Last week we reported that, following the concessions forced on the government, Don Foster MP is broadly happy with the Digital Economy Bill’s proposals on illicit downloads. Jim Killock of the The Open Rights Group has a different take on the situation: The Digital Economy Bill should be opposed by Liberal Democrats. Mandelson’s Bill seeks to reduce illicit

Responding to today’s publication of Lord Carter’s report into the future of the digital economy, the The Interim Digital Britain Report, Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Don Foster said:

The speedy manner in which the Digital Economy Bill has been pushed through Parliament has been called 'undemocratic' by the likes of internet service provider TalkTalk, politicians and internet freedom campaigners.

The Digital Economy Bill has become one of the most heavily debated topics on this site. Posts related to it often generate a large number of comments, but today’s have done far more than that. A bit of background first for anyone new to the story or catching up on it. The Digital Economy Bill has

Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group, writes about the Digital Economy Bill: The Open Rights Group would like to thank the Lib Dems for taking a strong policy stance against the Digital Economy Bill’s disconnection and web blocking proposals. The biggest danger now is that Parliament will not debate or amend the Bill at

I’ve just started a new facebook group: I won’t vote for any MP who supports Mandelson’s Digital Economy Bill. The Digital Economy Bill plans to disconnect people from the internet if they’ve merely been accused of filesharing, or if anyone sharing their connection has been so accused. This is a breach of our human rights, and

Commenting on Gordon Brown’s speech, in which he said that a digital revolution is at the heart of Britain’s economic recovery, Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Don Foster said:

Although Labour, with Conservative support, managed to ram through the Digital Economy Bill, that’s not quite the end of the matter as far as votes in Parliament are concerned. That’s because one concession the Liberal Democrats did manage to extract was the provision that no ‘technical measures’ (i.e. cutting off people’s internet connections) can be introduced

The House of Commons voted last night to push through Labour’s latest bit of legislative authoritarianism, the Digital Economy Bill. The Lib Dems were united in opposing it, but Labour brooked no opposition, while the Tories supported it with vague words of change, later, maybe. The Bill was passed by 189 votes to 47. Alix Mortimer

So despite conference taking our peers out for a friendly word in their shell-like, it seems the Digital Economy Bill has successfully cleared the hurdles in the House of Lords. Some industry experts are relying on the bill passing simply because it runs out of time, the MPs fail to scrutinize it, and it gets through