Filesharing laws to be delayed and may be scrapped
Laws designed to prevent illegal filesharing are to be challenged in the High Court after BT and TalkTalk successfully argued that the Digital Economy Act could be in breach of European legislation governing privacy and the use of data.
The new law had been due to come into effect in January but will now have to be delayed until a ruling is made.
It would have allowed rights holders to issue threatening letters to illegal filesharers and disconnect or cut off repeat offenders.
Crucially however the law did not distinguish between the filesharer and the owner of the internet connection, opening the door to innocent people being punished for the crimes of others.
A spokesman for the BPI, the music industry’s trade body, said: “We continue to believe that their (BT and Talk Talk) case is misguided and will fail.”