Web bill clears Lords hurdle

LEGISLATION to combat web piracy, including internet bans for persistent illegal file-sharers, has cleared the Lords and will be rushed through before the general election.

Peers passed Business Secretary Lord Mandelson's Digital Economy Bill, after promises over further concessions over a "catch-all" clause. The clause

proved controversial with Google, Yahoo, Facebook, other internet service providers, consumer rights campaigners and academics last week voicing their objections.

They warned that it would "threaten freedom of speech and the open internet".

Liberal Democrat media spokesman Lord Clement-Jones, who had led the moves for the replacement clause,offered "clarifications and improvements" to meet the critics' concerns, but did not put them to the vote.