It's a pity there are only six LibDem MPs, otherwise they might have a chance of kicking it out.

Just to add, I'd be interested to know what part/s of the DEB the Lib. Dems. take issue with.

Mark

In this case it's the lack of Parliamentary debate

Just to add, I'd be interested to know what part/s of the DEB the Lib. Dems. take issue with.

Mark

It’s a long text, setting out why our MPs feel parts of the Bill – on areas such as Channel 4 and regional TV – merit support; and why they want to balance internet freedom with support for the creative industries. So there is no commitment to vote against the Bill as a whole. But ... the LibDem DCMS team do acknowledge that further debate is definitely required. “The controversial parts of the Bill will need to be scrutinised and voted upon by the next parliament before they can be brought into law. Liberal Democrats MPs would not support these sections of the Bill without this process.”

The logic of that is that LibDem MPs will vote against those elements in the washup, if only because there’s been no debate. We’ll expect them to stick to that.

The highlight for me is clear opposition to web-blocking: “We do not believe that measures to address site blocking can reasonably be included in the Digital Economy Bill and we will not support any such measures”.

So we have the keenly-awaited clear assurance that Liberal Democrat MPs, as a party, not just individual rebels, will vote against web-blocking in the Digital Economy Bill (better late than never)....

... On disconnection, the position is less absolute. “The Liberal Democrats are unconvinced of the merits of measures such as temporary account suspension or bandwidth throttling” and propose a set of technical measures, to be met before any disconnection would be possible; the main ones are that copyright infringers would be notified by letter, without any risk of their internet connection being affected for at least a year, and that any process to disconnect users explicitly assumes their innocence until they are proven guilty.

Another concern our motion highlighted was the threat to wifi and community access. The MPs pick that up as an issue too: “We believe there is inadequate protection in the Bill for schools, libraries, universities and other businesses offering internet access to the public” and they promise “We will take further action in the Commons to improve the legislation.”

On copyright they assert “We have already opposed – and helped defeat – government proposals to give itself powers to change copyright law almost at will. We will oppose any attempt to reinstate such powers in the Commons.” They also call on the industries concerned about copyright “to develop easy and affordable ways to legally access their products” so that “disconnection is never required”.

If more people voted, maybe we'd have a government to be proud of...

Erm... off the top of my head - I've got the bill text in front of me but I can't remember which particular clauses are problematic

Site Blocking
Access restriction
Disconnection
Accusation = guilt
The Secretary of State being allowed to amend the Copyright act without reference to parliament

I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I people write that voting is going to make a difference, you'd have more impact by spoiling your ballot paper.