How long is long enough to respond to a consultation? Put Lord Carter’s meagre 10 days, for his proposed Rights Agency, at the lower end of that scale. Ed Mayo, CEO of statutory consumer rights body Consumer Focus, says the March 13-31 period for industry responses “must be the shortest non-consultation in history”. He has “serious concerns about the lack of due process being applied in this case”...

Carter’s interim Digital Britain report in February proposed ISPs should warn illegal downloaders at content owners’ behest, while a Rights Agency - a civil copyright enforcer funded by the industry - would oversee the process and provide mysterious “incentives” to legal alternatives.

Consumer Focus opposes the agency idea: “The government should abandon plans for a Rights Agency and should focus its efforts instead on copyright violations perpetrated by organised crime. The proposals raise worrying concerns about competition law - given that the agency would be a forum for competitors to agree how digital content is provided and sold to consumers.” On possible ISP disconnections: “Similar measures have already been struck down by the courts in the Netherlands and Spain as they raise significant issues in terms of consumers’ right to fair trial and appeal.”

It’s unclear yet what exactly Carter wants the Rights Agency to become. Possible roles include:-
—overseeing the warnings process under an Ofcom code
—providing a “gateway to legal remedies” for content owners
—telling ISPs which filter technologies to implement
—encouraging companies to develop technology standards.

But the extent to which the warnings can be enforced or punished (ie. through ISPs eventually disconnecting customers) remains unclear - especially with the European Parliament, which believes such action should be preceded by a court order, likely to press its case again in May.

Whilst the digital media business has had from January 29 to March 12 to respond to Digital Britain as a whole, the deadline for responses to his follow-up paper on the agency itself has given Mayo the collywobbles: “This issue needs debated thoroughly, not decided on the basis of some quick ‘conversation’ held by men in suits.”

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