Andre Yoskowitz
6 Mar 2012 22:14
ISPs BT and TalkTalk have lost their appeal against the UK government's "Digital Economy Act."
The act, which will force ISPs to send warning letters to alleged pirates and eventually cut them off the web for extended periods, should now be free to go into effect.
Both ISPs had argued that law would put an unfair financial burden on the companies, who will have to foot part of the bill for the crackdown on piracy at the behest of the media companies.
As part of the bill, the ISPs will still have to pay 25 percent "of the qualifying costs incurred by media regulator Ofcom in running and setting up an appeals body for alleged illicit file sharers," says THR.
Additionally, the ISPs will have to pay "25 percent of relevant costs, which are operating fees incurred when identifying which subscribers are accused of illegal downloading."