> Even then, they already had the systems in place for this censorship precisely due to secret lobbying deals and strong-arming by the government (who knew that any legislation they brought forward would quickly run up against lots of opposition both politically and legally) - see the situation with the IWF and the porn-blocking stuff.
This isn't right. The Digital Economy Act said 'Ofcom can go think about whether site blocking would work'. Ofcom took forever and ever and still hasn't reported back. In the meantime, the music industry took action under the existing copyright act (from 1997) to try and block some sites. The ISPs opposed the action. The court granted it. After a few of these, the government said 'great! you don't need the DEA to block sites then so we'll abandon that'. There was no secret lobbying to get sites blocked - the legislation was already there and in place.
This isn't right. The Digital Economy Act said 'Ofcom can go think about whether site blocking would work'. Ofcom took forever and ever and still hasn't reported back. In the meantime, the music industry took action under the existing copyright act (from 1997) to try and block some sites. The ISPs opposed the action. The court granted it. After a few of these, the government said 'great! you don't need the DEA to block sites then so we'll abandon that'. There was no secret lobbying to get sites blocked - the legislation was already there and in place.