London – British ISPs Talk Talk and BT have asked the U.K.
High Court to clarify the legality of the country’s recently passed Digital
Economy Bill, which includes provisions requiring ISPs to police file-sharing,
the BBC reported.
The ISPs say the law was "rushed through" with
"insufficient scrutiny."
They ask the Court to clarify whether the
U.K. law conflicts with Europe’s e-commerce directive, which limits liability
of offenses committed by ISP subscribers, similar to the "safe
harbor" provisions of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Talk Talk
and BT also believe the provisions of the bill that require ISPs to disconnect
repeat file-swappers unfairly target larger ISPs, as they only apply to firms
with more than 400,000 subscribers.
"It means we could have huge swathes
of customers moving to smaller ISPs to avoid detection," Andrew Heaney,
executive director of TalkTalk, told the BBC.
Related Links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10542400.stm
