TalkTalk rubbishes Mandelson's anti-piracy measures

Lord Mandelson proposes to cut off illegal downloaders

TalkTalk has carried out an experiment designed to illustrate the extent to which Lord Mandelson's anti-piracy measures are ill-thought out.

The UK internet service provider is trying to prove that extreme measures designed to thwart file sharing could see innocent people accused of stealing music and other content just because they have left their wireless networks open.

Under current proposals, anyone accused of downloading stolen content could be cut off from the internet.

"The Mandelson scheme is every bit as wrong-headed as it is naive," Andrew Heaney, director of strategy and regulation at TalkTalk, told the BBC.

"The lack of presumption of innocence, and the absence of judicial process combined with the prevalence of Wi-Fi hacking, will result in innocent people being disconnected."

To show how this could happen, a TalkTalk security expert got in his car and roamed up and down a street in Middlesex looking for available networks.

He discovered 23 unsecured accounts and selected two to download a song by Barry Manilow - presumably in the hope of pleading insanity - in order to prove that web users can be just as much of a victim as the music industry.

In this instance, the 'victims' were asked for their consent and the material was downloaded legally.

TalkTalk has not responded to requests for further comment.