Coadec

Last Chance to Comment on Ofcom’s Proposals for Digital Economy Act Implementation

As we wrote in May, Ofcom is seeking comments on its proposals for implementation of “Phase 1″ of the Digital Economy Act, which includes the process for sending warning letters to alleged copyright infringers, as well as creating copyright infringement lists of people who have received several of those letters. Comments are due this Friday, so this is the last chance to have your say. There are two ways to communicate your views to Ofcom, and we encourage you to do both:

• Contribute to Coadec’s submission. We have drafted a detailed response to the Ofcom consultation based on input we received from our supporters, and we’ve now circulated a copy of the draft response to everyone on our Supporters List. If you’re not on our list but would like to review the draft and give us your thoughts, please e-mail us (committee AT coadec DOT com) and we’ll send you a copy. We need to receive all comments by noon on Thursday the 29th (tomorrow) in order to incorporate them in time to submit.

• Submit your own response to Ofcom. You can communicate your views to Ofcom directly through their website. In preparing your response, bear in mind that it’s important to tell them what you think they got right in addition to what they got wrong. There are a number of proposals that, in our view, could have been far worse (including especially limiting the application of the rules to fixed-line ISPs with more that 400,000 subscribers): the record labels are pushing Ofcom to change these proposals in their favour, and the only way that Ofcom can resist giving in is if they hear support from our community. If you have any questions about how to prepare a response or what exactly the proposals say, please don’t hesitate to e-mail us.

As always, we hope you’ll continue to help us fight for the digital economy by signing up to our Supporters List, following us on Twitter and encouraging others to do the same.

Your Freedom Initiative: Here’s Your Chance to Tell The Government to Scrap the Digital Economy Act

When the Coalition government came to power in May and promised a Great Repeal Bill to abolish unpopular laws, we were hopeful that the Digital Economy Act would be one of the measures on the chopping block.  But when the Queen’s Speech made no mention of the Digital Economy Act, we took that as a sign that it wouldn’t be included in this round of repeals and that any efforts to get it off the books were likely to succeed only in the longer term.

As it turns out, the government hasn’t fully decided what should go into the Great Repeal Bill and instead is holding a very public consultation about what to include. This morning, Nick Clegg announced the “Your Freedom” initiative that allows people to tell the government what laws we want repealed. There’s no way to know how much attention the government will actually pay to these suggestions, but at the very least this initiative provides a simple and clear outlet for us to tell Parliament where we think they’ve gotten it wrong and how they can make it right.

Not surprisingly, at the top of Coadec’s list is the Digital Economy Act. We’ve submitted a petition via the Your Freedom site, and we’d encourage everyone who cares about the digital economy to show your support for it by clicking here. There a number of other petitions on the site also pushing for repeal of the Digital Economy Act; most of these are more focused on the civil liberties issues, whereas we make the economic arguments, but we’d strongly encourage you to support those petitions as well.

Ofcom Consultation: We Want Your Input

Coadec has now had the chance to meet with Ofcom and do a thorough review of their plans for implementation of Phase 1 of the Digital Economy Act.  We think some of their proposals are very good (at least in light of the limitations imposed by the Act), while others raise big concerns.

We’re now working to draft our response to Ofcom — in order to tell them what parts we want them to change and also what we hope they’ll keep even in the face of opposition from other stakeholders — and we want your input.  We’ve prepared an overview document, here; this document summarises Ofcom’s proposals and sets out our initial views on each.  All of our views are open to change based on your responses, so if you’d like to contribute to this process, please read through the document and send us an e-mail (committee AT coadec.com) with any thoughts or questions you may have.

In order to give us time to draft and finalise the response paper, please send any comments by no later than next Monday, 5 July.

As always, you can continue to help the digital economy cause by signing up to our Supporters List and following us on Twitter.

The Government Hasn’t Budged, but Many MPs are Continuing Push on Digital Economy Act

Supporters of the digital economy were disappointed when Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, announced that the government does not intend to repeal or amend the Digital Economy Act at this stage. But fortunately, many MPs are not taking no for an answer and are pushing ahead with initiatives to pressure into reconsidering.

One such initiative has been taken by Julian Huppert, the new Lib Dem MP for Cambridge. He has introduced a Early Day Motion entitled “Effects of Digital Economy Act 2010 on Use of the Internet.” The full text of the motion (EDM #17) is as follows:

This House believes that sections nine to 18 of the Digital Economy Act 2010 should not have been rushed through in the dying days of the last Parliament; further believes that these sections have large repercussions for consumers, civil liberties, freedom of information and access to the internet; and calls on the Government to introduce early legislation to repeal those provisions.

Early Day Motions are non-binding but important Parliamentary instruments, and MPs can express support for them by signing them. An EDM that garners a substantial number of signatures can help cause the government to re-think its policy.

Separately, an All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Digital Economy has been formed, with it’s first meeting taking place this morning. We don’t know much yet about what the Group plans to do or who has joined, but it is clearly a much-needed organisation that will balance the multiple all-party groups (such as the ones on Publishing, Music, Films and IP) that blindly push for the narrow interests of certain traditional content owners to the detriment of digital innovation.

