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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I congratulate the Minister. Discretion is the better part of valour in that respect. To contest these technical issues with the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, at this time of day would be extremely inadvisable. That has saved us all a good deal of time. In responding on behalf of my noble friend, I will say that this has been a useful debate. There is a great deal of nervousness about the armoury available under the technical measures. We have had a debate about how those should be evaluated and prepared for. The noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, put it very well when he said that the primary reason is to prevent ongoing copyright infringement, not to act as a punishment. That principle should be very clear in our minds and that of Ofcom in due course. A number of noble Lords have questioned the efficacy of the technical measures; quite a number of people out there question their efficacy. The Minister did not really address those who have a view about whether there should be such a thing as a content-limiting measure. In order to do that, you have to know what the content is. For an ISP to do that instantly flips it over into a different role. That is a problem, and the Minister did not really address that aspect. This will continue to be an important area, and I do not think that we have quite got there, but no doubt we will continue these discussions at further stages. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 150 withdrawn. Amendment 151 not moved. Amendment 152 Moved by