Digital rights bill courts more controversy
By Dean • Mar 9th, 2010 • Category: Industry News
The Digital Rights bill has had its fair share of controversy since the government first announced it in 2009, but now calls from Conservatives and Liberal Democrats for the outright banning of known copyright infringing websites has ISPs up in arms.
The proposition
At core, what these politicians are calling for is the indiscriminate banning of sites of the nature of the Pirate Bay. Anything that either directly engages in copyright infringing itself, or acts as a conduit to allow copyright infringement would fall under the screened list of websites.
Based on this assertion alone, they are asking for the banning of all torrent sites, all peer-to-peer services, and even an Internet stalwart like Usenet. And this banning would have to happen at the service provider level, basically requiring they screen and disallow some URLs completely.
ISPs speak out
- Photo: TalkTalk
While all the ISPs agree copyright infringement is a problem that needs to be tackled, the degree to which it is enforced as per the Digital Rights bill is where they disagree. TalkTalk and Virgin Media dismissed this proposal as heavy handed and draconian by saying something needs to be done, but intervention at a structural level as opposed to consumer education is not the solution. Sky indicated they support any initiatives that protect the intellectual property of copyright holders, but they haven’t gone so far as to say they’re open to the banning of individual websites.
‘C’ for censorship and China
- Photo: Virgin
The major concern is these solutions are one step away from censorship. Sure, the protection of copyrights is in the interest of all who produce content, but the banning of sites on that criteria presents the opportunity to ban sites on slightly different criteria, too. Once a precedent for banning websites exists, avenues for banning websites as per personal or political agendas come up again, and freedom, in any sense, requires consumers use their discretion for what they do or do not consume.
Outside of the high financial implications, coupled with the potentially constraining policies, the admittedly noble intentions of the Digital Rights bill may be too far reaching to accept.
