Broadband News
ISPs ‘outraged’ by bid to block illegal download sites
Friday, 05 March 2010
By Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk
Broadband providers have expressed their disappointment at the most recent amendment to the Digital Economy Bill which could see ISPs forced to block illegal filesharing websites.
Ministers had wanted the power to change future laws on internet copyright without the need for further legislation, but the plan was shot down by the Lords earlier this week following criticism from both Google and Facebook.
Liberal Democrat peer Lord Clement-Jones tabled an amendment that would allow the High Court to use injunctions to force ISPs to block certain websites. The bill received the backing of the Conservatives and passed through the Lords by 165 votes to 140.
“There are websites which consistently infringe copyright, many of them based outside the UK in countries such as Russia and beyond the jurisdiction of the UK courts,” said Clement-Jones. “Many of these websites refuse to stop supplying access to illegal content.”
Rightsholders would also be able to apply for injunctions against sites “where there is a substantial proportion of infringing material that is either hosted by that particular site or is accessed through the particular site in question,” he added.
However, this latest amendment has also received a rash of criticisms, from the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA), broadband providers and rights groups.
The ISPA said that the plans would lead to "blocking based on accusation rather than a court injunction", while TalkTalk Broadband (www.Talktalk.co.uk) also voiced its misgivings: “We are concerned that this new amendment is being put through at the last minute without any proper debate or scrutiny,” said Andrew Heaney, executive director of strategy and regulation at TalkTalk. “Given the potentially profound impact it would have, we think this is unacceptable.
“Making the restriction of websites a more widespread policy would be dangerous given its major impact on internet users’ human rights, freedom of expression and privacy. We fear it could also be a backdoor to censorship of the internet.
“At any rate, efforts to restrict websites on a mass scale would be utterly futile. Rightsholders can close down as many sites as they like but ultimately they will always survive in new or different guises. Unless you pull the plug on the whole internet, it’s a pointless pursuit,” he concluded.
Michael Phillips, Broadbandchoices.co.uk product director, added: “Labour peer Lord Young of Norwood Green has already admitted that it would be hard to block sites offering illegal content without also blocking legitimate material. Websites linking to other sites - including search engines - could even be affected.
“At the same time, TalkTalk has warned that this amendment, which suggests that ISPs should pay rightsholders’ application fees if an injunction is ultimately successful, would push up broadband costs for consumers, all of which is very worrying.”
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