Now that the Dutch cabinet has fallen and new elections are on the horizon, Dutch digital rights organisation Bits of Freedom has started a Digital Rights 2010 campaign to create awareness among political parties of the issues of internet freedoms.

As any regular reader of this blog knows I’m a fierce advocate of digital freedom, firmly believing in the ideal of an open, free, and unregulated Internet.

Nefarious closed-door treaties like ACTA are threatening to destroy everything that made the Internet so successful.

Now more than ever we need political strength and vision to oppose corporate forces. Media corporations, focused single-mindedly on profit and profit alone, will always choose greed over freedom, lawsuits over expression, and censorship over innovation.

So I would urge you all to support Bits of Freedom. Put the banner on your site, spread the word via Twitter/Hyves/Facebook, and spam your political party of choice with questions about their stance on digital rights.

The next Dutch government may last the full 4 years - an eternity on the Internet. If we get it wrong this time, we might have missed the opportunity entirely. In 4 years’ time the corporate lobbyists may have succeeded in pushing their greed-inspired agenda, and the open & innovative nature of the Internet may be destroyed for good.

But only if we let them.

Today’s biggest non-news story is that the Pirate Bay, that terrorist beacon of all things evil on the internet (if you believe the copyright lobby), has shut down its torrent trackers.

This may at first glance seem like a devastating blow to filesharers across the world. But only if you totally lack a proper understanding of how the BitTorrent protocol works.

Neglecting the fact that ever since the whole Pirate Bay mess started literally thousands of new torrent sites have popped up to fill the gaps, BitTorrent users don’t actually need torrent trackers any more. BitTorrent has evolved to include trackerless technologies such as DHT, PEX, and Magnet Links, so the loss of a tracker (even the world’s largest, as the Pirate Bay’s was) won’t actually harm filesharing.

On the contrary - the more the copyright lobby fights against filesharing, the more sophisticated it will become, until filesharing is based on such advanced technologies that stopping it would mean shutting down the entire internet.

Which may actually be what the copyright lobby wants. They do after all still seem to live in the pre-WWW 1980’s where they reigned supreme over all types of content and media, locking artists into inescapable contracts and charging ridiculous amounts of money to consumers for music and films.

But times have changed. Technology has liberated consumers and artists alike, and the big media conglomerates seem unable or unwilling to adapt. So I say fuck ‘em. Adapt or die, and the copyright lobby has obviously chosen the latter option.

I recently reported (i.e. ranted) on the plans of Dutch copyright group Buma/Stemra to start charging money for embedding music videos.

The Dutch internet rights advocacy group Bits of Freedom has crowdsourced an open letter to Buma/Stemra (PDF, Dutch) in which they skilfully demolish Buma’s plans and arguments. The letter is a politely worded yet utterly scathing review of Buma’s soulless, viciously greedy internet-killing scheme.

If you’re Dutch and you don’t yet support Bits of Freedom, do so now. If you’re not Dutch, find your local internet rights group and start supporting them in any way you can.

As a Dutchman living in the UK I support Bits of Freedom, the Open Rights Group, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It’s a little money out of my pocket every month, but lots of little contributions add up to a great deal of support for these organisations that work hard to defend our online rights.

UPDATE: After a tidal wave of protests from all areas of society, including politicians, Buma/Stemra has withdrawn its intent to charge non-commercial websites for embedding videos.

Buma/Stemra, the Dutch copyright organisation charged with collecting royalties for artists (and often neglecting to funnel that money to the actual artists) has published new rules for embedding music videos on websites.

These new rules, set to go in to effect in 2010, effectively mean that everyone, including amateur bloggers, will have to start paying money for the privilege of embedding music videos on their blog.

We’re not talking about a few pennies here either: €130 for 6 embedded videos, €650 for 30 embedded videos. This is big money that the vast majority of sites - you know, amateur bloggers that are fans of music and want to share their passion with their online friends - will be unable to afford.

