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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I strongly support the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Whitty. He has eloquently explained it and asked the Minister why there is not due process in the case of the digital economy approach that this Bill sets out. Everything that the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, has said underlines the glaring omission from this Bill of any rights given to users of the digital economy—the citizens. The Government could have chosen to draft a clause setting out the rights of internet users, because the digital economy should bring lots of rights to those who use it. Among those would be the right to have all the ways that fraud can take place on the internet explained. We have discussed that issue in the context of cybersecurity: people are not given good guidance about online security. Starting from that, there should be a whole hierarchy of rights that people should be given in this Bill but which are missing from it. It would be helpful if the Government were able to draft a clause like that, ready for Report, to insert the rights of citizens using the internet. Some of that would encapsulate the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Whitty.