Overview

The Digital Economy Act 2010 (DEA), which implements some of the policy aims set out in 2009’s Digital Britain Report, received Royal Assent on Friday 9 April 2010, thereby ending a legislative process steeped in controversy. A series of trades on contentious parts of the Bill allowed Labour to secure Conservative support to push through the Act in the pre-election “wash-up” period.

The DEA deals with a wide range of issues ranging from Ofcom’s functions to the role of internet domain registries, the classification of computer games and the responsibilities of Channel 4. The most reported and divisive part of the DEA, however, is a mechanism for copyright holders to require ISPs to take action against subscribers who download content that infringes copyright.

The Government intended the DEA, however, to deal with broader issues affecting Britain’s digital economy but these reforms were lost in the wash-up. Reform of such matters as the funding of Channel 4, local news provision and super-fast broadband networks are left for a future Government to adopt or ignore.

This briefing from Denton Wilde Sapte takes a closer look at some of the key issues. Click to read more.