You might think that an organisation claiming to represent the rights of music artists would be happy to have internet users create free publicity and buzz for artists, which would result in extra sales of music, tickets and merchandise.

But no, you’d be horribly wrong. Buma/Stemra doesn’t care about artists or music. They care only about money. More specifically, about making money for record companies. Fuck artists, fuck fans, and most of all fuck the internet. Pay up or get sued.

I propose we show Buma/Stemra just how retarded they are and post thousands of Dutch music videos on thousands of blogs. Start new blogs and post music videos. When they send you a cease and desist notice, close that blog and start a new one. Keep doing this over and over. Bury them in mountains of administrative work that yields them absolutely nothing.

Oh, and sign the petition against this latest excrement of corporate greed, and spread the word.

UPDATE: After a tidal wave of protests from all areas of society, including politicians, Buma/Stemra has withdrawn its intent to charge non-commercial websites for embedding videos.

Following the dreadful example of France, the UK is now bowing to corporate lobbyists whispering disinformation in the ears of MPs - a new law proposed by Lord Mandelson would disconnect UK internet users after being accused of downloading copyrighted material.

Let’s forget that the whole ‘copyrighted material’ issue is a grey area to begin with, subjected to hopelessly antiquated laws designed for an era without instant digital reproduction. Instead let’s focus on what this would mean for the average citizen.

First, it’s ridiculously easy to download copyrighted material. It’s so easy in fact that you’re likely to do it several times in any given week’s regular internet activity, probably without realising it yourself.

Secondly, it’s nearly impossible to prove that a particular individual downloaded copyrighted material. An IP address can belong to an entire household or even a whole building, and can also be easily spoofed. Yet IP addresses are used exclusively as evidence of individual copyright offences.

Thirdly, cutting off internet access means you won’t be able to do a lot of things that are necessary in these modern times. You won’t be able to do your banking online any more. Can’t book any flights or tickets online. Unable to look up the latest screen times of that new movie you want to see. Won’t be able to download that discount voucher.

Cutting people off from internet access is a ridiculous penalty. It’s like prohibiting convicted drivers from using the road - not just from driving cars, but from using any means of road transport at all!

Unfortunately the pro-copyright corporate lobby is rich and powerful and is polluting our governments with disinformation. One government after the other is succumbing to their lies and manipulation. We must stand up to this to protect our digital rights.

So sign the petition and support organisations like the Open Rights Group. This is important, and it deserves our attention and our action.

Ireland is an interesting country. I’m not talking about its beautiful landscape, its delicious beers, its fine whiskeys, or even its wonderful people.

No, it’s interesting because on one side Ireland wants to belong in the 21st century, with an economy powered by high-tech companies and an educated population to go with it. But on the other side, Ireland seems intent on embracing the ways of ancient times.

First there came a law against blasphemy, a law that would befit a nation in the 1400’s. But certainly not a nation that’s a part of the modern civilised world.

And now the largest ISP in Ireland, Eircom, has announced that at the request of record companies it will start blocking access to The Pirate Bay. Corporate-controlled Internet censorship has arrived in Ireland in full force.

With this move Eircom is essentially taking the side of obsolete business models and deliberate ignorance. Instead of innovation, a word so often used by Ireland’s government officials, it’s choosing to adopt older ways of thinking. Ways that have totally lost their relevancy in the modern world.

Ireland should be learning from past mistakes and looking towards the future. Instead it seems to be blind to the flaws of history and continues to stare at the past with an utterly misplaced sense of nostalgia.

Here’s a warning for Ireland: Keep this up and the rest of the modern world will be leaving you behind with your Dark Age mentality as we move onwards to better things.

Good news for digital rights proponents in the Netherlands: Bits of Freedom, the once-defunct digital rights group, has been re-ignited.

New funding from XS4All has enabled BoF to restart the fight and once again oppose online government censorship, corporate lockdowns on online behaviour, and other symptoms of the decreasing freedom of the Internet.

