UK Regulator Says Digital Economy Act Only Applies To Big Wireline ISPs

from the small-ISPs-about-to-get-bigger dept

UK's telco regulator Ofcom has apparently decided that the Digital Economy Act's provisions on suspending accounts of those accused of file sharing will only apply to wireline ISPs who have 400,000+ customers. I would imagine that this might create a bit of a boom in business for smaller ISPs -- though, that could be self-defeating if too many customers switch and push any particular smaller ISP over that 400,000 mark...
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: digital economy act, isps, uk, wireline


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • icon
    Karl (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 6:50pm

    Headlines

    Ha, the headline at the Register is slightly different. And by "slightly different," I mean it reads like it was written by TAM:
    Fleeing freetards could yet cause tiddler crackdown

    The Register isn't owned by Rupert Murdoch, is it?

    I also like how the entire article is apparently a registered trademark.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Cynyr (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 6:53pm

    hmm couldn't you upon reaching 350k customer split the company into 175k blocks, that share space?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Vic, 18 May 2010 @ 7:08pm

    Interesting...

    Say there are two ISPs - one has 500K subscribers of which 10 are DEB breakers, another with 10K subscribers, all of whom (OK, let's say just 50%!) are downloading copyrighted material like crazy. Are they really going to let it slide?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    MadderMak (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 10:09pm

    Hmmmm....

    1 - Buy Wholesale pipe as Company A (bandwidth for 2-3 million subscribers or whatever)
    2 - Build a toolkit for rapid deployment of a "small" ISP (B
    3 - Deploy ISP Sell Bandwidth A->B
    4 - Deploy ISP Sell Bandwidth A->B
    5...
    6 Profit?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      MadderMak (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 10:12pm

      Re:

      Sorry - further thought.. :)

      7 Sell toolkit
      8 Use profit to buy Hollywood Studio/Label
      9 Break into pieces and sell to stimulate Indie production
      10 Rinse and Repeat...
      11 Use profits from sales to buy Lobby Groups
      12 Feed Lobbyists to sharks
      14...?
      15 Have Indie studios make shark films?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Rick, 18 May 2010 @ 11:20pm

    Join ISP 1a

    ISP 1a is a non DEA participating ISP who won't kick you offline for using the internet. We are capping our subscribers at 399k persons. After which we will direct you to our partner ISP named ISP 1b. ISP 1b is also a non DEA ISP with similar caps, but rest assured their partner, ISP 1c, is ready to serve you once their cap is met...

    (rinse repeat)

    Have a nice day.

    (anyone else amused the initials for the act are DEA? lol)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Brendan (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 11:39pm

      Re: Join ISP 1a

      "anyone else amused the initials for the act are DEA?"

      I assume you mean in the sense of yet another another pointless, un-winnable war against something most people accept?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Richard (profile), 19 May 2010 @ 2:14am

        Re: Re: Join ISP 1a

        With a bit of luck we might get it repealed by the new government - see:

        http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8690882.stm

        "Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg is to pledge the "biggest shake-up of our democracy" in 178 years as he expands on plans for political reform.

        The Tory-Lib Dem coalition backs plans for fixed-term parliaments, more elected peers and a referendum on changing the voting system.

        Mr Clegg will pledge to restore faith in politics in a speech on Wednesday.

        The Lib Dem leader is also expected to call on the public to nominate laws they think should be repealed. "

        link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.