Ofcom Prepares Copyright Code For Digital Economy Bill

Ofcom has begun working on a new code of practice for Internet Services Providers (ISPs) that have to deal with copyright infringement claims, under the terms of the controversial Digital Economy Bill, which was passed into law last week, despite only two hours of debate in the Houses of Parliament.

Code Of Conduct

The Bill means that ISPs could be forced to disconnect some of their customers, a move which has proved to be deeply unpopular within the ISP community. Another possible consequence of the Act is that owners of open access Wi-Fi hotspots could be at risk of huge liability fines if users are found to be downloading copyrighted material.

Ofcom is in charge of implementing the Bill;s procedures, and has approximately eight months to complete the Copyright Infringement Code of Practice. The industry regulator will also need to provide quarterly reports to the Secretary of State (currently Peter Mandelson), providing him with an estimation of the levels of unlawful file sharing and assessing the extent of legal action by copyright owners.

Quite how Ofcom is intending to gather this data remains to be seen. Virgin Media, for example, has publicly stated that it is trialing new technology from Detica that will allow it to monitor file sharing over the internet. That said, in January it was revealed that the EU was to investigate Detica’s CView software, following a complaint from Privacy International.

Ofcom has to publish a draft code for consultation by May 2010. This will be followed by a statement no later than the end of September 2010, at which time Ofcom is expected to submit a draft statutory instrument that includes the approved code to the European Commission for consideration, a process which usually takes the EU approximately three months.

This means that the Code of Practice has to be approved and in operation by December this year.

‘Robust And Effective’ Appeals Mechanism

Privacy campaigners meanwhile will be pleased to hear that Ofcom has reportedly confirmed that a court order would be needed to disclose illegal downloaders’ details.

The court order would apparently be required for copyright holders hoping to gather the details of illegal file-sharers in an effort to launch legal action against them.

At the moment, ISPs are required to notify web users of allegations of illegal file-sharing by copyright holders.

“Subscribers must be provided with sufficient information in any notification such that they can challenge the basis under which the notification has been sent. They must also have access to a robust and effective appeals mechanism,” Ofcom said.