I’m not sure if it’s possible to support BoF financially at this stage, but seeing as how XS4All is the primary sponsor of the organisation it might be a good idea to switch internet providers to them (if you’re not a customer of them already) and let them know your main reason for choosing them is their support of digital freedom.

In an unsurprising but utterly ridiculous verdict a Dutch judge has decided that The Pirate Bay must be made inaccessible to visitors from the Netherlands within 10 days.

Ignoring the sheer technical impossibility of enforcing this ban, let’s contemplate what lies at the heart of the verdict: a private Dutch organisation has managed to persuade legal authorities to block access to a website for all Dutch users.

In other words, private organisations, with their own commercial agendas and for-profit priorities, now have control over what you as a Dutch citizen can see and do online. Today it’s blocking access to a site whose legality is questionable, tomorrow it’s websites that criticise powerful corporations or question government policies.

This is another very dangerous step towards full internet censorship where private organisations and uninformed lawmakers control the information we receive. The free spirit of the internet is being destroyed, one lawsuit at a time, and taking its place is a regulated corporate-controlled monstrosity.

Soon all the information we’re allowed to consume online is sanitised and commercialised - unless we stop this trend from continuing. If we value our freedom of information and the freedom of the internet, we must fight for it. So support your national digital rights group and help spread the word.

I’m not usually one to promote causes. I’m not someone who latches on to the latest pro-environment/anti-war/pro-animal/anti-globalism craze in an effort to validate my own bloated sense of self-importance and self-righteousness.

Sometimes I do mention a cause I deem worthy enough on this blog, and this is one such occasion. You see, I believe in the power of the Internet. I believe in the Internet’s ability to bring an abundance of information to every human in the world. With information comes transparency, and with transparency comes freedom.

This is not an easy process, or even an obvious one. This is a process that requires a great amount of hard work and dedication, but I believe in it. Vehemently so.

It is therefore that I oppose any attempt at Internet censorship, and I applaud anyone and everyone who fights for net neutrality and unlimited web access for all. Internet censorship is an issue that threatens the free spread of information for all of us. It starts in ways no one will oppose, but from there it very rapidly devolves into an instrument of information control.

In Australia, legislation is in the works to implement a great Australian Internet firewall blocking all content the government finds ‘objectionable’, including websites on euthanasia.

In the United Kingdom, a blocklist that originated as a way for ISPs to filter child porn is quickly devolving into a censorship mechanism for all ‘questionable’ content. The list briefly contained Wikipedia, effectively blocking access to that website for 95% of the UK’s internet users.

In the Netherlands a foundation acting on behalf of the entertainment industry is threatening to sue ISPs in an effort to block access to filesharing sites. If successful, this opens the door to wider Internet censorship based on nothing more than accusations of copyright infringement.

In Iran the government is doing its very best to filter internet access and limit access to government-approved websites in an effort to hinder protests against its fraudulent elections.

There are countless more examples of active and proposed Internet censorship in countries such as China, France, the United States and Ireland.

Something as empowering and liberating as the Internet must not be handed over to the interests of hungry corporations and tyrannical governments. Innovation, not censorship, must lead the way.

If you believe this as well, please consider supporting one or more of the following organizations. They fight for a free Internet, now and in the future:

• Electronic Frontier Foundation (USA)
• Open Rights Group (UK)
• Vrijschrift (NL)
• Bits of Freedom (NL)
• EDRI (EU)

In our current terrorist-scare and copyright-fascism era where every citizen is guilty until… well, forever, and where increasingly desperate corporate institutions are suing everything and everyone to protect their outdated and obsolete business models, it’s prudent to protect yourself and your data from snooping eyes.

Not having committed a crime is no longer a guarantee that you won’t be arrested, charged, and extorted by government agencies and lawsuit-happy bureaucracies.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has now published a guide to help protect you from surveillance. As governments increasingly allow your civil rights to evaporate in the name of security and corporate interests, you need to safeguard your private information.

There are many ways to do this, and the EFF Surveillance Self-Defense guide is a good place to start learning how to protect yourself.