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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

I shall speak also to Amendment 217. I thoroughly support the Government’s proposals in general, but I wanted to make sure that what the domain name registry is being asked to do lies within its powers. Many companies would like to acquire other people’s internet property. I do not know why one should give them the scope to lobby the Government to try to bully other people out of stuff that they legitimately own. Trying to make the domain name registry a creature of government would be a first step in that. Big commercial interests could then continue the pressure on the Government to try to get their way with internet domain name property. It seems to be plain sense that the Government should be able to require the registry only to do things that it has the power and resources to do. Having looked at this issue and the impact assessment, I think that the Government are missing a trick. Why have they not thought of taxation as a means of controlling some of these abuses? If they are worried about people hoarding domain names, why not tax them? There are 8 million of them out there. The Government could get a tidy sum and would make life inconvenient for people who hoard domain names on the ground that they think that they could make a profit out of selling names to people with a commercial use for them. Like the number plates business, there is a pretty good business in prestigious domain names. This Government have proved to be very inventive in that sphere. Two of the three ills that the Government complain of could easily be dealt with by constructive taxation which would have added benefits for them. I beg to move.