BT and TalkTalk are seeking a judicial review of the Digital Economy Act, which was controversially rushed through Parliament before the general election.
The two companies want the high court to rule on whether the act conflicts with existing EU legislation that protects ISPs as conduits of information.
“The Digital Economy Act’s measures will cost the UK hundreds of millions and many people believe they are unfair, unwarranted and won’t work,” Charles Dunstone, chairman of TalkTalk, told The Times. “Innocent broadband customers will suffer and citizens will have their privacy invaded.”
They are also concerned that as the act only applies to ISPs with more than 400,000 subscribers, they will be put at an unfair commercial disadvantage as users move to smaller ISPs.
The act requires the lArge ISPs to send written warnings to alleged file sharers and, if the sharer does not desist, implements a series of measures such as bandwidth throttling to persuade them to do so.
Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg had promised before the election that the Liberal Democrats would either amend or repeal the act, but the Department of Business, Innovation and Skill said in a statement that the act is an important measure to protect creative industries against copyright infringement.
“We believe measures are consistent with EU legislation and that there are enough safeguards in place to protect the rights of consumers and ISPs and will continue to work on implementing them.”
