Government won't disconnect pirates, just 'suspend' them

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The Government has claimed it won’t terminate internet user’s accounts as a punishment for illegal filesharing but instead suspend the offender’s connection as a "last resort."

The policy is part of the Digital Economy Bill, legislation born from the Digital Britain report, that is currently going through debating processes in the Houses of Parliament.

Responding to an e-petition calling for plans to cut off illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharers to be scrapped, the Government said that while “technical measures” would be taken, it would “not terminate the accounts of infringers.”

Detailing the measures, the statement said: “Technical measures might be a bandwidth restriction, a daily downloading limit or, as a last resort, temporary account suspension.”

“A proper independent appeal would be available against application of technical measures.”

However, Jim Killock, director of the Open Rights Group, has said the Government would be disconnecting people - it is just a case of clever wording.

“When is 'disconnection' not disconnection? When it is 'account suspension,' of course,” Killock said in a statement.

“If you think they mean that their internet cabling will still be plugged in at the wall, then that’s true. If you think they mean that these families will be able to connect to the internet, well, no they won’t. Their connection will be switched off.”

He concluded: “Please do not be confused by the government’s semantics.”

The Government response comes on the same day a number of MPs from the Business, Innovation and Skills committee have slammed the bill’s proposed broadband tax as “regressive” and “poorly targeted.”

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