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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for the communication that he sent us about universities. Universities are relatively easy organisations to address, because they have a student body which can sign up to something. Similarly, in libraries, as you take out your library user card, you can be asked to sign up. However, we have not yet got to the bottom of what will happen to municipal places—the towns, for example—that choose to offer wi-fi. I am sad that the Government have not chosen to introduce a clause stating what category educational establishments or commercial establishments such as internet cafés, or indeed municipal facilities and wi-fi towns such as Swindon, would fall into. The vision set out by the Government in Digital Britain was of a place where local government provided wi-fi; it was creating opportunities for the citizen. Not having a more enabling clause in this Bill that recognises how to get round some of the difficulties without making life difficult for those organisations and local governments who are being innovative seems to be a big loss. The Minister, I am sure, will be aware of the town in the USA—I believe in Ohio—which was offering wi-fi. It had a great difficulty because it was said that someone who had accessed the internet through the wi-fi had infringed copyright and the whole wi-fi network was threatened with closure. I do not know what happened in that case, but it would be a great shame if just at the point where we are getting more widespread opportunity to access wi-fi through municipal provision, it was caught by this Bill. Establishments such as libraries and universities would benefit from a special clause, but I would be very grateful if the Minister could make a particular comment on municipal wi-fi.