The UK Government today published its first draft of the Digital Economy Bill. As expected, it contains provisions addressing (text taken from Government explanatory fact sheet):
“Fast Broadband and support for consumers
- new Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) for the United Kingdom – giving all citizens the legal right to request a 10Mbps broadband connection [See my prior sceptical commentary here]
- new powers for Ofcom to help consumers access better information and enable consumers to act on that information through easier switching
- new provisions to ensure that consumers are automatically compensated if things go wrong with their broadband service
Enabling digital infrastructure
- new Electronic Communications Code to cut the cost and simplify the building of mobile and superfast broadband infrastructure [See my prior comments here]
- new and simpler planning rules for building broadband infrastructure
- new measures to manage radio spectrum to increase the capacity of mobile broadband
Protecting intellectual property
- further supporting digital industries equalising penalties for online copyright infringement with laws on physical copyright infringement
- new online design registration system – known as webmarking, to protect valuable rights
Government digital services
- enabling government to deliver better public services and produce world leading research and statistics
- enabling technology to manage information by allowing public authorities to connect where the objective has a public benefit
- new powers for public authorities to share information to combat the public sector fraud which costs the country billions
- help citizens manage their debt more effectively and reduce the billions of overdue debt owed to government
- tough safeguards of personal data, reinforcing the Data Protection Act with new offences for unlawful disclosure
Protecting citizens in the digital economy
- a new statutory code of practice for direct marketing, ensuring the Information Commissioner can better enforce sanctions against nuisance callers and spammers, ensuring that consent is obtained from consumers
- protecting children from online pornography by requiring age verification for access to all sites and applications containing pornographic material”
I haven’t yet had time to digest the detailed proposals, and will comment on the various aspects in future posts.