iPhone 4.0 launches in UK as O2 caps data downloads

Posted on by John Helmer
Queue for the launch of iPhone 4.0 in Brighton

Queue for the launch of iPhone 4.0 in Brighton

Clearly not everybody knows about ‘The Apple Effect’. While I was taking this picture outside the O2 shop in Brighton, a bystander asked me what the queue was for. I told him it was for the new Apple iPhone 4.0, which is launched today in the UK. ‘So is that free or what?’ was his incredulous reply. Er, no. There is no free lunch – not this year anyway – as George Osbourne, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer was at pains to tell us this Tuesday, though perhaps not in so many words. In tune with the new spirit of austerity and restraint we also learned recently that O2 is putting a cap on data downloads, replacing its previous ‘unlimited’ data contracts, for all new and renewed iPhone contracts. Though the download limits are fairly generous, those eager early adopters queuing up for their new iPhone’s will be getting a marginally less good deal than iPhone users have enjoyed previously. Although they will of course enjoy a more richly-featured handset. Continue reading →

Unintended consequences: copyright, censorship and the Digital Economy Act

Posted on by John Helmer

John Scott, Earl of Eldon

Rushed into law in the dying days of the Labour government, The Digital Economy Act has been described by Guardian Columnist Cory Doctorow as establishing an unprecedented realm of web censorship in Britain.

This is not what the Act seeks to do, ostensibly at least, but it is seen as an inevitable if perhaps unintended consequence of a badly framed, hurriedly passed piece of legislation.  The Act has many aims, not least among which is combating illegal file-sharing. Critics have pointed out that Sweden’s similar attempt to legislate in this area recently suffered an epic fail due to that pesky law of unintended consequences. An initial 30% dip in internet traffic was followed within months by a surge to yet higher levels– only now much of the traffic was encrypted and untraceable, presenting the authorities with even bigger problems than before. In researching previous blog posts on the history of copyright, I came across an interesting earlier example of the law of unintended consequences leading to outcomes directly opposite to those which had been intended, in the area of copyright and censorship. Enter Lord Eldon. Continue reading →