The new Digital Economy Bill, a law that would govern all the contents being shared over the Internet, is expected to push through the House of Lords in the coming days as general elections in the UK closes in.
With less than two months before the May 2010 general elections, the House of Lords is now expected to approve the version of the bill that would govern internet security, digital property, and files being shared over the World Wide Web.
After the expected approval, the bill will go over the House of Commons were it is expected to go to a final amendment under a six-stage process.
The bill aims to put tighter control over files being shared by online users through peer-to-peer networks. One of the provisions of the new legislation is to immediately cut Internet access of people identified as copyright infringers.
One of the lords, in an interview, said that they are expecting a debate over the said bill, saying that it was always been considered by many as a “bad bill.”
“It is a bad bill. It is bad for the rights holder as well as other people working in the industry for their rights to be press this way. There are always alternatives and it is a bad move for the government to risk alienation of a very significant part of the population by enforcing these measures,” the lord said.
He also cited that more than 75 percent of the UK population does not understand what is lawful and unlawful when it comes to file-sharing and copyright. He added that when they were told that these laws exist, most of the people immediately express opposition against the legislation.
It will be recalled that various human-rights organizations openly expressed disagreement over the new law, saying that it will also violate the rights of innocent people who were just using the Internet.
They said that hackers can easily use other people’s Internet access point to put the blame into unwitting victims. They also said that the Law does not identify whether it is the person or the entire family who will be cut off from the web if someone was found guilty of the violation.