Neil Gaiman Calls on Lord Carter to Think Again About Net Disconnections

Neil Gaiman, best selling author and writer of the recent film Coraline, has added his voice to the opposition of new anti-piracylegislation proposed by the British government, in the form of a letter to the original author, Lord Carter of Barnes.

In the letter, Mr Gaiman stresses the importance of looking into new ways of getting artists paid when their music is played online. “The old way no longer works.” he states bluntly.

However, he opposes disconnecting users as a way to accomplish this. Following such a course “won’t put a single extra penny in the pockets of the recording artists and their agents.” He goes on to to express his concerns about the punishment involved “particularly as disconnection from the internet will occur without trial.”

The author concludes the letter by asking Lord Carter to use his influence by “publicly opposing the pernicious elements of the Digital Economy Bill.”

Recently others, such as Facebook, Ebay, Yahoo and Internet giant Google have also expressed concerns about the legislation as well. No word yet on whether any of this will actually work, but UK citizens are encouraged to sign the anti-disconnection petition.

Thanks to Patrick from Open Rights Group for the heads up on the story. For a full copy of the letter please visit their site.