DEA

The Digital Economy Act 2010 is an Act of the Parliament of the United KingdomPeter Mandelson, Lord Mandelson, it received Royal Assent on 8 April 2010, and came into force on 8 June 2010 regulating digital media. It establishes a system of law which aims to first increase the ease of tracking down and suing persistent infringers, and after a minimum of one year permit the introduction of "technical measures" to reduce the quality of, or potentially terminate, those infringers' Internet connections.

The new process, which will come into force when Ofcom's regulatory code is approved by Parliament, begins with rightsholders gathering lists of Internet Protocol addresses which they believe have infringed their copyrights. (This data could be gathered most easily by a rightsholder connecting to a Peer-to-Peer download of a work they own, and noting the other IP addresses to which their computer connects.) They would then send each IP number to the appropriate Internet Service Provider (newly-defined in the Act as a provider of IP addresses) along with a "copyright infringement report".The ISP must then send a notification to the subscriber in question. The conditions under which this is required (i.e. the standard of evidence required) are not specified in the Act, but left to Ofcom's regulatory code. The report and its recipient is noted by the ISP, if valid, but no further action is taken.

Obligations on ISPs

The Act gives Ofcom the responsibility of enforcing ISPs' obligations. A fine of up to £250,000 can be levied on those in contravention; that limit can be raised by the Secretary of State with Parliament's consent.

The Act also allows the Secretary of State to define, with the consent of Parliament, the "sharing of costs" incurred from the Act's legal processes. The order can require reimbursements to be made by rightsholders and/or ISPs, and in the case of appeals, subscribers.