No UK 'three strikes' until 2017? Perhaps never?

I'm going to give you a damn good thrashing!

James Firth, writing on the Slightly Right of Centre (SRoC) blog, has said that its unlikely that a UK ‘graduated response’ – or ‘three strikes’ scheme, set out in the Digital Economy Act 2010 to limit internet access to persistent online copyright infringers, will be in place before 2016 at the earliest.

Noting that two Statutory Instruments will be needed to flesh-out how the copyright infringement warning letters will be dispatched, paid for and appealed, the a so-called Initial Obligations Code, and a shorter Cost Sharing Order defining how the cost of scheme will be split between copyright owners and internet service providers, are nowhere near reaching the statute books, Firth also notes that both of these relatively ‘simple’ pieces of legislation have so far only got to the ‘notification’ stage. Citing contacts at Westminster, adds that “Two separate sources told me not to expect the remaining secondary legislation this side of the general election” with one source described the copyright provisions in the Digital Economy Act as "unimplementable".

Firth cites three different causes for the possible delay: firstly a spat between the Treasury and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport; secondly disagreements between Internet Service Providers and content owners over who pays for the cost of the scheme; and thirdly ‘politics – not least the recent growth in digital revenues for music, TV and film (which might be seen to negate the need for a three strikes approach) and concerns raised by ISPs and civil rights groups over issues such as privacy and liability with shared internet access.

Firth also adds “Additionally the Communications Bill, originally planned for 2014, is rumoured to have been postponed until after the general election.  This Bill would be a natural place to overhaul the primary legislation if amendments are require to the Digital Economy Act in order for it to be implemented.  But this would likely push warning letters out to 2017 or beyond.”

http://www.sroc.eu/2013/05/sources-no-digital-economy-act.html

Image: From an episode of  'Fawlty Towers' entitled 'Gourmet Night' (BBC) when Basil's car breaks down just once too often - and this time at a critical moment.in his disastrous 'Gourmet' evening at the hotel. He warns the car to start, calls it a 'vicious bastard', gives it a count of three to start, and then launches into a full on assault.

But what of British Three Strikes?

Following on from Iona's last post, more on the same topic: Unlike New Zealand, the 'three strikes' provisions in the UK's Digital Economy Act are still some way off implementation (if ever?), which seems to have prompted a group of celebrities including Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Sir Elton John, Simon Cowell, The Who's Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor along with Robert Plant, Professor Green and Tinie Tempah to write an open letter calling on the UK government to bring the relevant DEA provisions into force and also to put more pressure on search engines and others to block unlicensed music sites getting traffic and earning advertising revenue. 


On the latter point, I noted yesterday that a number of big UK ISPs including Virgin, Talk Talk and Sky have agreed to do more to block the rather notorious The Pirate Bay site, widening the scope of URLs and links they will block, notably to include newer IP addresses TPB has migrated too. 


Back to the letter which says: "As the world's focus turns to the UK this summer, there is an opportunity to stimulate growth in sectors where the UK has a competitive edge. Our creative industries represent one such sector, which creates jobs at twice the speed of the rest of the economy. Britain's share of the global music market is higher than ever with UK artists, led by Adele, breaking through to global stardom" adding "As a digitally advanced nation whose language is spoken around the world, the UK is well positioned to increase its exports in the digital age. Competition in the creative sector is in talent and innovation, not labour costs or raw materials. We can realise this potential only if we have a strong domestic copyright framework, so that UK creative industries can earn a fair return on their huge investments creating original content. Illegal activity online must be pushed to the margins. This will benefit consumers, giving confidence they are buying safely online from legal websites" and "The simplest way to ensure this would be to implement the long-overdue measures in the Digital Economy Act 2010; and to ensure broadband providers, search engines and online advertisers play their part in protecting consumers and creators from illegal sites" (emphasis added).


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/9421416/Musicians-need-strong-copyright-laws-to-excel-globally.html#

BT and Talk Talk win right to appeal DEA judgment

The BBC reports that British Telecom and Talk Talk have been given permission to appeal against the High Court's judgment against them over their challenge to the provisions of the Digital Economy Act. Under the provisions of the DEA, Internet Service Providerss would be compelled to send out warning letters, at the behest of rights holders such as film and record companies, warning about illegal downloading. The Act also allows for sanctions, known as "technical measures", which could include disconnection - although the exact nature of technical measures and the circumstances under which they could be imposed have not as yet been determined. The Guardian add this "The decision means that there will now be a hearing at the Court of Appeal – likely to be in the new year – which means that the government's plans to send thousands of warning letters to alleged illegal downloaders will probably be pushed back by about six months. The government had planned to start sending the letters in the first half of next year, but it will now have to hold off until the challenge by Britain's two largest ISPs is resolved."

Lord Justice Lewison granted BT and TalkTalk leave to appeal the DEA on four grounds. Both companies have raised concerns about how the legislation works alongside EU directives on technical standards, authorisation, e-commerce, as well as privacy and electronic communications.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/07/bt-talktalk-digital-economy-act?newsfeed=true