Digital Economy Act does not include disconnection

In a response to a Talk Talk Petition that was filed recently the government has said that its controversial Digital Economy Act does not include disconnection.

The government has recently responded to a petition that was filed by the Internet provider Talk Talk with regards to measures taken to restrict illegal file sharing amongst broadband users. The petition from Talk Talk called on the government to “abolish the proposed law that will see alleged illegal filesharers disconnected from their broadband connections, without a fair trial”. The government has now responded to the Talk Talk petition over its controversial Digital Economy Act, claiming that the measures do not include disconnection of broadband users.

In its response the government said: “It is clear that online copyright infringement inflicts considerable damage on the UK’s creative economy including music, TV and film, games, sports and software. Industry estimates place this harm at £400m pa. ”

It continued: “The Digital Economy Act includes a number of measures to tackle the problem and we expect these to be successful in significantly reducing online copyright infringement. However this is an area of rapid technological change and developing consumer behaviour. The Act therefore includes a reserve power to introduce further “technical” measures if the initial measures do not succeed. These technical measures would limit or restrict an infringers’ access to the internet. They do not include disconnection.”

In its petition Talk Talk said: “This petition has been set up in response to the Government’s proposal to cut off internet access to those who are caught illegally downloading copyrighted files. We think this has one fundamental flaw, as illegal filesharers will simply hack into other peoples WiFi networks to do their dirty work. This will result in innocent people being disconnected from the internet. What’s more, such a punishment should be dealt with in the proper way, in a court of law. This guilty until proven innocent approach violates basic human rights.”