Digital Britain: leaving consumers out of the picture

We are looking at the report in detail, but we are extremely concerned that the voice of consumers and citizens is being marginalised.

We are concerned that there is no suggestion that consumers and citizens should be represented on the proposed copyright ‘Rights Agency’. Without our voices, such an agency could easily be dominated by industry’s concerns at the expense of civil rights. Consumer would be very likely to get a bad deal.

We are concerned at the government’s proposals for technical ‘solutions’ for rights enforcement – technical ‘solutions’ to social issues tend to be expensive and fail.

One by one digital music providers like iTunes and Amazon are moving away from DRM, and trusting their customers. This is a much better example for industry and government to follow.

We also intend to look closely at proposals for recording and reporting alleged rights infringers. While we welcome the proposal to ask the courts before taking action, we are concerned at the potential for further erosion of privacy online.