Digital Economy Bill has passed House of Commons

In a late night session, the British House of Commons has passed the controversial Digital Economy Bill (DEB). The Bill was carried by a strong majority of 189 to 47 votes and was passed after two mere hours of debate, reports The Guardian. The bill was supported widely by both the ruling Labour Party and the Conservatives. Opposition came mostly the Liberal Democrats.

Over the course of the last half-year, the DEB has received a lot of publicity as it proposes some far reaching changes in how copyright is enforced in the online environment. However, the bill deals with a lot more than just copyright enforcement. It covers a wide range of topics such as television, digital radio, domain names and gaming, for which it proposes a unified rating system and an education campaign directed at parents.

On the subject of copyright, the DEB institutes three major changes targeted at maintaining a thriving digital economy.

First of all, the bill requires ISPs to forward notices from rights holders to file sharers. Second, if after repeated warnings the file sharers refuse to change their behaviour, the DEB requires ISPs to impose technical measures against their infringing subscribers. The exact nature of these measures will yet have to be determined, a responsibility that has befallen OFCOM, Britain’s telecoms authority. The bill does suggest several measures, such as speed throttling, blocking access to selected domains and even account suspension.

Third, the controversial clause that would give the minister for business sweeping powers to introduce further technical measures without approval from Parliament has been dropped. It has been replaced by granting the same minister the right to block known pirating sites, after approval from a court of law.

For a thorough breakdown of copyright clauses of the DEB, we refer to the IP, Innovation and Culture blog.

9 April 2010