Coadec wholeheartedly supports these initiatives and hopes that they will help bring the government to its senses.  In order to increase their chances of success, please contact your MP and encourage him/her to (1) sign Julian Huppert’s motion and (2) join the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Digital Economy.  There are many ways to reach your MP:

Twitter:  A large number of MPs are on Twitter, and you can find them via Tweetminster. We suggest you tweet them directly with a message along the following lines:

To protect the digital economy, please sign Julian Huppert’s EDM 17 and join the new All-Party Group.

E-mail:  You can find your MP’s e-mail address here.

Letter:  Letters should be addressed to your MP’s name, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.

If you don’t know who your MP is, you can find out here.

If you wish to support Coadec’s work, please sign our Supporters List and follow us on Twitter (@Coadec).

Ofcom Begins Consultation on Digital Economy Act

This afternoon Ofcom published a draft “Initial Obligations Code,” thereby opening the first consultation on implementation of the Digital Economy Act.  The Initial Obligations Code deals with the “warning letter” part of the Act; separate instruments will need to be adopted before disconnection and web blocking can begin.

We are still reviewing the draft code, but two highlights are:

1. Initially the code will cover only ISPs with 400,000 or more subscribers. This means that only BT, Virgin, Talk Talk, Sky, Orange, O2 and Post Office will be required to participate in the warning letter process at first. However, Ofcom says it will monitor copyright infringement levels and may extend the provisions to smaller ISPs at a future date.
2. Users who have received three warning letters within a one-year period may be included in copyright infringement lists. Copyright owners will be able to request copies of these lists, and if the so-called “technical measures” (such as disconnection) are ultimately implemented, the people on these lists are likely to be subject to the measures.

In the coming weeks Coadec will review the draft code and the related consultation documents in further detail, solicit feedback and comments from our supporters and submit an official response to Ofcom.

You can find the full text of the draft code here. If you would like to participate in the process, please join our Supporters List.

Coadec Announces Partnership with the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA)

Coadec is pleased to announce that we are joining forces with the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA), the UK digital economy’s leading industry group.  Through this partnership, we will be able reach out to BIMA’s members and supporters to give them a voice on political and legislative issues that affect the digital economy (such as the Digital Economy Act).

We look forward to working alongside BIMA and supporting each other’s initiatives. We will announce more details about our collaboration in the near future.

BIMA

Formed in 1985 BIMA is the British Interactive Media Association. With offices in England, Scotland, Wales and with our regional representatives spread across the country BIMA exists to do three key things…

• Support and promote the British digital industry
• Share knowledge and best practice
• Reward great work and encourage the next generation

If you are involved in digital, you can benefit from being a BIMA member. To find out more about joining BIMA, click here.

COADEC

The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) works to support legislation and other government policies that foster a lasting, sustainable and innovative digital economy for Britain. We are an all-volunteer organisation made up of a wide range of members of the UK innovation community, including entrepreneurs, leaders of tech-driven startups and SMEs, inventors and developers, writers and journalists, and many others who believe that the future of Britain lies in the success of its digital economy.

Coadec’s current primary focus is pushing for amendments to, and sensible implementation of, the copyright infringement provisions of the Digital Economy Act 2010.  We welcome suggestions for other policy areas in which our input and action can benefit the digital economy.

If you want to show your support for our work, please join our Supporters List, follow us on Twitter (@Coadec) and join our Facebook group.

A View of Life Under the Digital Economy Act

We (and many others) have been vocal about the threats posed by the Digital Economy Act to the health and vibrancy of the digital economy, including public wi-fi providers being held liable for the actions of users and websites no longer being able to host user-generated content (as well as arbitrary disconnection without due process). Lest anyone think that these are mere theoretical consequences and that the law won’t be enforced as written, some sobering news came out of Germany last week.

There, according to the BBC, a private individual was fined after someone else used his wi-fi network to infringe a copyright.  The owner of the network was held liable even though he had not authorised the user to use his network, and in fact the owner was able to prove that he was on holiday when the violations occurred. The court held that it was the owner’s responsibility to prevent users from accessing his network to commit copyright violations.  The full story is available on the BBC’s website, here.

Two things in particular stand out about this story. First, to our knowledge Germany has no statute comparable to the Digital Economy Act, and this case was decided under general principles of law. Imagine how easy it will become to punish the owners of wi-fi networks when there is legislation, like the Digital Economy Act, that expressly encourages it.  And second, the owner of the wi-fi network was a private householder; if he is going to be caught by these types of measures, there can be no question that so will coffee shops, serviced offices, universities and others who offer wi-fi.

The German case is simply a microcosm of what life will be like under the Digital Economy Act if it’s not repealed or substantially amended. People will constantly be punished for others’ actions — be it misusing a wi-fi network that’s made available for the public good or posting infringing content on a website that draws on the creativity of the crowds — and soon enough those people will stop offering public wi-fi and building innovative sites, at least in Britain. This cannot possibly be the world that was envisioned when the Web sprung into being 20 years ago, but due to one badly written and hastily considered piece of legislation, that’s the world we’re heading towards.

