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Government shows "common sense" in site-blocking U-turn

Posted on 3 Aug 2011 at 08:48

Campaigners have welcomed the "common sense" shown by the Government to ditch "unworkable" site-blocking plans.

After months of closed-door meetings and court hearings, the Government has decided to roll back the most controversial aspects of the Digital Economy Act, and modernise copyright law.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said the Government accepted all ten of the recommendations from a report into intellectual property by Professor Ian Hargreaves, and aimed to have them in place by the end of this parliament, following consultations in the coming months.

That means, as we reported yesterday, that ripping music from CDs to MP3 players will finally be legalised, bringing "copyright law into line with the real world, and with consumers' reasonable expectations," the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) said.

This is a long-awaited victory for common sense

The Government has also accepted copyright exceptions for parody, and the creation of a digital exchange for copyright, where licenses can be bought and sold. It will also establish a system for dealing with so-called orphan works, those without clear rights holders.

"This is a long-awaited victory for common sense," said Mike O’Connor, CEO at Consumer Focus. "Copyright law is outdated, it does not reflect the way people use music, films and ebooks today and hinders innovation and economic growth."

"This announcement is very welcome and will give customers the rights they expect in using the film and music they buy," he said.

His view was backed by the Open Rights Group. "Supporting the Hargreaves Review shows a really welcome and important course change for the Government's copyright policy," said campaigner Peter Bradwell. "New exceptions like the right to parody will lead to a blossoming of legitimate spoofs and satires by the public, comedians and campaigners alike."

Site blocking

Perhaps the biggest change was the Government's U-turn on controversial plans to create a system to block websites hosting copyright infringing content without having to go to court.

"We've discovered that the drafting of the original laws, which took place a year or so ago, were not tight," Cable told the BBC.

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User comments

Sounds good

but I wonder how much of this will get whittled away, or held up in talks at the request of the media moguls who appear to really run our government for us.

By PaleRider on 3 Aug 2011

Films

Will freedom to copy for personal use be extended to DVDs and BluRays?

By conkerbot on 3 Aug 2011

Getting random small business owners cut off from the internet because of what their children downloaded will harm growth and the economy. Its like disconnecting someone's water supply because they disobey a hose-pipe ban.

By frankster on 3 Aug 2011

@conkerbot

I haven't found anything yet in the report regarding DVDs or Blu-Ray in particular, or if cracking copyright protection/DRM will be allowed. The Government has said the full proposal won't be released until autumn, so we might have to wait until then to find out.

Nicole Kobie
News Editor

By Nicole_Kobie on 3 Aug 2011

Don't celebrate too soon

"but I wonder how much of this will get whittled away, or held up in talks at the request of the media moguls who appear to really run our government for us."

Indeed.

It is very common for things to be announced that seem extremely good news for voters only for them to wither away or only get enacted in enfeebled form.

How many times, for example, have you seen a government announce that companies who dig up roads will have to pay fines if they don't complete the works in a reasonable amount of time?

And you you still see roadworks unattended for days or even weeks.

Just one example.

By qpw3141 on 3 Aug 2011

I hope the government makes it so that any form of ripping/conversion is allowed as long as you own the disc regardless of DRM, etc. which should be allowed to be broken (or not be there to begin with).

But knowing the government they will screw it up because of the media industries.

Even though many people will do it regardless.

By tech3475 on 3 Aug 2011

BPI comments

"Government has recognised ... that there needs to be a more effective framework that enables SPEEDIER ACTION than would be possible under the relevant DEA provisions," said Geoff Taylor, CEO of the BPI.
(My emphasis)

No, they recognised that the framework has to have recourse under law, not speedier fines, you money grabbing cartels.

"Government must now act urgently to put in place effective means to protect CONSUMERS, creators and UK jobs from the impact of illegal FOREIGN sites."
(again, my emphasis)

If a site is illegal, it's illegal - what does it matter if they are based abroad? Sounds like a Daily Mail reader to me.

Also, not quite sure what the consumer needs protecting from with this legislation, unless it's from the media cartels.

By mviracca on 3 Aug 2011

Its still Madness

It simply isn't the ISPs problem or responsibility. They have no realistic mechanism to identify what is downloaded. They have no mechanism to look inside an encrypted stream, they are totally unsuited to act as judge and jury, they have no motivation to carry it out effectively, its nonsense.

The whole thing is an example of making legislation to make the government look good regardless of reality.

By Henry3Dogg on 4 Aug 2011

The only way to resolve piracy

There is only one way to resolve piracy, and that is to make sure that all illegally downloaded content is recorded and the copyright owner is paid. I say legalise piracy! We should all pay £20 a month more for our internet connections which all goes into a pot and is then split up fairly based on download quantities and passed onto the copyright owners.

By tibbyninja on 4 Aug 2011

@tibbyninja

Are you having a larf? Get everyone to pay a levy? Get real.

The way to eliminate piracy is to have fair and reasonable charging for the material.

Think about it, if CDs and DVDs can be given away free in newspapers......need I say more?

By jontym123 on 5 Aug 2011

@jonty123

No i'm not having a larf. This would be an ideal solution to have fair and reasonable charging for the material. If people dont download anything they dont pay a levy the following month.

By tibbyninja on 5 Aug 2011

@jonty123

No i'm not having a larf. This would be an ideal solution to have fair and reasonable charging for the material. If people dont download anything they dont pay a levy the following month.

By tibbyninja on 5 Aug 2011

@tibbyninja

I have to disagree with you in the strongest possible terms and I need to say at the outset that, IMHO, your 'charge a levy' idea is ludicrous.

Like I said, charge a fair and reasonable price and the piracy will reduce. I accept that piracy will always be with us but I firmly believe that most folk will pay charges that they deem to be fair, proportionate and reasonable.

Think of why newspapers can give away royalty paid free audio CDs and video DVDs. It is because they cost next to nothing to produce. So why are we all being ripped off by £10 CDs and £15 DVDs. Answer - greed and profit motive because 'that'e the way it has always been'.

Well, creative media production companies will have to wake up to the fact that their business model and distribution channel has changed and to survive they need to change to exploit the new opportunities. The old approach of 'take it or leave it' is at the root of today's piracy problem and the old solution of 'charge a levy' as demanded by the media companies is also yesterday's solution.

Time to think out of the box.

By jontym123 on 8 Aug 2011

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