BBC News are reporting that two UK ISPs, BT and TalkTalk are seeking a judicial review of the Digital Economy Act which was rushed into law without any substantial debate in the dying days of the Labour government. Poorly-drafted and many believe unworkable, the Digital Economy Act was widely opposed by campaigners for digital rights such as Open Rights Group.
Arising from the PublicACTA Conference
10 April 2010
(available as a .rtf text file here)
Preamble
The participants at the PublicACTA Conference of 10 April 2010 respectfully submit this, the Wellington Declaration, to the parties negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), for their consideration during the Wellington round of negotiations.
Consistent with the European Parliament’s Resolution of 10 March 2010 on the Transparency and State of Play of the ACTA Negotiations (P7_TA(2010)0058), ACTA should be limited to an Agreement regarding enforcement against counterfeiting (the large scale commercial production of illicit physical goods).
The first part of the Declaration deals with general matters and principles.
The second part of the Declaration deals with some of the specific points under discussion in Wellington.
UK internet provider Talk Talk have been vocal opponents of the mess that is the Digital Economy Bill since it was first announced.  Now the bill has been rammed through the dying parliament, Talk Talk have confirmed in their new blog post "Digital Economy Bill - it's a wash up" that they remain opposed to the bill and will not comply with its demands.  Good for them.
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Peter Mandelson's controversial Digital Economy Bill, and in particular its powers to disconnect suspected illegal file-sharers without any court being involved, could breach human rights according to this article in the Daily Record.
If passed into law as it currently stands, the Bill would allow disconnection, website blocking and could precipitate the death of open Wi-Fi.Come to the Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester and protest against disconnection without trial and censorship on the Internet.
Meet near the Statue of Queen Victoria.
We'll have flyers; just bring something with which to gag yourself (black tape, mask, "censored" sticker etc), we will have some spare tape if you need it!
Dear Mr Clark
Thank you for your email. I am not able to sign EDMs concerning government legislation as I am a Parliamentary Private Secretary. However, I was surprised to see the second reading debate (on the principle rather than the detail of the Bill) is now timetabled for 6th April.
Given it is expected the General Election will be called next week, with the likely date for Parliament's dissolution suggested for 12th April, this bill could only now be passed into law with the consent of all the Opposition parties in both the Commons and the Lords, and therefore be included in the wash-up process. I am not sure what the current official positions of the Conservatives, Lib Dems and the minor parties are in respect of the Bill, or whether they would allow it to proceed, but it cannot do so without their full support of the legislation unamended in its current form.
Clearly my own preference is for legislation to be properly debated and, where necessary, amended in the usual manner which I very much hope will happen.
Yours sincerely
ANDREW GWYNNE MP
Well I've just sent my third email to my MP Andrew Gwynne about the Digital Economy Bill.
He 'replied' to my first email by ignoring everything I wrote about the actual bill, describing the stages through which a bill has to go before it becomes law, and saying that of course the Digital Economy Bill would have to go through all these stages before it became law, and if it hadn't done so before the end of this Parliament, then it would fall. Unless, he went on to say, it was included in the 'wash-up' which he described as "an informal agreement between the House of Commons and the House of Lords on non-contentious issues".
I already knew all this of course, so emailed back and told him that it was the government's intention to include the Digital Economy Bill in the 'wash-up' that worried me, and ask for his assurance that he'd do everything he could to make sure this didn't happen.
My elected representative ignored this second email.
Now that the Labour MP Austin Mitchell has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) calling for the bill to be shelved until after the General Election when it can be properly debated and scrutinised, I have emailed Andrew Gwynne again to ask him to sign the EDM. I have also asked him to let me know whether he signs it or not as this will help me to decide how to vote in the next few weeks. Let's just say I'm not holding my breath...
If you live in the UK, please write and ask your MP to sign the EDM too. Pressure is mounting over the Digital Economy Bill. The Liberal Democrats have already changed their position and now support the bill being scrapped and re-introduced in the next Parliament. More MPs signing the EDM will continue to bring pressure on the government to withdraw this ill-conceived bill.
You can easily contact your MP through WriteToThem.
The UK government have published a draft amendment to Clause 18 of the highly controversial Digital Economy Bill which they intend to force through with negligible debate in the "wash-up" before the General Election.
