Change of stance from Government on cutting off peer-to-peer file-sharers under Digital Economy Bill?…

There is some uncertainty whether the Government has shifted its position in the Digital Economy Bill and adopted a more lenient line in respect of illegal peer-to-peer file-sharers. If passed, the Digital Economy Bill would see file-sharers being identified, warned and ultimately stopped from having full Internet access. Instead of cutting off persistent file-sharers from the Internet, the Government now says that their accounts will be ‘temporarily suspended’. Is this a change or not? According to Jim Killock, of the Open Rights Group – a body against the proposed legislation – nothing has really changed. He says that temporary account suspension still means that families will be stopped from using the Internet.