BT Chief Attacks Digital Economy Bill

Since its publication back in November 2009 the UK government's Digital Economy Bill has caused torrents of criticism from the general public, to ISPs, artists and net neutrality defenders. Recently, BT's Chief Exec Ian Livingstone has expressed his opposition to the bill in a letter he sent to the Financial Times newspaper in which he talks about the urgent need to have the bill modified before becoming a law.

The boss of BT thinks that plans to cut off the alleged file sharers from the internet just go against natural justice and the measures that should be taken against piracy should focus on fines and certain proceeds that would solve the problem.

Major other internet players such as Google and Facebook but also broadband providers including Virgin and Orange have joined the cause and inked their name on the letter.

With respect to the clause empowering ISPs to block file-sharing websites which we talked about last week, many have warned already about the risk it represents for the UK's reputation for online business.