Digital Economy Bill’s Photo-Finish

It’s too close a call if the controversial – and arguably unenforceable – Digital Economy Bill will become law before the General Election, but either way it looks as if it will be a bumpy ride.

Even if it doesn’t get another reading in the House Of Commons by early April, when the date of the election is expected to be called, it may still get a hearing as part of what’s known as “the wash up.”

Even after an election is called, the House of Commons and the House of Lords spend a few days passing legislation that had all but finished its progress through the parliamentary process.

However, at this stage the government – which can hardly be considered as still being in power – can only pass measures that have opposition support. Any bill, or any clause in any bill, will likely be dumped if it doesn’t look to have that support.

The Conservatives have already said they’ll sink the Digital Economy Bill unless the government reverses a bid to push through “independently financed news consortia” to make regional news programs to be aired on ITV1. That clause would need to be dropped if the anti-piracy measures are to have any chance of making it to the statute book during the life of this parliament.

“The government deserves credit for pushing through a proposal that is not a vote-winner. They recognize that the creative industries are a huge asset for the country,” one unnamed senior music industry source told the Guardian.

Some members of the House of Lords feel the government is yielding to the “extraordinary degree of lobbying” from copyright holders and trying to rush through a proposal without proper oversight.

They also feel some of the anti-piracy measures in the bill are too draconian, particularly now that some peers have successfully put forward an amendment to the bill. The amendment would allow courts to order all of Britain’s ISPs to shut off access to specific sites found to be involved with copyright infringement.

ISPs including Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Media were already unhappy with the bill, while TalkTalk has said it won’t comply with it even if it means it has to fight it with through every legal avenue that’s available to it.