Entanet slams Digital Economy rush job

"Ill-thought out" law rushed through prior to election, comms provider claims

Clamp down: file sharers could be blocked from the internet

Comms provider Entanet has accused the government of damaging the UK internet industry by rushing through the Digital Economy Bill in an "underhand" attempt at political points scoring.

The controversial bill passed into the statute books this month and ISPs are now compelled by law to pass on warning letters to illegal file-sharers. They may even be called upon to cut off persistent offenders.

One part of the bill to provoke Entanet's ire is Clause 18, which requires ISPs to block sites where much of the accessible content infringes copyright. The firm's head of marketing Darren Farnden claimed the bill had been rushed through prior to the upcoming election.

“We are utterly disappointed in the underhand way in which the government has rushed this complex and controversial Bill through into law," he said. "It has not enabled the affected parties’ or MPs’ views to be considered and, yet again, demonstrates how political parties are using controversial issues such as copyright infringement to play a political game prior to the election.

"It is our view that several aspects of this Bill will be severely detrimental to the internet industry, the internet itself, the public and the UK as a whole. The use of IP tracking is not an accurate way of tracking down copyright infringers; guilty until proven innocent is still the wrong approach; disconnection and throttling is not a proportionate punishment; and website blocking is not the answer.”