UK House Of Commons On Digital Economy Bill: We'll Approve Now, Debate Later?

from the wash-up dept

Despite tens of thousands of people writing their MPs, and multiple MPs asking for approval of the Digital Economy Bill to be delayed, it looks like the Leader of the House of Commons, Harriet Harman, has decided that the bill will be rushed through via a "wash up," no matter what. Glyn Moody points us to an image showing that a lot of MPs simply decided not to even show up for the discussion, which is a bit of a disgrace.

Even worse, though, is that Harman is pretending that the bill is not being rushed through, even though the bill will go through the wash up process. Her argument seems quite disingenuous -- suggesting that even though the bill won't get to go through the normal process of debate, there will still be opportunities to make changes after the bill has been approved -- though it appears that some politicians seem to think that's mere window dressing, and the later debate/amendments will never actually happen. The whole thing seems quite bizarre. Basically, it looks like the plan is to approve the bill and debate it later. There still will be a brief debate and vote tomorrow evening which, in theory, could kill the bill, but most reports appear to believe it's a foregone conclusion that the current bill will be approved -- and then (maybe, possibly, but probably not really) the controversial bits will be debated later.

Filed Under: copyright, digital economy bill, due process, uk, wash up

As Expected Digital Economy Bill To Be Rushed Through With No Debate

from the corporatocracy-in-action dept

As was predicted by recording industry lobbyists a few weeks back, once the Digital Economy Bill made it through the House of Lords, the House of Commons would not debate it. Instead, it looks like it will get pushed through via the "wash-up" process. Of course, this has resulted in many people asking a rather simple question. Considering the massive controversy surrounding this bill, why won't Parliament at least debate it? The real answer is pretty obvious, of course. This entire bill was pushed through by corporate entertainment industry lobbyists, and they know full well that with the upcoming election in the UK, a debate on this bill would likely kill it. So, screw democracy when you have a business model to prop up. Screw basic civil, human and privacy rights, if it helps the bottom line of a few companies too stubborn to adapt.

Filed Under: debate, digital economy bill, uk, wash up