Posted: 14th Oct, 2009 By: MarkJ

The Labour MP for West Bromwich East, Tom Watson, has tabled a new Early Day Motion (EDM) that questions the UK governments proposal to disconnect illegal file sharing (piracy) "
suspects" from their broadband ISP. The EDM is signed by 9 additional MP's and could end up being debated in the House of Commons.
Proposed by Tom Watson on 12/10/2009
That this House notes with concern the Government's proposals on file sharing which would allow rights holders to request internet service providers to disconnect for a period of time, or throttle, the internet connection of people who may be accused of copyright infringement via peer to peer networks; believes that disconnecting alleged offenders will be futile given that it is relatively easy for determined file-sharers to mask their identity or their activity to avoid detection; acknowledges that illicit file-sharing only costs rights-holders money when people download infringing content in preference to buying it; further notes that identifying offenders using the Internet Protocol address of a specific machine may punish those who share a web connection; and calls on the Government to ensure that any citizen accused of illicit file-sharing is given the right to legal redress in a court of law before sanctions are imposed.
This motion has been signed by a total of 10 MPs.
Early day motions (EDMs) are formal motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons. However, very few EDMs are actually debated. Instead, they are used for reasons such as publicising the views of individual MPs, drawing attention to specific events or campaigns, and demonstrating the extent of parliamentary support for a particular cause or point of view.
Let's hope this one does get debated as it is very relevant.