Legal Niches

Lords Pass Digital Economy Bill

By pete_gallagher

The British House of Lords has pushed through the latest version of the Digital Economy Bill, which features provisions that would put the onus on ISPs to track and report illegal file sharers and copyright violators.

The Bill, which now moves to the House of Commons for approval, would have ISPs issue such reports to both the copyright owner, as well as to the British Office of Communications (OFCOM), reports a story on Beta News. If passed, OFCOM would control how ISPs monitor their users and how long information is retained by ISPs.

In order to 'prevent or reduce' Internet copyright infringement, the Secretary of State may direct OFCOM to limit, suspend or cut off ISP user access for 'some or all relevant subscribers.' New measures would also reportedly enable courts to force ISPs to block websites that contribute to copyright infringement.

read more

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on March 16, 2010 (boomark / email).