U.K. ISPs BT, Talk Talk Challenge Digital Economy Bill in Court

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 29, 2010 - 10:42am.

London - U.K. Internet service providers BT and Talk Talk plan to challenge the country's new Digital Economy Act before the High Court, over provisions that require them to police file-sharing on their networks.

The ISPs said in court documents that the law was given "insufficient scrutiny before being rushed through into law at the tail end of the last Parliament."

"It's disappointing that we feel the need to take action but we feel we have no choice. We have to do this for our customers who otherwise run the risk of being treated unfairly," BT retail CEO Gavin Patterson said in a statement.

"Our dispute is not with the current government but with the previous administration which pushed this through without due process. We need clarity about whether this legislation is compatible with important EU laws."

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