Secretary of State Peter Mandelson is planning to introduce changes to
the Digital Economy Bill now under debate in Parliament. These changes
will give the Secretary of State (Mandelson -- or his successor in the
next government) the power to make "secondary legislation" (legislation
that is passed without debate) to amend the provisions of Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act (1988).
What that means is that an unelected official would have the power to do anything
without Parliamentary oversight or debate, provided it was done in the
name of protecting copyright. Mandelson elaborates on this, giving
three reasons for his proposal:
1. The Secretary of State would get the power to create new
remedies for online infringements (for example, he could create jail
terms for file-sharing, or create a "three-strikes" plan that costs
entire families their internet access if any member stands accused of
infringement)
2. The Secretary of State would get the power to create
procedures to "confer rights" for the purposes of protecting
rightsholders from online infringement. (for example, record labels and
movie studios can be given investigative and enforcement powers that
allow them to compel ISPs, libraries, companies and schools to turn
over personal information about Internet users, and to order those
companies to disconnect users, remove websites, block URLs, etc)
3. The Secretary of State would get the power to "impose such
duties, powers or functions on any person as may be specified in
connection with facilitating online infringement" (for example, ISPs
could be forced to spy on their users, or to have copyright lawyers
examine every piece of user-generated content before it goes live;
also, copyright "militias" can be formed with the power to police
copyright on the web) |