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UK set to pass controversial filesharing bill, says UK Music
The UK Digital Economy Bill is set to pass into law before the general election, according to predictions by Fergal Sharkey, the head of rights body UK Music. The comments come just days after the House of Lords passed the controversial bill, which will include new provisions to curb illegal filesharing.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Sharkey said: "I think it’s fair to say that there will be a Digital Economy Bill before the general election." The comments add fuel to speculation that the bill will be rushed through by May 6 – the day Gordon Brown is predicted to call the election.
However, the bill faces mounting opposition. The Open Rights Group (ORG) claims that in the three days after the Lords passed the bill, 10,000 people in the UK have written to MPs, demanding a debate on its contents. At the heart of the controversy is the proposed power to disconnect heavy filesharers from their ISP without what the ORG claims is "proper democratic scrutiny".
Speaking to StrategyEye, UK Music's Adam Webb said the Digital Economy Bill would be key to building a viable digital market. He says one of its key purposes is to "reconnect fans with licensed services and support development of new ones". However, ISPs including TalkTalk and BT are critical of the bill and have called for users to be fined or warned rather than cut-off.
The bill was born out of the Digital Britain white paper that was published in June 2009, and includes other measures, such as extending the role of Ofcom so that it also reports on communications infrastructure and media content. However, the Lords scrapped clause 17, which would have allowed the secretary of state to update copyright law without parliamentary assent, in line with advances in technology.
The bill could set a new precedent in Europe. It was presented to the House of Commons for the first time on March 16 and will undergo two more readings in the Commons before it is passed into law. The dates for these readings are yet to be set.
