Increasing protests and even threats of legal action have been made by broadband service providers that will at some point be required to disconnect the broadband services of the most serious illegal downloaders following the recent commitment by Lord Mandelson in having the government implement strict new French-style measure to warn anyone suspected of sharing copyrighted files illegally.

Andrew Heaney, the executive director of strategy and regulation at TalkTalk advised that the company “would look to appeal the decision [to the courts] because it infringes human rights” if the government does attempt to disconnect any of its customers. These new measures would “substitute proper judicial process for a kangaroo court” and “lead to wrongful accusations” if the government were to treat users that it suspected of illegal file-sharing as guilty until proven innocent said Mr Heaney. A campaign has been set up by TalkTalk, which is owned by Carphone Warehouse, where it has set up a petition against the plans that it is asking everyone opposed to the plans to sign.

A statement of opposition has also been released by BT, the country’s largest broadband network operator saying “BT remains concerned about some aspects of the Government’s proposals.”

It also added that it would like to know if a legal court hearing would be the right of anyone who had been accused of a P2P offence. The fact that ISPs would be required to pay part of the costs created by the new anti-piracy regime from Mandelson was also a big issue for BT which warned “This could place a huge burden on the industry and force up broadband prices for customers.”

As long as suspected offenders were given enough warning the new system would be legally sound when it came to disconnecting the broadband service of these offenders according to legal experts.

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