Telecom Companies Write To Government against its Recent Anti-Piracy Proposal
Top telecom companies have been so put off by the government’s recent proposal to discontinue broadband membership in order to combat internet piracy that they have written an open letter addressed to the government.
The letter written together by Ian Livingston of BT, Tom Alexander of Orange UK, Charles Dunstone of TalkTalk, Deborah Prince of Which?, Ed Mayo of Consumer Focus and Jim Killock of Open Rights Group was published in The Times newspaper, and it questioned the government’s devised way to fight banned filesharing.
According to these executives who enjoy powerful positions within their companies, this move by the government will harm consumer. It will also reduce the free flow of new services and will endanger the rights enjoyed by the broadband
The letter went ahead and declared that consumers should not be accused without substantial proof, and that an extra-judicial process must be prevented at any cost. A consumer must be allowed to exercise his right to a fair trial, else innocent people will end up suffering for no fault of theirs.
The letter also said that asking internet service providers to pay to carry out and maintain these regulations was not warranted, as it would mean charging customers more for the services. This is not right, as many customers do not even indulge in illegal filesharing in the first place.
Charles Dunstone, CEO of TalkTalk, asked for content providers, internet service providers and consumer groups to jointly fight against this proposal made by the government. He appealed to them to develop ideas to give a strong reply to the government and come out victorious in the fight against the government’s unfair scheme to terminate services in order to battle piracy. He also wants to work out a plan to save consumers from any extra-judicial measures.