Public WiFi In The UK In Jeopardy?

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Open WiFi hotspots in the United Kingdom could be outlawed soon enough after Parliament is discussing a ‘Digital Economy Bill’ which, allegedly is attempting to boost the UK’s digital economy, but includes provisions that would force many WiFi hotspots to legally shutdown after universities, libraries and small shops won’t be exempt from the log-keeping provisions in the bill.

The Digital Economy Bill had already caught public attention when it proposed that serial copyright violators would have their internet connections shut off  for repeated offenses. It would also require Internet Service Providers to monitor customers usage and report any suspicious activities (filesharing-wise) to the copyright owners, or face steep fines.

The bill will also reclassify those who provide open WiFi hotspots as ISPs themselves, and force them to manage who used their WiFi access. Even if they password protected it, they would still have to keep detailed logs of all users who used the open WiFi – which is practically impossible for small coffee shops and pubs, and would be a heavy burden on universities and libraries.

Lord Young of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) said in a statement that universities would not be exempt from bill detailing them as ISPs because most universities already have strict policies against file sharing. Likewise (and probably one of the weakest arguments ever), public libraries will not be exempt because the BIS is afraid that false library organizations (or organisations, as they would likely say) will be set up in order to host free WiFi hotspots.

The Bill also could block websites that have a high proportion of copyright-infringing content. While this is probably aimed at newsgroup sites and torrent indexes, video sharing sites like YouTube could also be outlawed in the UK. The Bill is also getting flak because it would allow the State Secretary of the BIS unlimited power to immediately pass any bill regarding filesharing, without the input or consent of Parliament.

The Bill is being universally lauded by rights groups across the UK. Any internet-using UK citizen (and those across the rest of the Western world) should watch its progress carefully, due to its long-reaching implications.