In a recent interview, Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge Julian Huppert revealed that a group of MPs are organising support to make amendments to the Digital Economy Act, which was rushed through at the end of the last government.

The Act contains several controversial sections, particularly those connected with broadband blocking and disconnections, that Huppert described as deeply worrying, and there are also serious implications for public Wi-Fi use.

Julian Huppert said:

“There’s this assumption that if you have someone’s IP address, you know who it is that’s responsible, which is simply wrong; it falls apart in so many ways.”

Julian Huppert tabled an early day motion, entitled “Effects of Digital Economy Act 2010 on Use of the Internet”, on his first day in Parliament which has helped those opposed to sections of the Act find other MPs with similar concerns.

According to Julian Huppert, the vote on the Act was taken in “very odd” circumstances. It was the dying days of Parliament and many MPs were not about to stay in London in the middle of an election to vote on something they didn’t really know anything about.

Mr Huppert continued:

“I would’ve been there, because I care about it, but there simply wasn’t time to educate all of them.

“But we’re better organised now. A number of us are working on things we can do with the Digital Economy Act. It has to go back to Parliament for approval, and in this case there has to be a vote, which is quite rare. It hasn’t been scheduled yet, but there will be an opportunity for those of us who have a case to make a case against sections of the Act to do so.”

Editor of Broadband Genie, Chris Marling added:

“It is heartening to hear important sections of this act, clearly rushed through without any time being paid to them, will not be let through so easily this time. While putting a stop to illegal file sharing is of great importance, is vitally important consumer rights are protected in the process.”