Wednesday, March 17, 2010

House of Lords gives thumbs up to 3 strikes, site takedown


The UK's House of Lords has passed a version of the Digital Economy Bill that eliminated one controversial anti-piracy measure but added a new one in its place. The bill, which includes a three-strikes provision that will suspend the service of repeat copyright infringers, will now be considered by the Commons. There are promises that a provision that would require ISPs to block access to sites used for infringement will be revised during the process, but the rush to complete work on the law ahead of the UK's coming elections has left a number of advocacy groups feeling that major changes to copyright enforcement are being rushed through Parliament without proper consideration.

The Digital Economy Bill was first introduced last November, at which point attention focused on a provision that some claimed would turn the UK's Secretary of state into a "Pirate Finder General." Although the government wouldn't specify anti-piracy measures in the bill proper, it reserved the power for the Secretary of State to take unnamed actions in the future, if those actions were likely to reduce infringement.

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[link to original | source: Ars Technica - Front page content | published: 50 min | shared via feedly]


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