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British ISPs win judicial review of illegal P2P law
11 Nov 2010 | 17.02 Europe/London
British ISPs, TalkTalk and BT, have been awarded a judicial review of The Digital Economy Act which became law in the UK in June.
They, and other ISPs and internet companies, claim that it had been rushed through in the last days of the Labour Government and that this haste meant its full ramifications were not properly considered. Most importantly, their high court action suggested, the law did not fully consider potential conflicts with EU law.
The two ISPs have been among the most vocal critics of the Act because it requires all ISPs to disconnect households where someone has repeatedly downloaded illegal content as well as bar access to sites believed to be holding pirated material.
They believe that not only does this expose them to serious cost, which they will only partly be recompensed for, but they also believe EU laws on data privacy and ecommerce.
The new obligations were to be pressed upon ISPs in the first half of next year, by Ofcom, but this is likely to be now delayed while the judicial review is held.
They, and other ISPs and internet companies, claim that it had been rushed through in the last days of the Labour Government and that this haste meant its full ramifications were not properly considered. Most importantly, their high court action suggested, the law did not fully consider potential conflicts with EU law.
The two ISPs have been among the most vocal critics of the Act because it requires all ISPs to disconnect households where someone has repeatedly downloaded illegal content as well as bar access to sites believed to be holding pirated material.
They believe that not only does this expose them to serious cost, which they will only partly be recompensed for, but they also believe EU laws on data privacy and ecommerce.
The new obligations were to be pressed upon ISPs in the first half of next year, by Ofcom, but this is likely to be now delayed while the judicial review is held.