An amendment to the UK’s Digital Economy Bill that could force ISPs to block access to copyright-infringing websites has been slammed by the heads of the four largest UK ISPs, along with Google, Facebook, eBay and Yahoo. The joint letter to the Financial Times claims that “the amendment seeks to address the legitimate concerns of rights-holders but would have unintended consequences that far outweigh any benefits it could bring”. The letter doesn’t pull its punches: “Blocking access as envisaged by this clause would both widely disrupt the internet in the UK and elsewhere and threaten freedom of speech and the open internet, without reducing copyright infringement as intended. To rush through such a controversial proposal at the tail end of a parliament, without any kind of consultation with consumers or industry, is very poor lawmaking.” Source: Financial Times
Like what you’ve read here? This is just a snippet from our subscription service.
Our subscribers get the most important digital music news and analysis delivered to them every morning and full reports every week plus access to a massive archive of data and previous reports.
For a free two week trial of Music Ally, sign up here. No strings attached – we promise!
