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Britain

Digital Britain

Britain was traditionally  influential in European policy for telecoms policy. It was a  British Commissioner, Lord Cockfield,  who established the Single European Market.  Britain led the way in the establishment of a competitive European  telecoms market.  However, in leaving the EU, Britain has  lost the ability to influence  European policy in the future, and in 2022, Britain sadly finds itself no longer a major power, but instead has become an embarrassment for  British representatives in international fora.  The government is sunk deep in corruption,  it blatantly lies, its law-breaking has led to mistrust among former allies.  There are multiple posts, articles, and tweets to support this claim. 

It's in this context that the British government is preparing a law to address regulation of the Internet. It's a law that will have far-reaching implications  for the way the Internet will function in Britain, and will impact on web platforms overseas. I am referring of course, to the Online Safety Bill. As I write this, at the beginning of 2022, the Bill is only in draft form. How will it end up? Interestingly, in going through my old posts, I note that wrote in 2015 about a similarly -named Bill. It was the predecessor to this one. It never became law, but many of the provisions in it appear to have been taken forward into the 2022 version. 

A number of the articles in this section discuss a previous policy, called   the Digital Economy Act 2010.  This was a law that mandated broadband providers to work with the music and film industries, in order to enforce copyright on the Internet. It was forced through in the dying hours of the Parliament before the General Election of  May 2010.  The measures  involved the use of network technology to sanction  users, with  implications for the neutrality of the network, and the  ‘mere conduit’ status of the network provider. The law was deemed unworkable and never implemented. That is a lesson that needs to be taken on board by all policy-makers in this field.

If you like the articles in this section, you may like my book The Closing of the Net.

If you are interested in the Digital Economy Act and copyright enforcement policy, you may like my previous books A Copyright Masquerade: How Corporate Lobbying Threatens Online Freedoms and The Copyright Enforcement Enigma - Internet Politics and the ‘Telecoms Package’

3-strikes for Digital Britain

Monica Horten
Published on 16 June 2009
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The UK will today announce a plan for force ISPs to police copyrighted content using a technical 3-strikes approach - people who download wil find their connection speed slowed down -  throttled - prompted by an automated system. The plans  will be unveiled by the unaccountable Minister Lord Carter, who has resigned and is expected to take up a job with a television company that will arguably benefit from the proposals. 

 

The report is expected to contain  a three-pronged set of  proposals to deal with broadband infrastructure, peer-to-peer downloading, and broadcast television.  It is understood that the report recommends 'technical measures' against peer-to-peer, a public  body (not a tribunal)  to oversee these measures, a plan to drive up the

Read more: 3-strikes for Digital Britain

Is BT acting as a political censor?

Monica Horten
Published on 22 April 2009
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A report in PC Pro suggests that BT and other UK mobile operators are blocking The Pirate Bay website. But the Pirate Bay home page currently carries a political campaign  opposing the Telecoms Package. Can one argue that this is political censorship?

 This article has been amended 25 April 2009: The campaign has been taken down but was current when the story was originally written. The point of the article remains true, that political censorship could easily be the unintended consequence of ISP blocking. 

The Pirate Bay home page this week has replaced the site's own logo with one for a campaign to oppose the revision to EU telecoms law known as the Telecoms Package.  The campaign  links to a page which calls the Telecoms Package a ‘monstrous law' and explains some of the issues to users.  BT has an interest in the outcome of the Telecoms Package, as do all the other operators.  The block on The Pirate Bay by BT and other UK mobile broadband operators was reported on the IT website PC Pro. 

 A coalition of telecoms operators (of which,

 

 

Read more: Is BT acting as a political censor?

BPI repeats call for graduated response in UK

Monica Horten
Published on 16 February 2009
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Unhappy with the UK government's proposals for "persistent letter sending", the UK music industry re-records it calls for graduated response. The comments give meaning to the "cooperation" amendment in the EU Telecoms Package.

 

Graduated response won't go away easily. The British music industry made it clear that it isn't happy with  the UK government's decision not to  cut people off the Internet as a sanction against copyright infringement. It wants to see more action from the UK government on copyright enforcement and its repeated its call for graduated response at a UK Parliament seminar this week.

Speaking at the Westminster eForum on Taming the Wild Web, Richard Mollet, director of public affairs for the BPI (the UK's  IFPI member) said:

 

"Legislation requiring ISPs to act is a welcome step, but we need   a bold stride. What we need is ISPs to take more responsibility, to work with industry on a system of graduated response, so that the infringer not only gets a letter, but gets a warning, and yes, he or she might even have their account suspended."

He continued: "Graduated response is

Read more: BPI repeats call for graduated response in UK

More Articles...

  1. Digital Britain: 2 strikes and a stealth tax
  2. UK music companies demand ISP liability in copyright law
  3. UK polarised on file sharing and 3-strikes
  4. Volunteer or we'll sue you, says BPI
  5. British ISPs cave in to music industry on strike 1 of 3 strikes
  6. British music industry in secret talks with ISPs
  7. UK demands filesharing action
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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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Copyright Enforcement Enigma launch, March 2012

In 2012, I presented my PhD research in the European Parliament.

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