Everyone will have enjoyed the delights of books, films, pictures and records.

All take time and money to create, and it is quite fair for the creators of such to want to derive commercial benefit for their efforts.

At the same time, ordinary people wish to share their life experiences, which may include criticism, parody or satire of a person or body.

In reality, simply doing so may well be in breach of copyright law as it stands today.

In addition, many internet users will be below the age where they are fully able to understand such legal principles.

In many territories, including the EU and the member states within it, legislation concerning internet copyright principles is being discussed.

Some suggestions have included the option to disconnect a suspected – not proven by any legal principle – copyright infringer from the internet.

From a real world perspective, the majority of material available on the internet is in violation of some existing copyright law, however trivial.

Granting businesses and other institutions, as opposed to a court of law, the power to censor the internet has dangerous implications.

Imagine if, at election time, one party was able to shut off a rival’s internet access on the grounds that it had used its logo as part of a criticism on a website.

To put it simply, extending print-era copyright laws to the internet will provide not justice but endless opportunities for corruption.

For the sake of freedom and justice, please talk to your MP or MEP and ensure they have seen all sides of the story. Unfortunately, some stories have bigger sums behind them than others.

A R Wainwright
Upper Fenn Road
Halstead