Parties call for Digital Economy Bill to be amended

The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives want to stop Secretary of State Lord Mandelson taking control of copyright laws.

Although neither party is opposed to penalties for copyright infringement, both want certain clauses in the Digital Economy Bill dealing with copyright infringement amended or scrapped.

A Conservative spokesman said: “The Digital Economy Bill raised more questions than it answered. Our amendments will help get to the bottom of these and other issues.”

Both parties are concerned with clause 17, which would give any Secretary of State the power to change the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998 as they see fit and without real scrutiny.

Lord Clement-Jones, Lib-Dem spokesman for culture, media and sport along with Lord Razzall, tabled an amendment to remove this clause entirely. Lord Clement-Jones said although the bill was “full of Henry VIII clauses”, this was by far the most controversial.

“The way this clause stands, the secretary of state could completely rewrite the law of copyright relating to the internet without any primary legislation. MPs could debate it but if the Government has the majority they can just push it through.

"It would give Lord Mandelson unprecedented powers. We want it deleted,” he told Computeractive.

Meanwhile, Conservative peers Lord Howard of Rising and Lord de Mauley have proposed changes to clause 11.

Clause 11 centres on the technical measures the secretary of state would be allowed to impose on alleged illegal file sharers. It is currently worded so that a secretary of state could impose those sanctions they felt appropriate, based on “an assessment carried out or steps taken by Ofcom... or any other consideration”.

The Tory peers say there must be both an assessment and Ofcom action, not just either one, before technical measures are imposed. They also want the phrase “any other consideration” removed completely.

Other clauses the opposition parties have criticised include the clause dealing with how alleged infringers are notified and who should bear the cost of this.

The Conservatives are concerned that these costs will end up being passed down to consumers in higher internet subscription rates.

Lord Clement-Jones said that the process is only at the committee stage and "it was still early days". There will be a debate on 6 January. If there is still opposition a vote will be held on the amendments.