Speculation is mounting that the formation of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government in the UK could lead to the controversial Digital Economy Bill, which amongst other things puts in place a three-strike anti-piracy policy, being repealed.
Regardless of party allegiances, many people with an understanding of technology campaigned to stop the Digital Economy Bill from being passed due to what they felt was a complete lack of technological understanding from the government. Considering that the now-former Minister for Digital Britain Stephen Timms said in a letter that an "IP address" stood for "intellectual property address" it is easy to see why there was concern.
Although both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties were highly critical of the bill, when it came before the commons during the so-called "wash-up" period, the Conservatives voted in favour after some amendments, and the bill was passed.
After the bill was passed, now Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said that the Liberal Democrats had done everything they could to stop the bill.
"It was far too heavily weighted in favour of the big corporations and those who are worried about too much information becoming available, " he said, "It badly needs to be repealed, and the issues revisited."
However, as reported by PC Pro, it is believed that the Digital Economy Bill could be repealed as part of a bill currently being dubbed as a "Freedom Bill" or "Great Repeal Bill" that was announced as part of a coalition agreement published on Wednesday. Designed to tackle what it calls a "substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour government", it will reportedly include the scrapping of ID cards, biometric passports, storage of email and phone records and, if the speculation is to be believed, the Digital Economy Bill.