The Digital Economy Bill, which turns much of Lord Carter's Digital Britain report into law needs to be reported upon.An article published on Thursday in, The Guardian, discusses a debate taking place in the British Parliament around a new Digital Economy Bill.
One amendment in particular is stirring a lot of discussion about its impact on content online. The Guardian writes:
The new proposal – which was passed in the House of Lords by 165 votes to 140 – gives a high court judge the right to issue an injunction against a Web site accused of hosting a “substantial” amount of copyright infringing material, potentially forcing the entire site offline.
A judge could shut down a Web site because of copyright infringement, even if the site’s manager didn’t put the content online.The concern is how a company can be held accountable for every piece of content placed on its site. Many critics of this Bill say it is most likely to result in the stifling of creativity, innovation and free speech.
On Monday, Lord Puttnam said that the scheme was being rushed through parliament without sufficient scrutiny, and that legislators were subject to an "extraordinary degree of lobbying" from copyright holders.The Bill must pass through the House of Lords before it can be put before the Commons and turned into law. Reading continues in the Lords on Monday.
The Internet Services Providers' Association(ISPA), which represents ISPs, issued a press release in which it said it was "outraged" by this amendment, which it described as "misjudged" and "disproportionate".
The prominent blogger and web-freedom campaigner Cory Doctorow went further, warning that in trying to end the use of "web lockers" for copyright infringement, the Lords could cripple services like Google Docs and You Send It, and end up damaging Britain.
Despite the imminence of a general election, it's now looking quite likely that a bill which has the support of the main parties could well end up in law.
