UK ISPs will be made to block file sharing sites

Image credit: Evozi

Many companies have been at war with file sharing sites ever since users (and pirates) began uploading copyrighted content such movies, music files, and software for other users to download. Today, however, marks a victory for these companies in the UK.

Jeremy Hunt, the UK’s Culture Secretary, has verified that court-ordered site blocking will be one of the provisions in the new Communications Act. Plans on how to streamline and implement the site-blocking process, from how to identify offending sites to requiring advertisers and providers to stop rendering services to them, were outlined by Hunt in a speech that was made on Royal Television Society.

The news was received positively by the CEO of TalkTalk broadband, Dido Harding, who expressed that it was the better alternative compared to the Digital Economy Act that required Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to strictly monitor sites that violated copyright laws.

“We believe the measures set in the Digital Economy Act are grossly unfair and will result in innocent customers suffering and being presumed guilty.” Harding explained, ”[The Culture Secretary] was at pains to point out that ISPs would only be asked to block access to sites which a court had determined carried unlawful content or promoted the distribution of unlawful content. We have long argued that it is for the courts to decide whether a site is infringing copyright.”

Looking back, the Digital Economy Act was very poorly received not only by TalkTalk, but also by BT and about 95% of the other ISPs in the UK that are members of the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA). The ISPs asserted that “any decision about whether websites are unlawful should be made by a court,” which wasn’t something that the Digital Economy Act required.

Possibly one of the major reasons why so many service providers are on the fence about blocking content or even entire sites has to deal with the possible backlash that they may receive, not only from the sites themselves, but also from the users on the other end.

Source – Broadband Reports