Opposition to digital economy bill grows
Government's proposed 'three strikes' rule would damage business, say hotels and public institutions
Opposition to the government's digital economy bill has increased sharply, with strong criticism in the House of Lords for its failure to offer "due judicial process" to people accused of illicit filesharing under the proposed "three strikes" rules of the bill.
Outside parliament, hotels and educators have complained that the bill also endangers their businesses and provision of the internet to the public because of its insistence that organisations providing net access should be liable for the actions of their customers.
The digital economy bill, which is being sponsored by Lord Mandelson through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, is a broad-ranging bill covering digital spectrum, greater powers for Ofcom, legislation over copyright infringement via the net, and the enabling of better access nationwide to faster internet connections.
The bill proposes a "three strikes" rule which would mean that persistent copyright breaches would be lead to disconnection from the internet. The aim is to reduce illlicit filesharing by 70%. But in a letter (PDF) to Lord Puttnam, representatives from institutions such as the University of London, British Library and the Imperial War Museum, said: "Because public institutions often provide internet access to hundreds or thousands of individual users, the complexity of our position in relation to copyright infringements must be taken into consideration."
It says that the bill is unclear about the role of "intermediaries" such as libraries in the bill.
The Lords' Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) notes in a report published on Friday (PDF) that "at the moment the Bill defines a process of appeals with no presumption of innocence" and that "[this] process will be applied irrespective of the sanction or evidence."
That, they say, goes against natural justice, which should start with the presumption of innocence and the onus on the prosecution to prove guilt. "In the particular case of disconnection – which is a severe punishment – the need for a prior hearing based on an innocence presumption is unquestionably essential," the commitee writes.
The Open Rights Group, an advocacy group, is backing the industry groups' call for a guarantee that they will not become victims of the new legislation – as well as other venues in similar positions – and encouraging more people to protest at the provisions of the bill.
TalkTalk, one of the three largest broadband providers in the UK, has criticised the bill on the basis that it assumes guilt, and is unworkable in practice.
However it is unclear whether it will succeed in passing through parliament, given the limited time left before the election must occur, and the amount of opposition that it is attracting from groups inside and outside parliament.
Source: The Guardian