Following warmly on the heals of the Digital Britain report in January, which dismissed the ‘three strikes’ rule, the Government has published its proposal for the ‘Digital Rights Agency’.
Tucked away in the detail is a proposal to allow the Rights Agency to force ISPs to disconnect alleged file sharers and filter traffic. We are very disappointed by this U-turn: it clearly contradicts consumers’ interests. Read our full response.
As TalkTalk and consumer and citizen rights groups such as ORG and Consumer Focus have repeatedly highlighted, these draconian approaches would basically penalise and violate the rights of (mostly law abiding) broadband customers to protect the revenues and profits of the music and video industries. The same industries seem to be refusing to adapt their arcane business model to the modern and digital world.
The problems with these approaches are clear. Disconnection relies on information that is unreliable at identifying the actual infringer and so there is likely to be substantial collateral damage from those falsely cut-off or threatened as the BBC has found. Filtering will compromise privacy, slow down all the networks and be very expensive. Even if introduced, these measures will be largely ineffective since offenders can, for instance, encrypt traffic or mask their identity to avoid detection.
Equally bad as the proposal itself is the suggestion that the measures can all be worked out by this quasi-private Rights Agency body away from the glare of public scrutiny and the interests of consumers.
If you want to let the Government know what you think then please do. But be quick, they have only allowed a 2½ week consultation period which closes on 30th March! Don’t let the Government attempt to avoid transparency – let’s have a proper public debate.
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