ISP heads publish group letter to government over piracy tactics

It's not very often competing internet service providers join forces, but the Government's announcement it's looking into broadband disconnection as a way of combating internet piracy has rattled the cages of the telecoms top dogs so much they've teamed up to write a letter.

Charles Dunstone of TalkTalk, Ian Livingston of BT, Tom Alexander of Orange UK, Deborah Prince of Which?, Jim Killock of Open Rights Group and Ed Mayo of Consumer Focus collaborated this week to pen a letter, published in The Times newspaper, challenging the Government's latest proposals on how to reduce illegal filesharing.

Clearly pointing out all believe the creative industries play an important role in the UK, the telecoms executives aired their views the latest proposals “threaten broadband consumers' rights and the development of new attractive services.”

“...consumers must be presumed to be innocent unless proven guilty,” the letter suggested. “We must avoid an extra-judicial 'kangaroo court' process where evidence is not properly tested and accused broadband users are denied the right to defend themselves against false accusations. Without these protections innocent customers will suffer.”

All of the contributors agreed the proposal that internet service providers and (by implication) broadband customers should pay for the cost of these measures was a “grossly unfair” concept, especially considering “the vast majority of consumers do not illegally fileshare.”

Additionally, Charles Dunstone, CEO of TalkTalk, invited major content providers to work together with UK internet service providers to draft a more appealing solution: “I am calling on the major content providers to get back round the table with us, consumer groups and other ISPs to devise a plan we can jointly agree on and take to government... TalkTalk will continue to fight tooth and nail for consumers' rights and against the application of extra judicial technical measures on our customers.”

More information on the Government's unexpected change of heart can be found here.