ADSL Broadband
Best Broadband
Cable Broadband
Free Broadband
Fastest Broadband
20Mb Broadband
50Mb Broadband
Fibre-Optic Broadband
Legal expert backs TalkTalk campaign
Wednesday 11th November 2009, by Daniel King
An expert in law and spokesman for Towerhouse Consulting has told TalkTalk - which is now the largest internet services provider in Britain - he was "extremely concerned" about the implementation of plans to target file sharing.
Paul Brisby, a leading telecoms lawyer at the organisation, explained disconnecting people is thought to be in breach of the rules and denies the public their right to be treated as innocent until proven guilty and violates their privacy.
This, he said, would make such plans unlawful. "For the UK to impose a requirement to cut off end-users without a prior hearing would not be permissible," Mr Brisby added.
Commenting, TalkTalk's director of strategy and regulation Andrew Heaney welcomed the clarity that the European rules have offered as they "put into legal language what fair-minded people instinctively knew was right and just".
He went on to say it was unfair for copyright holders to request people be disconnected unless it is first established they broke the law with intent - something that can only be ascertained with "an impartial legal process starting with a presumption of innocence".
Previously, TalkTalk instigated a campaign called Don't Disconnect Us that set out three principal objections to plans announced by Lord Mandelson this year that were designed to target illegal downloaders.
These were that giving the film and record industry powers to request prosecution ignores the need for a judicial review of the case and such an approach presumes people are already guilty. In addition, it was noted it could also result in millions of innocent people being accused.
Categories: Broadband, Internet Security
