Wyre Forest's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate Neville Farmer Speaks at National Conference (Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats)

Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats <roger.shade@virginmedia.com>

Wyre Forest's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate Neville Farmer Speaks at National Conference

March 15, 2010 7:20 PM

conference speech Neville Farmer Wyre Forest's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate was one of the speakers at the party's national spring conference in Birmingham on Sunday 14th of March. Speaking out against the british government and EU proposed regulation of the internet, Neville Farmer hit out at Lord Mandelson's plan to cut off the internet access of individuals who had allegedly downloaded material in breach of copyright.

"There's more than a whiff of mediaeval B movie about this," said Mr Farmer about the Digital Economy bill, in which Lord Mandelson has pushed for arbitrary suspensions of a person's internet access on reports of alleged file-sharing. "the cyber peasant is caught stealing the wicked Baron Media's game and so the Sherriff of Mandelson willingly orders his banishment from the wonderful land of internet."

Mr Farmer claimed that despite the fact his own book and albums had been pirated freely, he saw the imposition of a such a law by vested corporate interests as a threat to the whole principle of open sourcing on the internet.

"The internet does not belong to business," he said. "It belongs to everybody. It's the last great wilderness and that's what's so amazing about it. It's a place where people are free to explore. To ruin that wilderness with no-go areas and fences is to destroy the very essence of the internet."

The motion he and some of his Liberal Democrat colleagues were arguing for accepted the rights of creators to be rewarded for their work but that excessive regulation or attempts to monitor people's private activity on the internet was to be condemned. The motion was carried unanimously and will now become federal policy for the Liberal Democrats.

"I'm really proud that the Liberal Democrats have seen the importance of protecting the freedoms of the internet," said Neville Farmer. "It's a vital part of our constitution that members get to write and elect policy and this paper will spearhead the political fight to stop big business taking control of the internet."