mobile broadband

New law exempts mobile broadband providers

The Digital Economy Act may exempt mobile broadband providers from copyright laws, according to a newspiece in The Register, this could also include minority ISPs from having to make an effort towards halting file sharing.



The copyright law means that anyone file-sharing copyright materials must counteract this behaviour, but it could actually be that this law may not apply to mobile broadband providers.

What is being investigated is making exceptions, this would be down to how big the ISP is, as well as the budget needed to comply with the new law.

The law intends to force ISPs to send warning letters out to anyone who file shares copyright materials. This, they hope will dwindle the numbers of file sharers out there. Those who don't comply may have their broadband internet service terminated for a short time.

There appear to be a few cracks, according to various sources, in the Digital Economy Bill, such as not being able to find out which user actually downloaded copyright software or material. This means some consumers may be wrongly accused.

There were also fears that those who offer free internet, such as pubs, hotels and restaurants may be targeted because they own the network.

Because the Digital Economy Bill has now passed through law there needs to be a Code of Practice, which Ofcom will have to do. This could mean that there are exceptions to this law, named threshold of compliance - whereby those exempt won't have to go along with the law.