Controversial anti-piracy bill becomes law
The infamous Digital Economy Bill has become law after it was approved in the House of Commons by a majority of 142 and passed in the House of Lords.
Under the terms of the Bill, media regulatory body Ofcom will be able to block websites suspected of piracy and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will have to suspend the accounts of persistent download offenders after a warning process, popularly known as the ‘three strikes’ approach. Ofcom also now has the right to fine ISPs up to £250,000 if they fail to penalise serial offenders.
Copyright holders can now apply for a court order to get the names and addresses of repeat offenders and prosecute them individually for copyright theft.
Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw said, “Hundreds of millions of pounds every year is currently haemorrhaging from our creative industries because of unlawful file-sharing. This is not a harmless or victimless activity. It deprives our musicians, writers and filmmakers and other artists of their livelihoods and if we don't do something about it, it will pose a serious threat to our creative sectors and Britain's role in them.”
The Bill has come under fire for the manner in which it was rushed through parliament just weeks before the general election on May 6. Internet giant Google has consistently opposed the Bill, saying that no proper scrutiny was done before making it law.
A Google spokesperson said, “We absolutely believe in the importance of copyright, but blocking through injunction creates a high risk that legal content gets mistakenly blocked, or that people abuse the system.”
The Bill is unlikely to deter pirates who are likely to continue downloading by encrypting their Internet activity.
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