Big tech accountability? Read how we got here in The Closing of the Net
The MP Austin Mitchell has moved what's called an Early Day Motion to try to stall the Digital Economy Bill. The bill is due to go before Parliament on Tuesday, the same day that Gordon Brown is expected to call the election.
I have also heard a rumour that the speaker has written to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to say that the Bill will need full scrutiny before it is passed, but am awaiting confirmation of this.
Certainly, the Bill is too detailed for full scrutiny to take place in the 2 hours that it apparently has been allotted on Tuesday, and it would be a travesty for democracy if MPs bartered it in what is known as the 'wash-up' before the election.
EDM 1223 DIGITAL ECONOMY BILL [LORDS]
30.03.2010
Mitchell, Austin
That this House believes that the Digital Economy Bill [Lords] is too important to be taken further in the last days of a dying Parliament; and considers that a bill with so many repercussions for consumers, civil liberties, freedom of information and access to the internet should be debated and properly scrutinised at length and in detail, with a full opportunity for public discussion and representation in a new Parliament after the general election and not rushed through in the few days that remain in this Parliament.
Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten. I’ve been analysing analysing digital policy since 2008. Way back then, I identified how issues around rights can influence Internet policy, and that has been a thread throughout all of my research. I hold a PhD in EU Communications Policy from the University of Westminster (2010), and a Post-graduate diploma in marketing. I’ve served as an independent expert on the Council of Europe Committee on Internet Freedoms, and was involved in a capacity building project in Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine. I am currently (from June 2022) Policy Manager - Freedom of Expression, with the Open Rights Group. For more, see About Iptegrity
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In 2012, I presented my PhD research in the European Parliament.
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