BPI Letter Extracts

The prospects for a Digital Economy Bill which delivers meaningful action for rights holders sit between good and middling this week. That is to say, the Bill as a whole should still make it to the statute book, but the clause on non P2P infringement is imperilled by security forces concerns.

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The debate has been given an extra twist with a TalkTalk sponsored survey today, which says that 71% of 18- 34 year olds would continue to infringe copyright, in spite of the Bill provisions, and would use "undetectable methods" to do so. Whether MI5 helped pay for the survey is not clear, but the results helpfully play into their court. Both Opposition parties now strongly believe that come the wash-up the Government will pull Clause 18, citing these concerns.

It is sadly ironic that the campaign for the Bill which has drawn support from Steven Garrett, the creative force behind the BBC series "Spooks", should find itself partially thwarted by their real-life equivalents. Ironic too, that the champions of freedom of information, the Open Rights Group, are lined up alongside those champions of non-free information, the security services.

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Beyond this outstanding issue of nonP2P, there is a tangible sense of "settled will" about the other provisions in the Bill. It is hard to find anyone, including within the ISP community, who does not believe that the Initial Obligations - and the prospect of Technical Obligations - are coming into law. Meeting with ISPs, [ Sky Broadband ] and [ Virgin Media ] this week, the BPI, MPA and Alliance Against IP Theft made good progress in discussing some of the operational detail around the Code. Whilst nothing is being set down in stone at this stage, the broad parameters of how the Code might work are being agreed upon. The consumer group Which? Is also informally contributing to our thoughts. At Ofcom's request, we are meeting next week to discuss progress to date with them.

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As for the House of Commons - which will be sent the Bill next week - there is a strange sense of detachment. MPs with whom we spoke back in Autumn are already resigned to the fact that they will have minimum input into the provisions from this point on, given the lack of time for detailed scrutiny. One leading backbencher has told us that there is "little point in meeting, since the Bill will be determined at wash-up".

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And inveterate opponents like Derek Wyattand Tom Watson continue to blog and tweet with critical comments, but there is not the sense of a groundswell of massive opposition to the Bill.