Hot off his recent victory at the first televised political debate, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has called for the Digital Economy Bill to be repealed.
He responded to a question on the way the bill was rushed through, during an interview with online student service The Student Room.
It was far too heavily weighted in favour of the big corporations and those who are worried about too much information becoming available
“Considering the manner it was pushed through, without proper scrutiny, the lack of MPs in attendance at the bill’s hearing and also taking into account that some ministers have demonstrated considerable lack of technical knowledge on the consequences of the proposed legislation… will you reconsider the Digital Economy Bill,” the students asked.
“We did our best to prevent the Digital Economy Bill being rushed through at the last moment,” Clegg responded. “It badly needed more debate and amendment, and we are extremely worried that it will now lead to completely innocent people having their internet connections cut off.”
“It was far too heavily weighted in favour of the big corporations and those who are worried about too much information becoming available. It badly needs to be repealed, and the issues revisited,” he added.
The controversial bill attracted concern over its powers to force ISPs to block websites accused of providing access to copyrighted material, as well as measures to force ISPs to cut-off people accused of file-sharing. It was rushed through the House of Commons in the Parliamentary ‘wash-up’ stage last week, with just over a third of the total number of MPs showing up to vote, and many arguing those who did attend didn’t adequately understand the technical aspects of what was proposed.
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