The beeb are reporting that lawmakers are considering drafting legislation that would ban Filesharers from the internet should they be found to be sharing copyrighted content without authorisation.

Some of the UK’s biggest internet providers, such as BT, Virgin and Tiscali have been in talks with the entertainment industry over introducing a voluntary scheme for policing pirate activity, but no agreement has been reached.

You might ask why this interests us over the pond, well as is too often the case, lawmakers in the republic copy/paste legislation from the UK - if this goes through it presents a worrying trend that could translate to Irish Internet users.

[bbc online]

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Following on from our coverage of the Anonymous versus The Church of Scientology (here and here), we wrap up for today with a photo gallery and videos of the protest. There are far too many photos to display all here at once, so we’ve set up a Flickr stream and YouTube channel for the event. Photos & Videos after the jump…

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I’d like to start off by addressing some criticism we’ve recieved since yesterdays posting, about not asking ‘the hard questions’ when interviewing Gerard Ryan yesterday. A phrase comes to mind here: ‘Catch more bees with honey than lemon’. There is already a great wealth of decidely anti-Scientology literature and media (which we linked to in our original post), its necessary sometimes to remember these are real people who really believe in the ‘religion’ created by L. Ron Hubbard. It is our goal to present as much a balanced argument as possible, so we make no apologies for attempting to hear the other side.

What is Scientology?

Scientology is a self-described ‘religion’ based on the writings and talks of the Science Fiction writer, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) [0]. The Church of Scientology defines Scientology as “the study of truth”. However even on a cursary look at the Church of Scientology reveals that such truth comes at a price. Where most other major religious groups share their teachings as ‘absolute truths’, which they believe will stand out on their own merits, it will cost you to ’study truth’ in scientology. Approximately $100,000 to learn the core beliefs. The Church of Scientology argues that the work they do, such as the auditing sessions, are labour intensive and thus justify the fees they charge; in stark contrast to most if not all other religions which survive on optional donations alone. As Gerard Ryan of The Church of Scientology (Ireland) admits, if you dont have the money to pay for the ‘religious services’, your pretty much out of luck - so from the point of view that Scientology is only for those with money seems at least in part to be true. One might reasonably ask, why spiritual enlightenment should carry a monetary levy.

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As mentioned previously, we endeavour to cover the Anonymous vs Church of Scientology events with a balanced but informed position. To this end, we contacted the Anonymous group to get their side of the story. Here we present Anonymous’ side of the debate…

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With the threat of protests looming the air is heavy with the feeling of anticipation. Today just before the day of the worldwide protest organized by Anonymous against the Church of Scientology, and in an effort to get the full story we have gone out and gotten in contact with Scientology Ireland’s official spokesman Gerard Ryan to discuss Scientology in Ireland today, and the looming protest tomorrow.

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Walking around Dublin City center, you’ll notice Eircom have rolled out Free Wi-Fi Access at every telephone box. We take these ‘free public wifi’ hotspots for a spin, heres what we found out..
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