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Deutsch: Britische Digital Economy Bill: Im Eiltempo durch das Unterhaus
After several hours of debate on 6 April 2010 in an almost empty British House of Commons, the Digital Economy Bill was passed to the next stage. The final debate is today, 7 April 2010 and the vote is scheduled at around 9 PM.
The yesterday's debate in the UK Parliament "has shown under the glare of thousands of webcasts, just how shamefully it can behave", as Monica Horten underlines. The only major change of the text could be the Clause 18 regarding blocking of websites which would be subject to a "super-affirmative procedure". That would mean that it will be adopted separately by the Parliament at a later date. This was the deal reached by the three main parties in the present dissolving UK Parliament. However, the rest of the clauses on the three strikes will be probably passed following today's vote.
Some of the members of the Parliament complained by the fact that they had not seen the last version of Clause 18, one of the most controversial text in the Digital Economy Bill.. This clause was amended several times, one of its version apparently having been largely drafted by the music industry BPI. The amendment introduced by Business Secretary Peter Mandelson allowed ministers to introduce the power for courts to order ISPs to block access to websites or Internet locations allegedly infringing copyright. The new amendment introduced at the second reading grants the government "limited power to propose regulations in the future", including the blocking websites, after consultation with the industry.
Besides the already known opposition arguments, some of the MPs complained by the fact that the House of Commons was given too short a time to take a decision on the bill arguing that such a complex and controversial law should have been put under a more thorough scrutiny.
Harriet Harman, the Leader of the House of Commons, argued that the law was not rushed and suggested that there would still be opportunities to make changes after the bill had been approved which, in the opinion of some MPs, would never happen and the new government will just apply the bill as is.
The EDRi-member Open Rights Group and 38 Degrees have made big efforts to convince MPs to oppose the bill through a several actions including advertising in the Guardian and the Times headlined "20 684 of us demand a proper debate on the Digital Economy Bill", paid for by donations.
The Opens Rights Group has expressed its intention to continue the fight, even after the law was passed. On 1 April 2010, the Open Rights Group served "Disconnection notices" to UK Music, BPI and politicians. The group members went to the offices of the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour parties, BPI and UK Music and presented them "with notice that the Digital Economy Bill is disconnected, from democracy, human rights, public opinion and sound business sense. (...) We will continue to expose the lobbying and manipulation of corporate lobbyists and the irresponsibility of many politicians, in order to win our fight to defend our rights as citizens," said Jim Killock.
But with a hidden deal between the main parties, the bill is expected to be passed into law in a wash-up negotiating procedure before the dissolution of the Parliament. You can watch this live following the link below.
Webcast of the House of Commons debate on the Digital Economy Bill
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Live.aspx
Parliament does a squalid deal and betrays Internet users (6.04.2010)
http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&am...
Digital Economy Bill heads for final reading (7.04.2010)
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/regulation/2010/04/07/digital-economy-bill...
Government re-introduces controversial site-blocking powers (31.03.2010)
http://www.out-law.com:80//default.aspx?page=10890
How Hollywood lobbied for the Digital Economy Bill (3.04.2010)
http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&am...
Disconnection notices served to UK Music, BPI and politicians (3.04.2010)
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2010/disconnection-notices-served
Call for 'fuller' debate on Digital Economy Bill (6.04.2010)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8603285.stm
EDRi-gram: UK is one step closer to blocking access to Internet (24.03.2010)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.6/uk-disconnection-law