Accused filesharers will have right of appeal, says minister

The government will allow people and companies accused of illicit filesharing to appeal before they are disconnected, under new measures to be introduced in the digital economy bill, said Stephen Timms, the financial secretary to the Treasury, today.

Update: the Department for Business points out that the bill already includes provision for subscriber appeals. (I misinterpreted Timm's use of the phrase "there will be appeals available..." to mean that this was to be introduced. - Charles Arthur)

A new clause to be introduced into the bill in the next two weeks will mean "There will be an appeals procedure available which people will be able to pursue", Timms said as the prime minister Gordon Brown launched his vision of a digital Britain in which superfast broadband would be as essential as electricity.

The bill has come under fire from campaigning groups and digital chiefs who say that as presently constituted it would mean summary disconnection from the internet for people who are accused of repeated online copyright infringement, and that businesses which provide internet connections to customers – such as the British Library or hundreds of hotels and cafés – would shut down the connections rather than risk being sued or put out of business because of the actions of users.

But Timms said that "there will be no disconnection before the appeal" and added "I hope that we will not get into technical measures" – the phrase the bill uses to describe the action to be taken against individuals or businesses with internet access accused multiple times of copyright theft. He added that "we need to be able to protect the UK creative industries which produce so much value for the UK".

Rights groups said that this response does not deal with the threat that they perceive to such organisations from the bill.

The bill is controversial because it is being rushed through parliament so that it can become law before the general election. It has already passed through the House of Lords and had the first of its three readings in the Commons. But it looks increasingly likely that it will go into the "wash-up" – in which bills are nodded through in hours by agreement between party whips if they have had a second reading.

It is expected that the bill will receive a second reading on or before 6 April, in time to go into the "wash-up" if the election is called, as expected, for 6 May. Any bill still in process that does not go into the "wash-up" will not become law.

Timms acknowledged that it was "likely" that the bill will go into the "wash-up". He added: "I am confident we can address the concerns that have been raised. Essentially, we will require consultation before any technical measures are taken."

Brown blamed the problems on amendments introduced by the Tories and Liberal Democrats in the Lords – though online rights groups had criticised the bill before then.

But that has not allayed the concerns of campaigners. Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, which campaigns for online rights of citizens, said: "Online government is a great idea, but Labour cannot say that people will depend on online government, and simultaneously plan to disconnect families after allegations of minor copyright offences. Labour must drop clauses 11-18 of the digital economy bill, which would allow thousands of families to be cut off the internet."

More than 11,000 people have emailed their MPs to ask for more debate of the clauses in parliament.