For days now,  Twitter is up in arms about The Digital Economy Bill or #debill as they call it there. #debill is a law, the UK Parliament just rushed through before the elections and that restrains the freedom we have today on the Internet. This despite of over 20.000 people took the effort to write their MP’s, to vote against this bill.

It would not suprise me,  if we over here in the Netherlands would be forced to adopt such draconian laws, trough the ACTA proces, because as in the UK, we have eqally  strong lobby groups, that tell politicians what to do and what not.  But besides that, I would like to emphasize now what the effects of Twitter are  on politics, because it is interesting to see what happens there:

• “Name and shame” People notify each other about the politicians who voted for and against the law or who didn’t even bother to show up for the debate and the voting.
• People say they won’t vote for their MP again, because they supported the bill.
• People call each other to vote for The Pirate Party and support groups, like The Open Rights Group
• People teach each other to go “underground, by using Tor and encryption software,  so that it will be very hard or impossible for Government to trace their online traffic
• And now there even is a website, where Tweeps state they will turn to civil disobedience if this law comes in to practice..

So,  in fact on the Internet it is almost wartime..