The Digital Economy Bill – a first critical look
Francis Davey has prepared for us a legal analysis of the copyright infringement provisions of the Digital Economy Bill, summarising its problems as follows
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the key question of who will be disconnected from the internet and for what reason is subject to no democratic control and requires no consultation to be made;
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although the codes must be objectively justifiable, non-discriminatory, proportionate and transparent this most important question will be decided by order of the Secretary of State who is not required to be adhere to any principles of proportionality etc;
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some decisions (such as whether there has been a copyright infringement) that affect individuals will not be subject to appeal; those that are may not have an adequate route of appeal;
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many of the important details are left to codes of practice which will not be subject to sufficient parliamentary scrutiny – in some cases there need be no scrutiny at all;
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the Bill has an inflexible and stereotyped view of the way in which access to the internet is provided which ignores many useful and important business models: many business from Weatherspoons and Macondalds to the British Library and local community access projects will be affected and may have to cease to provide internet access.