Money made?

I'm sure everybody reading this has had poor service at one time or another. But what is it that makes the service so poor?

Most of the time its because customers aren't fully informed. People feel that they aren't always told the correct information, when they speak to a company. Surely that is ridiculous, how can you give the money you earned to a company you don't trust?

But nowadays, people are forced to accept these problems, as they HAVE to deal with companies. For instance, it is no longer possible for you not to have a bank account, whether you are on the dole, get a pension or work. Because money is now deposited automatically and controlled by the banks, and other companies. Too many people in this country never get to see a penny they have earned, because money is paid in and out of their bank account without them doing anything. We are forced into having bank account, because that's how everything is done these days.

What about the people who don't agree with the banks and how they act. There is no opt out. The banks earn millions of pounds day for looking after OUR MONEY. How is that fair? How is that looking after people? And to make things worse, you have issues and a change of circumstances, and you are punished with charges on your money. The banks run the world, because WE fund them.

I think that the economic crash, which has been going on for the last few years. The banks poor invested OUR money, lost it all, and the economy crashed. So you would think that governments would learn, and would give people more choice. But no, if anything they want to increase peoples' reliance on the banks. That will not solve anything long term, and eventually there will be another crash.

We need to find a stable, better model for our society to run off. It is something that would take years, even decades to sort out, and I don't even l know where we could go. Just it is obvious that the current model hasn't worked, so we should look at something else to make our country successful, rather than just money.

But that is something that businesses and governments need to decide. Due to how society is now operated, a single person no longer has the choice to operate 'cash in hand'. How is it correct that people are not allowed to take full control of their own money. If we can sort that out, I believe a lot of other things will follow.

To view more views on the state of our world, visit adbusters.

http://adbusters.org

Digital Economy Act- the reaction

Ok, I have had quite a few comments and emails about yesterdays blog. Useful that none of them occured as comments on the actual blog. :? Nice.

Having  a busy day today, so this is just an update. I thought I'd show that are people are as concerned as myself about this blog.

My friend Ryan can't understand why this has been pushed through. It is a bill of great importance to the British public and can't understand why they could not have waited till AFTER the election to make a decision.

An anonymous comment on the LiveJournal cross post of yesterdays blog said 'As if the government need to prove how out of touch with their voters they are.' I have to agree with this sentiment as they obviously hasn't been much thought and discussion into the act, I mean a 2 hour debate on the act is not enough. We, the people, need to stand up against the government and show how we feel.

Speaking of showing how you feel, yesterday I said I had contacted my MP, Willie Rennie, about why he DIDN'T vote on the act. Well, I woke up this morning with a reply from him :-o I know, I was shocked.

The jist of what I said was -

Why were you one of the MPs who DID NOT vote in the approval for the Digital Ecconomy Act? It is a joke that it was rushed through just before Parliment was dissolved. This could potentially penalise every one of your voters with an internet connection.

And he replied-

I agree with you that it's a bad bill and if our intelligence had shown we had a chance of defeating the Bill I would have been there. Sadly insufficient Labour MPs rebelled. However, we did secure an agreement that regulations would be required after the election and agreed by Parliament. That will give an opportunity to change the arrangements.

So is that an apt reply. It makes sense to me, I suppose why should they vote, when they won't win. But hold on a sec, is there not a General Election coming up? Could that same mentality be used by hundreds of voters when it comes to picking a candidate. 'Why should I vote, when the person I want won't win?' To be honest, I am very greatful that Mr Rennie replied to me so quickly, he (and his office) are really good at keeping in contact with people. This is the second time I have contacted him, and to be honest he has not disappointed me. Yet. I voted for him last time, and he is very good at making sure that your voice is heard. So unless he does something stupid, I will be voting Lib Dem and Willie Rennie again this year.

Also- something to note, Ofcom is supposed to be monitering the Digital Economny act, and making sure that ISPs stick to the regulations. Well, it is going to take at least a year for Ofcom to create a 'code of conduct' which will work. Also, Willie Rennie is not the only political person to say that the Act will be opened for a more in depth discussion after the election. There is talk of it even being repealled. So I guess we working in the Creative Industries just have to wait for a while before we see what the outcome will be.

Random interweb find time. :)

Check out these pushy guitars:

Anyone else find them so cute? I want a guitar to cuddle in bed. :P Now, these toys are designed for kids, but why should they get all the fun. They cost £29.04 each and you get a choice from one of the three models. Either the rebel, the classic or the rockstar. If you fancy one, head over to http://www.curiosite.com/scripts/product/enproduct.php?idproducto=98960722 to get one.

Digital Economy Act- bad times.

Soooo...as you may have gathered from my last blog, if I have no college info to report, I am posting my random finds from the interwebs. I suppose the reason I am starting that, is because I spend a lot of time looking for news stories which I find of interest. So for every blog, I don't have any college things to report, I will post some news, something which I value as important, so it will either be comic books, music or technology. :P

A big SERIOUS news story is the UK government passing the Digital Economy Act, where it deals with 'copywrite issues in a modern society'. The main points of this Act is that if there are repeated infringements on copywrite, after warnings from their Internet Service Provider (ISP) people can be cut off from the interwebs. This is a serious issues as if you get accusations, and your connection gets stopped, will it stop you from getting access with another provider? This could end up like some sort of quality check, and I can see ISPs profiteering on people with a poor history, where they have been banned by a provider.

This is a very serious concern, as there has already been numerous cases where innocent people have been threatened with court orders, after a company accuses them of illegal file sharing. Now, my stance is, if the method of 'catching' people is not efficient, how can a bill be passed to give the people who use these methods more power? It just doesn't make sense. People are becoming nervous. Broadband  connections ARE NOT 100% hack-proof. Even with a password protected connection, people can still find a way to gain access. Now if these people, using your connection unauthorised, do something illegal and get caught. Its you as the account holder who will get penalised. Security needs to improve on routers, and detection methods need to be more solid, for this act to be a success.

Now the big thing that bothered me with this Act was Clause 43, which was for Photography, and that if the author of a particular image could not be contacted, then the image can be used anyway. This raised fears that someone would find a picture on Google, and simply say 'I couldn't find the author' and they could use the image. This was dropped last-minute out of the bill, and will presumably get put through Parliament again once normality has resumed after the 6th May election.

It is very concerning that this bill was pushed through, just before parliament was dissolved for the election.  It is a bill which affects every person in the UK with an internet connection, and yet the majority of MPs were not present to vote on whether the bill should pass into law. This sneaked through, as if it was forced. And the media is making more fuss over Google, Microsoft and Facebook. This act was not publicised, because there would be an almighty backlash about it. Most of the MPs were working on how to start their campaigns for the General Election, rather than supporting something which could affect even themselves.

Without a foolproof method of detecting the law breakers, this act should NEVER have seen the light of day.

So, a rather serious blog, but I feel that everyone who has an issue with this Act needs to raise their concerns. We live in a democracy, where people can no longer be bothered to fight for their rights. This act should have been postponed till AFTER the election, it should not have been rushed through, like it was.

Read more about the Digital Economy Act 2010-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/apr/08/digital-economy-bill-passes-third-reading

O2's reaction http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/news/20100412-o2-speaks-out-against-luddite-digital-economy-bill

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/09/digital-economy-bill-backlash

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8603285.stm

I know this act was passed last week, but when candidates come knocking on your door ask why they allowed this to go through. Ask them why they didn't vote. I have already contacted my MP Willie Rennie about this, and will say if he decides to reply. I am not holding my breath.