"Tories suggest regulating UK news websites"
http://www.cityam.com/latest-
The Conservatives last night published a draft plan for press reform that would see UK news websites regulated for the first time.
David Cameron has rejected recommendations contained in the Leveson report - and backed by Labour and the Lib Dems - to introduce new legislation to control the media. Instead he wants to introduce an independent panel, backed by royal charter, to oversee a new press regulator.
Culture secretary Maria Miller said the proposed charter "would see the toughest press regulation this country has ever seen, without compromising press freedom". Controversially the charter proposes extending the remit of any press regulator from printed newspapers to websites "targeted primarily at an audience in the United Kingdom".
Paul Staines, publisher of the Guido Fawkes political blog, last night told City A.M. that this would be impossible to enforce even though the majority of his readers are in Britain: "It is my intention to ignore it completely, my website servers are in California and the publisher is a foreign corporation. I have no bricks and mortar legal entity in the UK."
"The charter is not going to work. The reforms will only benefit the rich and powerful," Staines added.
The leaders of all three main political parties, as well as two-thirds of parliamentarians, would have to agree on any changes to the royal charter.
David Cameron has chosen the arcane royal charter device, used to set the remit of organisations such as the BBC, the Bank of England and universities.
See Schedule 4 part 1, "Key Definitions", in the draft charter:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/
4.1 b)
"relevant publisher" means a person (other than a broadcaster) who publishes in the United Kingdom:
a. a newspaper or magazine containing news-related material, and
b. a website containing news-related material (whether or not related to a newspaper or magazine)
4.1 d)
a person "publishes in the United Kingdom" if the publication takes place in the United Kingdom or is targeted primarily at an audience in the United Kingdom
4.1 e)
"news related material" means:
i. news or information about current affairs;
ii. opinion about matters relating to the news or current affairs; or
iii. gossip about celebrities, other public figures or other persons in the news.
It is completely unworkable. All material on Blogspot.com or Wordpress.com blogs is "published" in the US anyway. Not to mention there are various other laws the UK is signed up to covering freedom of speech/expression and so forth. FAIL.
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“Corrupt the young, get them away from religion. Get them interested in sex. Make them superficial, destroy their ruggedness. Get control of all means of publicity and thereby: Get
the peoples' mind off their government by focusing their attention on athletics, sexy books and plays, and other trivialities. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial matters of no importance. Destroy the people's faith in their natural leaders by holding up the latter to ridicule, contempt and obloquy. Always preach true democracy but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.
Encourage government extravagance, destroy its credit, produce fear with rising prices, inflation and general discontent. Foment unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders and foster a soft and lenient attitude on the part of government towards such disorders. By specious argument cause the breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, continence, faith in the pledged word, ruggedness. CAUSE THE REGISTRATION OF ALL FIREARMS ON SOME PRETEXT, WITH THE VIEW OF CONFISCATING THEM AND LEAVING THE POPULATION DEFENCLESS."
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
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