The Joint Select Committee on Human Rights on Monday cried foul over the British government’s approach to the Piracy or Digital Economy Bill, saying that it could breach rights of millions of Internet users.
In a statement, the committee, which is composed of influential ministers of parliament, said that the government’s Digital Economy Bill needed more clarification, saying that technical measures were not clearly specified in the legislation.
The group also said that the new bill could possible create unwanted over-board powers, which includes the three-strike policy imposed against a persistent illegal downloader.
“We know that the problem on the Internet is constantly creating new sets of challenges to our policy makers. But these problems can’t justify an legislation that is ill-defined or sweep legislative responses, especially those with a threat to the freedom of expression and privacy of the users,” MP and committee chairperson Andrew Dismore said.
But a spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which oversees the Digital Economy Bill, was quick to say that the British government has always been clear about the new bill, saying that it would help the authorities address the growing problem of illegal file-sharing over peer-to-peer networks.
Meanwhile, Dismore said that their concern over the bull is the lack of details, saying that their examination on parts of the said legislation focused on the plans of the government to tackle illegal file-sharing.
“It’s been difficult, even in the narrow area we have focused on, to get a clear picture of the scope and impact of the provisions,” he said.
Under the new Digital Economy Bill, government regulator Ofcom will be given new powers that would enable them to disconnect users from the Internet if they were identified as a persistent illegal file-sharer.
“They have not specified in the provisions whether the entire household or just the family member would be cut off,” Dismore pointed out.