Digital Bill Update

The new Digital Economy Bill looks to legalise elements of Lord Carter’s ‘Digital Britain Report’. The main measures that are to become law include:

Tougher action against illegal file-sharing forcing ISPs to take a stand against offenders in the form of a written warning but also potentially a controversial measure to follow, which could involve repeat offenders being cut off from broadband services. The content owners will have to pay a fixed fee, set by Ofcom, to have that letter sent to the ISP's customer.
Allows the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act to be amended if in future new communications technologies allow content to be copied in new ways.
New plans for Ofcom to engage in investment for next-generation broadband. Part of this involves the introduction of a £6 telephone tax on all landlines. This will in theory raise £175 million a year and will enable next generation access (NGA) to 90% of the UK population by 2017.

So two big new ideas here, firstly that content owners will be able to clamp down on file sharing with penalties for misuse and secondly that major investment is needed from the general public to finance next generation networks. Many of the ISP’s are rumoured to be on board, however John Petter, managing director of BT Consumer, said “We believe that technical measures are not the way forward and that a system of court fines for repeat infringers is preferable. Such an approach would not only protect innocent people, it could also create a fund that could be used to support the UK's creative industries."

This of course throws up issues of hacking where users maybe completely ignorant to their computers accessing illegal file sharing sites. With regards to taxing on landlines, is this fair to those who cannot afford broadband?