TalkTalk’s Don’t Disconnect Us campaign appears to have taken a blow from the benches, as Lord Mandelson seems set on forging onwards with his ‘ill-conceived’ plans to allow content providers to force ISPs to disconnect customers suspected of illegally sharing files.
Yesterday the business secretary said that “It must become clear that the days of consequence-free widespread online infringement are over,” and confirmed plans to disconnect persistent offenders. The government will decide in spring 2011 whether to introduce a three strikes policy, with disconnection being used as a “very last resort” for “persistent rule breakers”.
However many are concerned that these proposals would see those accused of piracy disconnected without a trial, or would see net users flagged as potential criminals even if they were distributing open source software.
On the TalkTalk Blog, Andrew Heaney said that the government’s “approach is based on the principle of ‘guilty until proven innocent’ and substitutes proper judicial process for a kangaroo court. What is being proposed is wrong in principle and it won’t work in practice. We know this approach will lead to wrongful accusations.”
TalkTalk is also not too happy about the prospect of being roped in as a watchdog to monitor the activities of its subscribers on behalf of content owners. Heaney said that ‘TalkTalk will continue to resist any attempts to make it impose technical measures on its customers unless directed to do so by a court or recognised tribunal.’
Source: [TalkTalk Blog, Don't Disconnect Us]
Posted by Tom on October 29th 2009 in Digital Britain, Next Gen Broadband, TalkTalk
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