One of the lesser-publicised petitions on the rather pointless petitions.pm.gov.uk site (or: "Ask for whatever you want! Then we'll send you a patronising email about why Uncle Tony knows best!") was a protest against Digital Rights Management controls on digital media. The response is predictable: "Big businesses love it! Suck it up!", but this caught my eye:

In particular, the independent Gowers Review of Intellectual Property commissioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, published its report on 6th December 2006 as part of the Chancellor's Pre-Budget Report. Recommendations include introducing a limited private copying exception by 2008 for format shifting for works published after the date that the law comes into effect.

So, we'll be able to encode the latest drivel by Razorlight, but not allowed to make copies of Technique? That seems incredibly wrong, somehow…

(The Government has yet to respond to the greatest petition currently on the site. GOLD!)