some MEPs have tabled amendments to the EU Telecom Package (draft EU communications framework bill) which would see the previously voted-against ‘3 strike rule’ brought into law.

The ‘3 strike rule’ would see corporations (in some cases non-EU corporations) being given power of judge and jury over private EU citizens under the auspices of the corporations defending their ‘intellectual property’ rights. The EU Commission would effectively be able to mandate the installation of spyware at the ISP level so that 3rd party corporations would be able to directly spy on EU citizens data usage.

The legislation could also see EU ISPs having to bar access to Peer to Peer (P2P) networks such as bittorrent in an arbitrary manner. I’m sure that will go down really well with Linux users who can’t get their distros and World of Warcraft players who can no-longer download their game updates. The problem is that while the likes of the music industry may not like peer-to-peer software, it has so many legitimate uses that it’s as hard to justify blocking as HTTP Port 80.

I’ve written to my MEP opposing this stupidity. If you are an EU citizen, you can write to yours too. Click here for a searchable map to find your MEP. MEPs will vote on the amendments next Monday (7th July) so get cracking and get your MEP informed today!

I also suggets visiting EDRI and La Quadrature Du Net for further information. You can also read La Quadrature Du Net’s arguments against the amendments.

I read this article in utter disbelief that the West Northampton Development Corporation wants to tax new home buyers to the tune of £20,000.

The proposal is being billed as a tax on ‘developers’ but only an idiot would fail to see that developers will simply push the £20,000 tax straight on to the buyer.

I suggest all sane homebuyers cross the West Northampton areas off their lists of places to buy a home.