Despite the party’s excellent resolution on the importance of defending liberty in copyright legislation, the UK Liberal Democrats in Parliament have decided to stand back while Labour and the Tories ram through the Digital Economy Bill.
Rather than calling for a full debate on the bill’s provision allowing the record industry to take away your family’s internet access if they believe (but can’t prove) you’ve infringed on copyright, the LibDems have joined the other parties in supporting a short, 45-minute half-day second reading.
After that, the Digital Economy Bill will disappear into “wash up,” a fast-track, no-debate way of passing bills, usually reserved for bills that everyone agrees on and that need to get pushed through before an election.
To my fellow LibDems, I ask: get the party to lean on the Front Bench and tell them that it is inconsistent with our party’s principles to allow disconnection to go into the wash up. This is the final hour for the Digital Economy Bill, and possibly the final hour for justice in Digital Britain. Don’t let the front-benchers let us down! Tell them to join with the thousands and thousands of Britons who’ve written to their MPs this week calling for a full debate on the Digital Economy Bill!
Lib Dems, Tories and Labour pledge to ram disconnection through