ISPs seek judicial ruling over legality of Digital Economy Act

BT and Talk Talk – the Internet service providers – have asked the High Court to provide a ruling as to whether the Digital Economy Act is unlawful. They complain that the Act was scrambled through in a rush to pass legislation just before the General Election and that it conflicts with European Union laws protecting privacy and electronic communications. The ISPs say that implementing systems and processes that would enable them identify, communicate with and cut off users who share copyright material without authorisation would cost tens of millions of pounds. They say it would be better to get a court ruling now as to whether the new laws will be lawful rather than waste money on implementing something where the law turns out to be unenforceable.