Digital Economy Bill Gives Rise to Human Rights Concerns
The Digital Economy Bill is being subject to scrutiny by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Human Rights. The Committee has rejected concerns over the breach of certain rights of the internet users such as right to respect for privacy, their right to freedom of expression and communication and their right to respect their property.
The bill proposes plans to deprive the violators of the internet access. It will force internet service providers to provide lists of violations to copyright owners. The users who are guilty of illegal file sharing can be traced by tracking their IP addresses. The offenders will initially be sent a warning letter by the ISPs. However, if they continue to violate the law even after repeated warnings, their web access will be cut off.
The report from the Committee approves of the Government’s response, and said that concerns that these provisions may interfere with the right to privacy are unjustified. It also rejected that banning web users suspected of illegally downloading content from the internet could breach human rights legislation by infringing the rights of expression and communication.
The committee has however asked Ofcom for better explanation of the rules defining what constitutes a repeat offender. The communications regulator has also been asked to review the technical aspects of the implementation of the bill.
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