Whatever happened to my rock n' roll

Komoly kritika érte az internetszolgáltatást szabályozó brit törvénytervezetet. A politikai erők tiltakozásán kivül az ügy komoly nemzetközi visszhangot is kiváltott. Halálra ítélik az ingyenes wifit a szigetországban? Van-e esély arra, hogy ez a veszélyes precedens hazánkban is befolyásolja a konyvtárak által biztositott szolgáltatások szabályozását? Egy neve elhallgatását kérő (Stephen Hawking) könyvtári tanácsadót kérdeztem.



Konyvtaros.com: Is the era of free public wifi over?

Stephen Hawking: Yes and no. I am not a lawyer, but there is a Digital Economy Bill in the making that apparently regulates how providers of public wifi have to limit their customers' internet usage.

Konyvtaros.com: In what way does that apply to libraries?

Stephen Hawking: Many libraries provide free wifi service. It is my understanding that as long as these services are free and accessible to the public by large, for the purposes of the Bill they are treated as public wifi. It's not just about libraries, but universities and also cafes and various public places. If the Bill comes into force, these places might stop free wifi altogether. Nobody will risk to have their internet connection cut off or being fined, due to some individuals downloading content that some pressure groups find clashing with their commercial interests.

Konyvtaros.com: But it's Parliament's task to decide, isn't it?

Stephen Hawking: Yes, but it seems that these commercial groups found their way to the influential people in Westminster. Lord Mandelson, who is responsible for the Bill, of course is particularly keen.

Konyvtaros.com: If you don't like it, why don't you protest?

Stephen Hawking: This is Great Britain. People protest about fox hunting. But Freedom of Speech? It's so rainy these days. But some commercial groups also take an interest in the matter. Many senior figures of the British telecom scene are opposing the Bill. They are already spending hundreds of millions a year to stop piracy. So far, they couldn't.

Konyvtaros.com: Why don't they just give the money to the music and film industry?

Stephen Hawking: Good question! In my view, the record labels and film studios already asking too much. You might give them all that money and I assume, it would not be enough. In the end, it's ordinary customers who pay the bill. Their internet connection cost more due to these expenses.

Konyvtaros.com: Is it just the matter of setting up a password, so the wifi service would not be public anymore?

Stephen Hawking: Many smaller enterprises depend on people going to them to access free wifi. It's not just small sandwich bars and cafes. But we, as a local library too, depend on our ability to provide free internet. I believe, our duty to serve the public cannot be maintained if we don't provide them the access to the biggest collection of knowledge in the world. The more obstacles there are in the way, the less people will use the service.

Konyvtaros.com: How about ethernet? Some people don't have computers or don't want to take one to the library.

Stephen Hawking: I believe that these are minor issues. This Bill will set a dangerous precedent, regardless of what exactly it covers. I see no reason to differentiate between any form of internet access. Let's not get lost in technicalities. Once we start penalizing institutions for providing a service, the public will suffer.

Konyvtaros.com: Only, if there is illegal downloading.

Stephen Hawking: Piracy is a fact of life. The most important and most worrying aspect of this approach is its severity. It is simply not about limiting internet usage. It's also about facing extremely severe consequences upon the smallest breach, despite the providers' best intentions. Today, you cannot completely filter people's traffic and a small organisation might not have the infrastructure and resources to filter content. What you might see as a web-master to be a click to an innocent server might be the gateway to potentially harmful or questionable content. Not just porn, not just extreme porn, but material that promotes violence, racial tension and most importantly for the record companies behind this lobby; music and video that is not going through royalty-paying and legal channels.

Konyvtaros.com: So, it's Piratebay more, than extreme porn?

Stephen Hawking: It's something like that, I'm afraid. But not just Piratebay. There are thousands of websites and servers providing access to illegal media content. The legal position of these sites are continuously questioned and debated. Piratebay is still operating. They are not breaching the law by providing their visitors the opportunity to share their own material. Record companies cannot go after individuals, so they want them cut off from the internet in every possible way. For them, it's easy if the ISPs and the providers of public wifi do the dirty work for them. And the public pays.

Konyvtaros.com: Can't you just 'fight the power'?

Stephen Hawking: We are not Google, just small fish trying to spread the joy of internet. Now we are being chased by some big fish and in the end we should be given the choice, whether we want a few big fish in this pond or several smaller ones. It's not just the matter of competition. It's also the matter of democracy and social equality.

Konyvtaros.com: Big words from a small library.

Stephen Hawking: We are talking about the future of internet here, but it's also the future of the freedom of speech and the ability to access not just culture but to communicate with the world and our friends, family members.

Konyvtaros.com: Shouldn't we just meet people?

Stephen Hawking: Yes, we should. But we don't. Social networking and services like Skype would be not as important, if we had the time and opportunity to meet everybody that we want. At this stage, the internet is not doing much harm on most people’s lives. Now, the Genie is out, there is no way to stop it. You may try to impose draconian rules upon wifi providers, but soon, there will be new ways of avoiding these and that will be even less controlled by genuine organizations.

Konyvtaros.com: I can visualise pirates...

Stephen Hawking: I'm afraid, we'll just have to get used to them

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