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U.K. proposal to police the Web hits hurdles

Plans to give police in Britain more power against terror Web sites are defeated by the House of Lords.

Steve Ranger UK editor-in-chief, TechRepublic and ZDNet
Steve Ranger is the UK editor-in-chief of ZDNet and TechRepublic. An award-winning journalist, Steve writes about the intersection of technology, business and culture, and regularly appears on TV and radio discussing tech issues. Previously he was the editor of silicon.com.
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Steve Ranger
Another government tech policy has been defeated by the British House of Lords, with members rejecting plans to give police more power over terrorism-related content on Web sites.

The government's original plans would have allowed police to act after deciding information on the Internet is related to terrorism. But this was changed by the House of Lords so that police would have to ask judges before telling Internet service providers to remove Web pages, according to the BBC.

The government was defeated by 148-147 vote. The bill received a third reading and will now return to the House of Commons.

Last month, the House of Lords embarrassed the government by rejecting key parts of the controversial identity card plan, voting to block the ID cards bill until the costs have been scrutinized by a parliamentary watchdog, the National Audit Office, and by making it voluntary for people to enroll on the national ID register.

Steve Ranger of Silicon.com reported from London.