The Digital Economy Act 2010 - don’t get left behind

Posted by Joel Eaton on Thursday 22 July 2010 at 11:23am
Tags: copyright | podcasts |

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Furthermore, there are some particularly interesting (and wholly relevant) audio interviews with Professor Charles Oppenheim (Loughborough University), Dr Naomi Korn (Copyright adviser), and Saskia Walzel (Policy advocate, Consumer Focus).

What is the Digital Economy Act?

The Digital Economy Act (DEA) was introduced in April this year amid growing pressure for government to tackle online copyright infringement. The DEA assigns new legal powers to Ofcom (Regulator for the UK communications industries) to help change the legal processes and put in place more concrete legislation for protecting works online.

How could it affect staff in HE/FE?

The act has not been received without criticism, namely for it's lack of clarity in specifying the effects it will have on FE and HE.

To summarise this issue the DEA categorises individuals and organisation as one of these three groups:

1. ISP (Internet Service Provider) - Individual or organisation providing an internet connect/IP address
2. Subscriber - Individual or organisation receiving the internet through an IP address
3. Communications Provider - As yet this role is not clear enough to be defined

The DEA separates each of these groups with different responsibilities and subsequently different penalties for infringement and as yet it is not clear which of these three categories HE and FE institutions will sit in. If an institution faces sanctions results could include a limited internet service or even complete disconnection, as well as organisations potentially being responsible for 25% of costs associated with allegations copyright infringements in their role as ISPs

What should you do?

Ofcom has been tasked to develop codes of practice on how the legislation is implemented. It is these codes which will decide how FE/HE institutions fit into the three categories above, and so far they have put together a draft for the first two, which still lacks clarity in defining the positions of HE/FE institutions.

JISC is currently advising ALL institutions to consult the Ofcom codes before the 30th July 2010 with information on how to do this here.

For more information on preparing for the DEA and how the draft codes may affect institutions, visit the JISC website for some in-depth practical advice.

Photo by Kimb0lene on Flickr. Used under a Creative Commons licence

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