UKCheapBroadband Comments on ISP Disconnection For Illegal File Sharers

November 4, 2009; 03:26 AM

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has confirmed that the UK will be implementing the ‘three strikes’ system from April next year, and that account suspension for repeat offenders will be part of the system. This suspension will happen when an individual has been accused - rather than found guilty - of file sharing.

Full account suspension won’t be used initially, instead warning letters and details passed on to rights holders will begin the campaign, with the hope of reaching the government target of reducing online piracy up to 70% by 2011.

UK ISPs will not be expected to pay for the full costs of the new notification system, but many remain very unhappy about the decision. None more so than Talk Talk, who have started an online campaign to raise awareness of the technical weakness of the new system and have stated they will resist any attempts to impose technical measures on its customers.

Other ISPs have also released statements in opposition to the decision, although it is suggest that many ISPs will simply go quietly along with the new law.

Charles Mcfey, Product Director at ukcheapbroadband.com says:

“This decision to follow the three strikes system is going to be ultimately damaging to both consumer faith and the overall development of the broadband industry.

Although we do not condone illegal filesharing, neither do we condone a system that presumes guilt without any evidence and uses extreme measures to disable a persons or families access online without a single piece of hard evidence to prove they were the ones breaching copyright.

The announcement has so far avoided the very complicated issue of Wi-Fi security, and with many recent summaries revealing a large amount of the UK still using the easily hackable WEP network, we believe that implementation of the law will simply lead to far more instances of untraceable Wi-Fi hacking.

We admire the stance Talk Talk is taking in attempt to protect its innocent customers from a flawed system, and hope more ISPs will come out and speak on behalf of their customers.

Meanwhile, the emphasis should be placed with the rights holders to find better and cheaper ways to access content online. This could provide a much better long term solution than simply assuming all broadband customers are guilty until proven innocent.”

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UKCheapBroadband searches thousands of different packages and internet service providers to ensure that consumers have a full range of choice at their fingertips. As an independent source, UKCheapBroadband prides itself on its transparency and fairness.

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For further information please contact:

Rob Clarke
Senior Press Officer
www.ukcheapbroadband.com
020 8144 1319-
Rob@ukcheapbroadband.com