All entries for Tuesday 23 March 2010

Digital Economy Bill (Act now if you can be bothered).

Writing about web page http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/22/digital-economy-bill

There's a lot of talk in the media (maybe not as much as there should be) about how it appears that current government is attempting to get the Digital Economy Bill enacted before the next general election. The bill covers quite a lot of things including the switch of of analogue radio (does you car have a DAB receiver? no, mine neither), what Channel 4 should do, the role of Ofcom, a £6 annual tax on phone lines to help pay for the development of broadband infrastructure and the part which is causing a lot of controversy; How to deal with online piracy. This is the part which would seem to allow people's Internet connections to be cut off due to alleged copyright infringement.

The imminence of the next general election, (consensus seems to be some time in May), means that the bill may not get a proper debate in parliament. It would be rushed through. This is clearly not a good thing especially given some of the proposals in the bill. One member of the House of Lords has described it as "a complete and absolute abuse of parliamentary process". Parts of the bill appear to have been essentially written by the British Phonographic Industry.

Whether the bill gets a proper debate or not will essentially be decided on Thursday. So if you use the Internet and you think that a bill which may potentially affect your usage of it should be properly discussed in parliament, now appears to be the time to speak up by either contacting your MP or writing to Harriet Harman, Leader of the House (via, read this advice regarding form letters first).

Mike Willis : 23 Mar 2010 15:16 |  Tags: Deb Politics Rights |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem