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Government starts another bloody digital copyright review – this time it’s the ‘Rights Agency’ consultation
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 16 March 2009
With the deadline now passed for feedback from content owners and digital service providers to Lord Carter’s previously reported ‘Digital Britain’ report on the future of internet access, TV, radio and online content services in the UK, the government’s Intellectual Property Office has asked for more specific feedback on the proposals within Carter’s report that were arguably of most interest to the music industry – the creation of a Rights Agency to monitor and possibly police online piracy.
With the specific proposals in Carter’s report regarding fighting illegal filesharing, and on the internet service provider’s duty to assist in that fight, somewhat lacking as far as the music industry was concerned, the Lord’s other proposal to launch a Rights Agency might be a way for the record companies etc to push the government on its past informal promises to force the ISPs to take more draconian measures against those who file share, maybe even cutting them off.
That said, IP Minister David Lammy has called for more cross-industry discussions to take place before considering new laws to force the ISPs to act, still preferring the idea that record companies and internet firms should adopt a voluntary code regarding policing online piracy, presumably because he’d rather not be seen as the politician responsible for laws that could lead to kids losing their internet connection.
Given that talks between music and net companies regarding such a voluntary code have been ongoing for sometime, without much agreement on anything really, other than the need to keep on talking, it seems unlikely a voluntary code that all sides can agree on will ever be drafted, and therefore any Rights Agency – whether an independent body or department of media regulator OfCom – will have to put some noses out by either turning a blind eye to internet piracy, or introducing draconian new rules that won’t be popular with ISPs or net users. That said, and given all that, it seems unlikely any of this will be resolved before the 2010 General Election, meaning it probably won’t be Lammy who opens the new Agency – in whatever form it takes – anyway.
Still, it was him that announced the new consultation with content and net companies regarding what form the Agency should take and what powers it should weald. He said on Friday: “A properly worked out rights agency could be a real step forward. We can’t have a system where even net-surfing 12-year-olds have to understand copyright in order to keep themselves and their parents safe within the law. The real prize here is a rights agency that sorts out the complexities that keep consumers on the right side of the law, and ensure artists get properly paid. We need to make it easier for consumers to do the right thing. The internet has become an integral part of daily life. You shouldn’t need to be an underwriter to take out an insurance policy, and you shouldn’t need legal training to surf the web”.
Lord Carter, Minister For Metaphor, added: “In the new digital age, copyright infringement has become easier and more socially acceptable, so it’s clear we need some form of legislative backstop for the protection of rights as well as new and innovative ways to access legal content. Today we have published proposals in the form of a Straw Man on digital rights. That Straw Man could be torched, tolerated or a touchstone for the start point of constructive debate and design. I for one hope it is the latter”.
As well as discussing what powers the new Rights Body should have, other topics for discussion will include how it is funded, how it connects to government and/or OfCom, and how it can get involved in education initiatives to teach the masses the ins and outs of copyright.
