Digital disappointment

The wide-ranging Digital Economy Bill, introduced by Labour during the ‘washup’ period before Parliament was dissolved, means that the Government has the power to block certain websites, implement speed blocks and suspend the accounts of internet users suspected of copyright infringement by illegally downloading music, films, photos or software.

Fines up to £50,000 could be imposed and Government would be able to install its own manager at internet domain name registries that are considered to be failing.

Royal assent for the Bill, which is a follow up to Labour’s June 2009 ‘Digital Britain’ policy document, was granted on 8 April. Its aim was to bring the communications sector, which accounts for approximately 8 per cent of the UK’s GDP, under tighter government regulation. Most of the Act is due to come into effect on 8 June, but the copyright infringement clauses have been operational since it became law.

Speaking whilst in opposition, during the second reading of the Bill, the current Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt said: “Instead of a big, ambitious vision for this country, we have a digital disappointment of colossal proportions.” He also criticised it for not dealing with the digital radio switchover or helping the struggling local newspaper and radio sector.

In one of his last acts as an MP, Ian Paisley voted against the Bill on its third reading in the House of Commons. The Liberal Democrats were united in opposing it, but the Conservatives supported it, adding that they might change it after they came into power. It was passed by 189 aye votes to 47 noes.

Now that he is in power with the Lib Dems, Cameron cannot ignore the concerns arising from the legislation. At their special conference on 16 May, the Lib Dems voted to “take all possible steps” to repeal the aspects of the Digital Economy Act which “are inconsistent with [their] policy motion [on] freedom, creativity and the internet”, which they had passed during their spring conference in March.

That emergency motion supported “net neutrality” and opposed “excessive regulatory attempts to monitor, control and limit internet access or internet publication”.

When asked whether certain aspects of the Act will be repealed in light of the Lib Dem stance, a spokeswoman from the UK’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills replied: “The Digital Economy Act received royal assent in April. The Act places certain duties on Ofcom who are working to carry these out."

Locally, Alliance are totally opposed to the Act and their Westminster manifesto was the only one in the province to mention the Act and call for it to be repealed.

Stephen Farry told agendaNi that Alliance believes the Digital Economy Act should be replaced with something that has a “better balance between the customers and the service providers.”

“The part of the Act that we are most unhappy with is the draconian disconnection powers that would see entire households lose their internet due to the activity of one person in the family or house,” Farry commented.

“Issues also remain about wireless connections and who is responsible if somebody in the street gets in the WiFi of a person’s network connection and downloads music or films. These powers have far reaching implications for privacy rights with information about the content that is being viewed in a private person’s own home being passed to several bodies.”

He added: “An area that has not got much media attention is the switching off of analogue radio. While there has been much publicity about turning to digital TV, the same could not be said of digital radio. There are millions of radios that work perfectly that will be made useless overnight, and the mass dumping of these radios could cause problems for the environment.”

In conclusion, Farry urged the new coalition government to “take another look at this issue and make the changes that are drastically needed to sort out this mess.”

Digital Economy Act

Ofcom’s responsibilities:

• Ofcom (the regulator for the UK communications industries) must prepare reports on electronic communications networks and services, internet domain names and media content.
• They may exclude information from a report if they consider that it is information they could refuse to disclose under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
• They must report on internet domain names if requested to by the Business Secretary. This will include the allocation and registration of internet domain names, and the misuse of internet domain names.
• Ofcom must report, every three and 12 months, on the extent of online copyright infringement and the volume of “copyright infringement reports”.
• The Government can specify digital switchover dates.

Illegal downloads:

• Copyright owners will be notified if it appears that a subscriber has infringed their copyright. The owners can then send a “copyright infringement report” to the internet service provider (ISP) within one month. The ISP must pass this on to the individual involved with a description of the apparent infringement, evidence showing the subscriber’s IP address, the time at which the evidence was gathered, and information about appeals they can make.
• The copyright owner can apply to a court to learn the subscriber’s identity and bring proceedings against the subscriber for copyright infringement.
• The Business Secretary can allow for courts to put a blocking injunction on an internet location which the court is satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright.
• The Government can tell Ofcom to order ISPs to sanction speed blocks, bandwidth shaping, site blocking, account suspension or other limits against a customer.
• Copyright owners must pay Ofcom’s costs in court cases. Both copyright owners and ISPs must pay costs of implementing technical measures and accused subscribers must also share appeal costs.
• Libraries are absolved of copyright infringement if they lend out e-books and audiobooks.

Scrutiny:

• Before making any of the above provisions, the Business Secretary must consult the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and other relevant parties.

Channel 4:

• Film production and distribution are added to Channel 4’s remit. It is required to make a broad range of relevant media content of high quality that, appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society. The channel must also produce news and content for children and teens.

Video games:

• Game regulations under the Video Recordings Act 1984 are extended to games that include violence to humans or animals, encouragement of criminality, drug, alcohol or tobacco use, sexual messages or swearing.

Penalties:

• The maximum penalty for criminally making copyright-infringing works has been raised to £50,000.
• ISPs that fail to apply technical measures against subscribers can be fined up to £250,000, as Ofcom determines.