Lib Dems vote to repeal parts of Digital Economy Act

Nick Clegg's party is not happy with the Digital Economy Act in its current form

The Liberal Democrat party is to call on the coalition government to repeal the website-blocking and three-strikes disconnection elements of the controversial Digital Economy Act.

The party voted on the motion during a hastily arranged Special Conference over the weekend designed to give members the chance to back or block the coalition deal.

"Conference urges Liberal Democrat ministers and MPs to take all possible steps to ensure the repeal of those sections of the Digital Economy Act 2010 which are inconsistent with policy motion 'Freedom, Creativity and the Internet' as passed at Spring Conference 2010," said the party in a statement after the conference.

The policy motion in question was raised as an emergency motion at the Spring conference, designed to address what the Lib Dems perceived as the more alarming elements of the legislation.

The motion condemned "website blocking and disconnecting internet connections as a response to copyright infringement", two of the most controversial aspects of Lord Mandelson's Act which now have the very real prospect of being repealed.

The Lib Dems also condemned what was then the Digital Economy Bill for " focusing on illegal file sharing rather than on nurturing creativity".

It remains to be seen whether these sections can be repealed, or how long it could take. But the Lib Dem resolution now gives opponents of the Act a new opportunity to campaign for alternatives.

Meanwhile, industry regulator Ofcom has said that it won't be enforcing the anti-file-sharing measures of the Digital Economy Act for mobile broadband operators and ISPs with fewer than 400,000 UK subscribers.

Ofcom had a deadline of the end of this year to draw up a code of practice for the new Act, including three months for approval by the European Commission. The code is likely to be on hold now.