Broadband providers able to block iPlayer, YouTube, Spotify and the gang

youtube_banned International IT law specialists Pinsent Masons, AKA the people who run the OUT-LAW blog, published an article last Friday which has kicked up a bit of a stir on these shores.

“There is no legal barrier in the UK to internet service providers (ISPs) blocking content from website operators who do not pay them,” reads the first line of the piece. This news comes after the widely publicised beef between BT and the BBC.

The UK’s leading provider of broadband services pointed to the costs linked to subscribers watching content online. It was suggested, prior to publication of the Digital Britain report last week, that owners of popular content streaming sites and applications would have to pay ISPs for costs incurred.

The article goes on to say that “As long as an ISP explains its actions in its fair use policies or statements of terms and conditions it is permitted to block whatever it likes.”

Whilst OUT-LAW has pointed out an interesting loophole in British law, we doubt that anything drastic will come of it. In an already competitive market which has got a whole lot smaller since TalkTalk’s purchase of Tiscali, who wants to be known as the ISP that blocked YouTube?

Source: [OUT-LAW]

Share This: