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Entanet praises govt website blocking decision
The government has been applauded for ditching sections of the Digital Economy Act related to website blocking.
Following an independent review by Professor Ian Hargreaves on the UK's intellectual property law, Business Secretary Vince Cable announced the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition is looking at other ways of protecting copyrighted material.
The decision came in the wake of the Motion Picture Association's (MPA's) High Court victory that will force BT to prevent its broadband subscribers from accessing filesharing website Newzbin2.
This ruling was reached without utilising the relevant sections of the DEA, which led Mr Cable to indicate that these parts of the legislation are no longer relevant.
"We're looking at other ways of achieving the same objective," he told BBC News.
Responding to the development, head of marketing at Entanet Darren Farnden agreed the government should be applauded for attempting to modernise copyright laws by listening to advice laid out in the Hargreaves Review.
Despite this, he claimed the move is unlikely to bring an end to the debate on website blocking, predicting that many rights holders will follow the MPA's lead by attempting to force ISPs to restrict access to filesharing hubs.
This solution alone is "unworkable", Mr Farnden argued, citing the example of a website that is illegally hosting a sports match.
He commented: "Waiting for the court process is simply not quick enough. Why waste all that money when the site can easily up-sticks and host elsewhere?"
The Entanet executive went on to express hope that the Ofcom report recommending the adoption of measures from the Hargreaves Review will draw attention to the fact that the website blocking options available to ISPs are "never 100 per cent effective".
Mr Farnden also urged Communications Minister Ed Vaizey to take the regulator's guidance on board in his meetings on a voluntary code of practice for ISPs.