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Internet law ‘threatens free speech’

Plans to force internet providers to block sites carrying pirated music and films “threaten freedom of speech and the open internet”, the largest internet and telecom companies operating in the UK said.

In a letter published in the Financial Times on Wednesday, Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Ebay, along with the UK’s largest internet service providers, object to an amendment to the digital economy bill passed with support from the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives last week. The companies argue that the rules, if they become law, would fail to tackle copyright infringement as intended.

The House of Lords passed the amendment last week, replacing a clause that would have given broad powers to ministers to change the copyright act to respond to new forms of online infringement without the need for primary legislation.

Internet companies had also opposed that clause but said the amendment, which would allow rights holders to apply for a court injunction forcing broadband providers to block public access to offending websites, was no better.

The amendment has “obvious shortcomings” that run counter to the government’s objectives for promoting Britain’s digital economy, the 16 signatories say, and has been added too late in the bill’s progress for lawmakers to consider the full consequences.

Because the clause proposes that ISPs should bear the legal costs of defending each accused site, they are likely to accede to rights holders’ requests to block them without a judge ever being involved, web companies argue.

“Endorsing a policy that would encourage the blocking of websites by UK broadband providers or other internet companies is a very serious step for the UK to take,” the letter says. “There are myriad legal, technical and practical issues to reconcile before this can be considered a proportionate and necessary public policy option.”

The amendment includes provisions stressing the “importance of preserving human rights” and covers sites with a “substantial proportion” of infringing content. The bill will have its third and final reading in the Lords next week before proceeding to the Commons. The government faces a packed schedule of legislation to pass before the election is called.

A group of 25 prospective Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates have signed a letter asking for a debate on the bill at the party’s conference this weekend. Lord Clement Jones, the Liberal Democrat peer who put forward the amendment, insisted that the current wording would not constitute censorship.

The BPI, a body representing record labels which has lobbied for stronger online copyright protection, dismissed the internet companies’ concerns as “pure scaremongering”. It said the amendment was “clear and sensible.”

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said the government opposed the new clause.