The Open Rights Group (ORG) has posted an interesting video review from the first day of the Digital Economy Act's (DEA) Judicial Review process, which officially got underway yesterday. The act itself seeks to tackle "illegal" internet copyright infringement (P2P) by broadband ISP customers, though many have criticised how it intends to go about achieving this.


The Judicial Review was won last year by two UK ISPs, BT and the TalkTalk Group, after they successfully argued for their concerns to be heard in a court of law (more detailed summary).

The Five Judicial Review Grounds
• Compliance with Technical Standards Directive (which says there was a need to notify Europe in advance of the legislation);

• Compatibility with privacy directives;

• Compatibility with e-commerce directives;

• Whether the obligations are proportionate;

• Additional issue of potential incompatibility with the Authorisation Directive which is part of EU law governing the regulation of communication providers including ISPs.

The hearings are expected to continue until Friday, although it could take six weeks before the judge returns a decision. Meanwhile the UK government does not expect the review to hold up the acts provisions, which will not be introduced until late spring 2012. However the first warning (notification) letters were originally supposed to go out this year.