How the Digital economy bill will affect you
Individuals, businesses and community groups in Sheffield to be impacted
You may have read coverage of the Digital economy bill that is currently working its way through the house of Lords. It is a response to the Digital Britain report and looks like it will do more to cripple our digital economy than support its growth.
One aim of the bill is to deal with internet piracy and to do this several draconian measures have been proposed that could have a big affect on people in Sheffield.
The major point of contention is that fines and disconnections can be enforced on the internet connection subscriber – i.e. the person whose name the connection is in – if someone uses their network for an activity like illegal file sharing.
Individuals, businesses and groups will choose not to take this risk and this could spell the end of free wifi and open internet connections in libraries, universities, schools, cafes, council buildings and community groups.
Obviously this isn’t just an issue that affects Sheffield; it will impact the whole country. But it seems particularly ironic that in south Yorkshire where the Digital region project will soon be providing us with super-fast broadband, many of the businesses and organisations that would be able to pass on the benefits of this to the public will not feel able to do so if the proposed legislation goes through.
Further detail regarding the bill and how best to object to it is outlined in the north west Sheffield news online blog post.
If you care about your online freedom and our local and national digital economy then take the time to write to or visit your MP to object.
Whilst I have problems with the Digital Economy Bill – it’s a typical half-baked piece of New Labour legislation designed by control freaks, for control freaks I am not convinced that the bill should have as large a detrimental impact on digital businesses as people are suggesting.
How many businesses rely on free WiFi for Net access? I’d like to hope none. For a business an internmet connection is like the pohone or the power – you gets what you pays for.
If you’re ‘out and about’ and want Internet connection, then whilst it’s a pain to not have free WiFi available, it’s not a massive additional cost each month.
The issues around freedom of speech are many in this bill – restricting access to free WiFi isn’t one of them.
At first, it may bring many inconveniences, but people will adjust to it gradually, maybe…