4 months later

Due to some personal issues I have been unable to access the internet properly for around the past 4 months. As I have so often noted, suspension or disconnection of internet accounts as a remedy for file sharing is an extreme, unnecessary and damaging penalty that in effect amounts to an overreaction for the crime that has allegedly been committed. (Sorry to those that had been relying on my posts and links – hopefully things will return to normal over the next month).

So what has my experience been? Life without the net is something I have feared in the past. Having only had broadband services for a relatively short time span, my internet connection is something that I both cherish and depend upon.

For the past four months I have been unable to communicate effectively with a range of people including my family, colleagues and others (both via email, facebook and chat). I have been unable to do my banking on line which has been both time consuming and resulted in the mismanagement of my funds (agh! FIXED). Furthermore I have been in the dark with respect to what has been happening in the digital music field. The end result was the downloading of some 448 emails the other day and another 133 today. I have just started to plough through them to see what is happening – BNA – one of the newsletters I have relied on heavily in the past announced in April, apparently, that they are no longer going to be sending out their daily news update and instead have replaced it with a subscription model. One of my favourite artists, the John Butler trio, launched a new album (which I have bought) but I have missed out on other information including new film clips and tour information and interviews which I would have loved to have read/seen much sooner.

These are just some of the negative consequences of having been disconnected from the internet for a 4 month period. I once broke a leg that took 16 weeks to heal and the frustration, inconvenience and suffering are very similar.

I have long denounced the imposition of disconnection and suspension of internet accounts and now with personal first hand experience will remain an active and even louder opponent of this penalty.