Peers push for file-sharing sites to be blocked

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 3 Mar 2010 at 11:27

Two Lords have tabled an amendment to the Digital Economy Bill that will force ISPs to block sites accused of copyright infringement.

The amendment - which is was tabled by Conservative peer Lord Howard of Rising and the Liberal Democrats' Lord Clement Jones - would give courts the power to "prevent access to specified online locations for the prevention of online copyright infringement".

The amendment stipulates that courts must consider whether a "substantial proportion of the content accessible at or via each specified online location infringes copyright" and take into account whether the site's owner has taken "reasonable steps" to prevent infringement, before the site is blocked.

A further clause reinforces "the importance of preserving human rights, including freedom of expression, and the right to property."

Civil liberties campaigners claim the amendment is "dangerous". "This would open the door to a massive imbalance of power in favour of large copyright holding companies," writes the Open Rights Group's executive director Jim Killock on the ORG blog. "Individuals and small businesses would be open to massive 'copyright attacks' that could shut them down, just by the threat of action."

"This is exactly how libel law works today: suppressing free speech by the unwarranted threat of legal action. The expense and the threat are enough to create a 'chilling effect'," Killock adds.