Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Internet Law (386 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Internet Law

UK Court Forces Big ISPs to Block 21 New P2P Torrent Websites

24th October, 2014 (9 Comments)

As expected several major record labels and trade bodies, including the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), Sony Music and Universal Music etc., have successfully won multiple court orders that will force all of the country’s largest broadband ISPs to block their customers from accessing 21 P2P Torrent (BitTorrent) indexes, which were found to be facilitating Internet copyright infringement (piracy).

800 Virgin Media Customers Pursued by Internet Porn Piracy Lawyers

24th October, 2014 (2 Comments)

The threat of “speculative invoicing” appears to have re-emerged in the United Kingdom after a long running, but not widely reported, battle between Virgin Media and London law firm Wagner & Co resulted in the UK cable operator being forced to release the details of 800 customers whom are alleged to have shared “illegal” copyright content online.

UK High Court Forces Big ISPs to Block Websites for Trade Mark Abuse

17th October, 2014 (7 Comments)

The High Court of Justice in London has today ruled on a case that concerned the abuse of commercial Trade Marks. Crucially the outcome means that several of the United Kingdom’s largest broadband ISPs (BT, Sky Broadband, Virgin Media, EE and TalkTalk) can now also be forced to block websites that abuse company trademarks / logos, such as by dealing in counterfeit goods.

Marriott Hotel Fined for Blocking Guests Personal WiFi Hotspots

7th October, 2014 (1 Comment)

Sadly not all hotels offer a WiFi Internet service and some even charge excessive amounts for access, although in most of these cases it’s often possible to get your computer online by using a Smartphone to setup a personal WiFi hotspot via a Mobile Broadband link (3G, 4G). At least it is unless your hotel decides to deliberately block personal WiFi.

Luxury Goods Maker Wants ISPs to Block Websites for Trade Mark Abuse

26th September, 2014 (5 Comments)

Broadband ISPs in the United Kingdom could soon be forced to block websites that abuse commercial Trade Marks, assuming the owner of luxury brands including Cartier and Mont Blanc (Compagnie Financière Richemont SA) gets their way in a new court case, which Internet providers and the Open Rights Groups (ORG) are fighting.

Thousands Cut-off After Theft of BT Copper Telecoms Cable in Billingham

23rd September, 2014 (27 Comments)

Criminals have disrupted the broadband and phone services for at least 5,000 people and businesses in the North East England town of Billingham (Durham), which is home to a total population of 36,000+, after they stole large sections of vital copper telecoms cable from BT’s local network.

UPDATE TalkTalk Business Sends USA Piracy Warning Notice to UK Customer

18th August, 2014 (12 Comments)

Internet provider TalkTalk Business has allegedly taken the seemingly unusual decision to forward a USA sourced copyright infringement notice from Warner Bros., which concerns a suspected attempt to share the recent Godzilla movie over P2P (BitTorrent), to a customer via its sibling ISP Opal Solution.

AAISP Pledges to Protect UK Users from Government Internet Snoops

16th July, 2014 (8 Comments)

As the controversial Data Retention and Investigation Powers Bill (DRIP) slips its way through the House of Commons and into the House of Lords, the outspoken boss of broadband ISP Andrews & Arnold (AAISP), Adrian Kennard, has promised to use “all practical legal means” in order to protect their customers from state sponsored Internet snooping.

Survey Finds Frustration with Broadband ISP Terms and Conditions

8th July, 2014 (8 Comments)

A new survey of 574 ISPreview.co.uk readers has found that 84.8% of respondents think that the Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) thrown at us by broadband providers are both far too long and confusing, which might explain why a third (32.9%) of people choose to skip them entirely.

FREE WiFi Plan for Newcastle and Gateshead At Risk Over GOWEX Trouble

7th July, 2014 (3 Comments)

The new plan to roll-out a free wireless Internet (wifi hotspot) network across “scores of public areas” in Newcastle and Gateshead (North East England) could be at risk after it emerged that Spain-based GOWEX, which had been appointed to setup the new infrastructure, had falsified its accounts and filed for bankruptcy.

UK Government Agrees – Too Much Internet Content Regulation is Bad

4th July, 2014 (1 Comment)

The Government has just given its official response to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s inquiry into Online Safety, which in March 2014 warned that website blocking by UK ISPs was “highly unlikely to be a suitable approach” for tackling porn or violent material on the Internet (here). Broadly the government agrees, but you should still expect more filtering by ISPs in the future.

Small ISPs Launch Legal Action to Stop GCHQ UK Internet Snooping

2nd July, 2014 (6 Comments)

A group of smaller ISPs from around the world, including GreenNet from the United Kingdom, have lodged a legal complaint against the UK’s intelligence agency – Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – after they were last year caught tapping into at least some of the world’s 10Gbps transatlantic fibre optic cable links and snooping on the related phone and Internet traffic.

UPDATE Total Ltd Win UK Trade Mark Infringement Case Against YouView

16th June, 2014 (5 Comments)

The High Court in London has today ruled that YouView, which offers a subscription-free broadband based TV (IPTV) service via retail and through ISPs like BT and TalkTalk, infringes upon a trade mark (YourView) owned by online billing firm Total Ltd.

EU Court Rules People Sometimes Have a Right to be Forgotten Online

13th May, 2014 (2 Comments)

Sometimes Internet privacy and freedom of information can come into bitter conflict with each other and that appears to be the outcome of a new ruling against Google by the European Union’s Court of Justice (ECJ). The outcome could lay the groundwork for everybody to have a “right to be forgotten” online.

RightsCorp Threatens More Bullying Piracy Letters for UK Internet Users

7th May, 2014 (12 Comments)

The shadow of “speculative invoicing” could soon return to our shores after the US-based copyright enforcement agency RightsCorp, which monitors public P2P File Sharing traffic for “illegal” activity before pursuing related broadband ISP customers with financial settlement demands, confirmed that that they are “investigating a launch in Europe” and had received a “great reception” from interested groups in the United Kingdom.

UPDATE4 Open Rights Group Call on UK ISPs to Clarify Data Retention Policy

11th April, 2014 (0 Comments)

The Open Rights Group (ORG) has written a new open letter that calls upon BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk and Virgin Media to clarify their positions on the storing of personal customer data / access logs, which follows a decision by the European Court of Justice to rule that the EU’s Data Retention Directive was now “invalid“.

European Court of Justice Rules ISP Internet Data Retention Law Invalid

8th April, 2014 (3 Comments)

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has delivered a significant victory to privacy advocates after it ruled that the EU’s Data Retention Directive, which requires member states and their phone / Internet providers to keep a basic access log of all website, email and phone call activity for up to 2 years, was now considered “invalid“.