Digital Economy Bill passes Commons
By Stuart Turton
Posted on 8 Apr 2010 at 08:37
The controversial Digital Economy Bill has passed its third reading and will pass into law, after just two hours of debate in the Commons last night.
Despite opposition from the Liberal Democrats and a number of Labour MPs, the bill passed with a majority of 189 votes to 47. Under the legislation, ISPs will be forced to send letters to alleged file-sharers threatening to suspend their internet connections.
The bill also grants the secretary of state for business the power to block "a location on the internet 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".
First time I've ever broken the whip in the chamber. I feel physically sick
The power replaces Clause 18 which granted the Government wide-ranging powers to deal with future methods of copyright infringement without the need for further legislation.
However, Labour MP John Hemming protested that the power could still prove a danger to sites such as Wikileaks - the whistle blowing website that hosts copyrighted material.
"A recent example is the US air force video, which it published," argued Hemming. "Copyright exists with the US Government, who under the Bill could, and would want to, apply to ban WikiLeaks from the UK. That provision is clearly in the Bill."
The objection was waved aside by Digital Britain Minister Stephen Timms who claimed it was important the bill did not impede freedom of speech, but offered no guarantees on the future of sites such as Wikileaks.
While a number of MPs complained that the bill was too big to be dealt with in "wash up", the most damning sentiment came from former Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson who wrote on Twitter "First time I've ever broken the whip in the chamber. I feel physically sick."
I feel physically sick too.
By Mr_Flynn on 8 Apr 2010 
Worst piece of legislature since the dangerous dogs act. An utter travesty that I have no doubt will see future Governments severely bitten.
By rozman on 8 Apr 2010
Prepare to break the "law"
Because I have no longer any respect for the "laws" this country or the moronic self-serving and ignorant muppets who pass them.
By cheysuli on 8 Apr 2010
If I remember well the Pirate Bay got closed down despite the fact that it wasn't hosting any copyright protected content it was merely listing it.
Well, google.co.uk be afraid. Be very afraid :>
By Josefov on 8 Apr 2010
The difference between Google and Pirate Bay
Josefov - there is indeed a difference between indexing and hosting, but there is also a big difference between Google and the Pirate Bay, and the focus of their indexing and its presentation to searchers. I would have thought the title of the site is a reasonable clue for starters.
Does Google have a link on their front page specifically for searching for "TV shows" (ref - screenshot of Pirate Bay front page on its Wikipedia article)? And just how convincing do you think the pirate community's suggestion is, that it should only be used for non-copyrighted TV shows, uploaded by the rights owners as torrents rather than have them visit their own website to view? I don't know of many TV shows that would cover.
Sorry, but arguments like this do this view-point no favours, and are easily seen through by the "muppets" in parliament.
By halsteadk on 8 Apr 2010
Labour for it, Tories couldn't be bothered to vote
Once again the LibDems are the only party on the side of Common Sense.
By SwissMac on 8 Apr 2010
@halsteadk :
"Dur, one says pirate" isn't an argument - when I was a kid I had a toy boat with a pirate flag that I played with in the bath. It said pirate on but it wasn't a real pirate ship. If you just ban everything that says pirate and let everything that says Google through everyone will just stop calling their sites pirate and start calling them Google.
The last I checked Google had an option on the front page that took you directly to "Videos", "Images", "Books" and so on. What distinction are you seriously drawing between that and a link to "TV Shows"? Are you saying that if it doesn't say "TV Shows" and "Pirate" on the front page it won't count under this law?
Google is pretty open about the fact that it goes out and crawls the internet for content, content owners don't send their content to Google, Google goes out and copies them for its index.
By steviesteveo on 8 Apr 2010
Right. So now we've proof that laws can be bought that will serve large industries to get precisely what they want. This is corruption. While the intent was to deliberately stop thepiratebay this will spread until there are sites that disagree with the government being shutdown, and then, well, they'll finally think they control everything.
It's time such nonsense was ended and full blown IPv6 enabled, with fully encrypted anonymous traffic deployed.
No doubt they'll make that illegal as well.
By bubbles16 on 8 Apr 2010
If you don't like the result (who does?) change your vote
If you don't agree with the way Labour and Conservatives supported the bill, don't give them your vote but vote for the LibDems instead and let's all give the big parties a bloody nose for being so arrogant and out of touch.
By SwissMac on 8 Apr 2010
How did your MP vote?
If they did, that is
See the list here
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/
cmhansrd/cm100407/debtext/100407-0032.htm#10040880
00001
By greemble on 8 Apr 2010
Did any Tory vote?
I couldn't spot the name of my MP or any Tory that I recognised in the Noes column - thanks for ref Greemble. Did they all stay at home?
By beeblebroxIV on 9 Apr 2010
@ halsteadk
But you see, you are referring to something that is widely known as 'common sense' and which is completely extinct in the world of politics.
I might have made a joke but the capacity for someone to think along those lines for real is there...
By Josefov on 9 Apr 2010
@Swissmac
For once, I'm in total agreement
At least those LibDems that voted, all voted against.
By greemble on 10 Apr 2010
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