Londonderry 'flagship' scheme under threat

LONDONDERRY'S groundbreaking wireless city initiative is under threat from a proposed new law to tackle internet piracy.

Londonderry was one of the first cities in Europe to be fully wireless enabled. Even London's financial district lagged behind.

But now an expert has warned that the city's status as a flagship project is under threat from a proposed Bill at Westminster, and that that the Bill could also impact on the university.

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Professor Kevin Curran from Magee said: "In a worst case scenario, this could potentially mean that the university could be disconnected from the Internet, should some of its users be found to be infringing copyright. Users in this case could be students, workers, university visitors or the local public."

Free wireless internet is available to anyone with a laptop, iPhone or other device in most of the city centre. In December 2008 Derry City Council secured an additional 80,000 to extend coverage to the Fountain Estate, Bogside and Strand Road areas.

The Digital Economies Bill aims to tackle internet piracy and copyright infringements by placing responsibility with providers of the internet.

People downloading music illegally can be traced by their Internet Service Providers. These are usually companies such as BT or TalkTalk. The Digital Economies Bill compels these companies to take action against its users for copyright infringement.

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The problem for Londonderry is that its Wireless City has an unclear status under the Bill. It will either face the same issues as huge companies such as AOL and BT, or be treated as a single user.

Prof Curran said: "It is unclear where the liability lies. Who has the responsibility? It places us in a position where if the bill becomes legislation, of obviously needing to comply. It means every university in the UK now risks the same penalties for copyright infringement as individual subscribers.

"There needs to be some kind of system to verify people, who they are. Some kind of payment system through credit cards, can be cost-prohibitive. It is possible that the Wireless City would not be viable. It would make it very difficult. It is not a law yet. We are looking at it closely because there are issues. We are unsure if they have really thought it through."

He added: "Having a useful, reliable public service such as this removed due to an unclear law in these times will impact in a negative fashion on the local economy, student population, tourists and business people visiting the city. It is worth noting that companies such as BT have opposed the copyright clamp-down in the bill and many digital rights campaigning organisations have also opposed the bill."

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The Wireless City is a partnership between Derry City Council, Magee and the North West Regional College.

A spokesperson for Derry City Council said: "In 2005 Derry was designated by DETI as Northern Ireland's Flagship Project for the demonstration of wireless broadband technology. The project sought to implement initiatives to create a wireless-enabled working environment in the City for students, lecturers, tourists, councillors and local government officers."

She says the council is "awaiting details of any pending legislation regarding a Digital Economy Bill so that it can review it and how it will affect its projects and services. The advancement of the 'Digital Economy' is one of the priority actions identified in Derry City Council's Economic Development Strategy and aims to create new business opportunities in providing integrated services for e-business, e-government, e-tourism and e-learning".

The Wireless City is an award winning project. At the BT GoldeneyeT awards in Belfast the project was recognised in two categories, namely Education and Mobile Technology (WiFi). It is used as a case study for the EU alongside similar projects in Bologna, Italy and San Sebastien in Spain. Reports in newspapers such as The Guardian suggest the Bill will be passed before a general election in May.