The Enabling Act of 1933 (properly known as the "Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Nation") was the act which gave Hitler the power to pass legislation with little or no democratic control, and paved the way for Germany to become a dictatorship.

Originally Posted by Bravo_Zulu

Have the words "Enabling Act 1933" come into anyone else's head or is it just me?

nail on the head....

Originally Posted by AFA06

Personally I reckon the entertainment industry is paying him a massive wedge to introduce these laws. Why else would he fight so hard to get them through?

True to form for Mandy, it all comes from a nice cosy dinner in Corfu with a rich Yank... You couldn't make it up

Start with something small, and next time it comes around the tinfoil-hat accusers on ARRSE will say "what's the matter? it's no different from that copyright law..."

Much as I dislike copyright infringement, due to the type of business I run, I'd rather go bust than have the Government spy on the population for something as petty as this. There's a big difference between stopping large scale piracy and punishing folk for downloading the odd song. It's like policing kids who swap tapes of stuff they've recorded off the radio.

If the Government suggested that a log be kept of every person you spoke to as you went about your daily business - or wanted to fit you with a painless microchip to track your every move - there'd be outrage. But that's exactly what they're doing to people online.

People use the Internet to do many of the things they did offline in the past. The online world should be policed in the same way as the offline world - i.e. we should all be entitled to complete privacy, unless we're caught doing something very illegal.

Originally Posted by Bravo_Zulu

The Enabling Act of 1933 (properly known as the "Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Nation") was the act which gave Hitler the power to pass legislation with little or no democratic control, and paved the way for Germany to become a dictatorship.

Thank you. I now consider myself educated.

Actually, ref point one, I think he would struggle as group punishment is specifically forbidden under UN whatever, Mandy's certainly nasty enough to test it though. Where's Ashie? He could explain why this sort of fascism is good for us.

Originally Posted by FORMER_FYRDMAN

Actually, ref point one, I think he would struggle as group punishment is specifically forbidden under UN whatever, Mandy's certainly nasty enough to test it though. Where's Ashie? He could explain why this sort of fascism is good for us.

Ashie's standard reply to posts about Mandelson is "but he's one of the greatest political operators ever". No, really. He thinks it's a good thing.

It is called delegated legislation and it has been around for donkey's years. There are thousands of enabling acts on the UK statute book (shock, horror).

Originally Posted by DeltaDog

Start with something small, and next time it comes around the tinfoil-hat accusers on ARRSE will say "what's the matter? it's no different from that copyright law..."

Ha, there we go:

Originally Posted by Booty

It is called delegated legislation and it has been around for donkey's years.