Open Rights Group slams Ofcom draft code

The Open Rights Group has criticised the draft version of Ofcom’s Initial Obligations Code, which covers the manner in which evidence of copyright violation is gathered and submitted.

According to the ORG, the draft fails to comply with certain standards laid down by the Government’s Digital Economy Bill. Specifically, the draft allows ISPs and copyright holders to ‘self certify’ the methods of collecting information, instead of requiring it to meet a number of legally defined standards.

“The Draft ‘Initial Obligations Code’ governs the way that copyright owners send accusations of copyright infringement to Internet users under the Digital Economy Act. In some cases, this will lead to individuals being taken to court,” wrote the ORG’s Jim Killock.

“Ofcom’s proposal denies us the ability to check whether the methods of collecting of the evidence are trustworthy. Instead, copyright holders and Internet Service Providers will just self-certify that everything’s ok. If they get it wrong, there’s no penalty.”