Government looks for Digital Economy Act 'Plan B'

Working group to discuss ways to avoid web site blocking causing an upset

The government has ordered a working group to find a "Plan B" to make its proposals to block web sites more palatable to ISPs and users.

The Digital Economy Act has come under a lot of criticism from ISPs and other organisations over the legalities of web site blocking, particularly concerning how it would work and who would be held responsible if illegal content were downloaded on free public Wi-Fi.

At a roundtable this week ministers Jeremy Hunt and Ed Vaizey discussed the issue with BT, Universal Music, Google and TalkTalk.

To investigate alternative plans for web site blocking, the government ordered a working group consisting of rights holders, ISPs and search engines, according to the Guardian.

"It is agreed that what is needed is a Plan B," said one attendee of the meeting.

"We want to look at how ISPs and rights holders can work together."

One idea that was mooted would see rights holders look to indemnify ISPs against being sued by sites that have been blocked. This would give ISPs confidence that they would not face hefty payouts if legal action were taken.

As a result, the responsibility would be with the rights holders who would need to be absolutely certain that a site was illegal before ordering ISPs to block them.

At the beginning of this month Ofcom was also ordered to review to practice of site blocking and decide whether or not it was a workable component of the Digital Economy Act.