6 June 2006

The All Party Parliamentary Internet Group (APIG) has unveiled its report into Digital Rights Management, which includes some strong recommendations on what can be changed.

This followed an inquiry into the subject and there were submissions from consumers, libraries, print media publishers, the film and music industries and lawyers among others.

A number of recommendations have been made which the APIG believes will improve or clarify the situation for these groups of people.

It has asked the Office of Fair Trading to come up with specific labelling regulations in order for consumers to know exactly what they are allowed and prohibited to do with digital content.

Among the other recommendations, the government should consider extending the anti-circumvention measures in the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act for genuine academic research.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has been advised to review the amount of funding for pilot projects examining access to eBooks by those with visual disabilities and new plans need to be made if not enough progress is being made.

In addition, the Department of Trade and Industry should investigate the potential for a European single-market with some digital technologies, which was raised during the inquiry.

© Adfero Ltd

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