Coadec is working hard to stop that world from coming into being by pushing for repeal or amendment of the Digital Economy Act or, failing that, ensuring that it is implemented in as sensible a way as possible. If you want to show your support for our work, please sign up to our supporters list here.  You can also follow us on Twitter (@Coadec), join our Facebook group, and keep checking back here for further updates.

The Coalition Government May Provide a Great Opportunity for the Digital Economy

Coadec is a non-partisan organisation, and our members come from across the political spectrum.  Nevertheless, the fact is that the Liberal Democrats were the only party to oppose the Digital Economy Act–and to say that they would repeal it if they were in government–so at least at first glance their inclusion in the new government bodes well for the digital economy.

We don’t know whether the details of the Act came up in coalition negotiations, but the apparent inclusion in the coalition agreement of a strong emphasis on civil liberties is encouraging: any government that is focused on protecting individual liberties will hopefully have trouble ignoring the arbitrariness and lack of due process involved in the Act’s disconnection and web blocking provisions. Indeed, there’s already a rumour floating around that a “Great Repeal Bill” may be in the works to undo some of the previous government’s civil liberties-related policies, including ID cards, biometric passports and the Digital Economy Act.

We will know more about the new government’s position on digital economy issues once the Cabinet is fully announced and the coalition agreement is in place, but for now we’re optimistic.  We’re still preparing to engage closely with Ofcom and Parliament on the consultation process in the hopes of mitigating the Act’s negative effects if it does stay on the books, but at the same time we’re going push as hard as we can for repeal oor substantial amendment.

In order for Coadec to speak with as loud a voice as possible, we need to show that we have a strong group of people supporting us. Please sign up here to add your name to our supporters list, follow us on Twitter (@Coadec) and join our Facebook group.

UPDATE: Vince Cable’s appointment Business Secretary — which puts a LibDem in charge of the department that was responsible for pushing the Digital Economy Act through — is another highly encouraging sign.

FURTHER UPDATE: The coalition agreement, available here, does call for a Great Repeal Bill but says nothing about whether or not the Digital Economy Act will form part of it. Let’s see what we can do to make sure that it does.

How the Hung Parliament Could be Good for the Digital Economy

Now that the election is over, the real work on the Digital Economy Act — both pushing for repeal/amendment and, if that doesn’t work, making sure it’s implemented in the least harmful way to the digital economy — begins. We’ll write more soon about the consultation processes and how you can help, but in the meantime, the fact that we have a hung parliament — and that the Liberal Democrats, as the only major party to state that they want repeal of the Digital Economy Act, hold the balance of power – provides us a first opportunity for action.

Over the next hours and days, LibDem MPs will meet with Nick Clegg and party leadership to decide how to respond to Brown’s and Cameron’s partnership offers and whether to request additional concessions from either of them. If your MP is a LibDem, please let him or her know as soon as possible that you want repeal of Digital Economy Act to be part of any deal. Coalition-building involves lots of horse trades, so while the LibDems will no doubt be pushing hard for some of their higher priorities, there’s every possibility that this crucial issue can join the mix.

If you haven’t already done so, please show your support for Coadec by signing up here. The more names we have on our supporters’ list, the stronger our voice will be in the weeks and months to come.

The Government Just Doesn’t Get the Digital Economy

In a webchat hosted by The Guardian today, DCMS Secretary Ben Bradshaw defended the passage of the Digital Economy Act as follows:

“The problem of protecting copyright in a digital age has been discussed for years. We had a white paper, a formal consultation, several select committee reports and then the bill which received more scrutiny in the House of Lords in the last session than any other piece of legislation. We think it is a fair and proportionate solution to a real problem that threatens the future of our creative sectors and that it carefully balances the rights of rights holders with those of the consumer and the ISPs.”

Coadec believes that this response is emblematic of just how poorly many of this nation’s leaders understand the digital economy. First, the extensive discussion he refers to — the white paper, the consultation, the select committee reports — dealt with a very different set of policies than what ultimately came to be embodied in the Digital Economy Act. More importantly, the notion that cutting off people’s internet connections and blocking websites based on the mere appearance of copyright infringement, without proof or due process, is “fair and proportionate” and “carefully balances” consumers’ rights is very far off the mark. Bradshaw and others supported a piece of legislation that was written by the record labels for the record labels, and they did so without any real understanding of the impact it will have on the small entrepreneurs who actually drive the digital economy. Reasonable measures to protect copyright are important, but the Digital Economy Act is very far from reasonable, and the fact that Bradshaw and his colleagues fail to see that shows a serious deficit of awareness and comprehension about how the digital economy actually works.

After the election, Coadec will fight to repeal the detrimental provisions of the Digital Economy Act and will work with Ofcom and Parliament to ensure that, if not repealed, the provisions are implemented in the least harmful way to the digital economy. Please show your support for our work by signing up here: http://bit.ly/bje2dp.