TalkTalk CIO condemns Digital Economy Bill

Government legislation just doesn't work, says Cooper

The Digital Economy Bill has been opposed by the industry and consumers alike

TalkTalk's CIO, David Cooper, has blasted the government’s Digital Economy Bill in an exclusive interview with Computing.

Cooper said the bill does the industry no favours and argued that government legislation “doesn’t drive best practices”.

The controversial Digital Economy Bill, due to be debated in parliament today, aims to clamp down on internet users infringing copyright content through filesharing.

The government will also introduce a 50p per month tax on landlines to help fund the roll out of high-speed broadband to all areas of the country.

TalkTalk has branded the tax as “unfair, regressive and wasteful”, arguing that it will do more harm than good by slowing superfast broadband rollout and driving about 200,000 homes off broadband.

Cooper believes that the government ought to let market forces determine broadband rollout.

“If you look at how broadband has evolved in the UK, at one time it was pretty much a monopoly and since TalkTalk and other smaller ISPs came along, it has become a highly competitive market,” he said. “Was it government legislation that got it there? No, it was the private sector.”

Cooper took issue with the government’s plans for ISPs to police the internet, labelling the policy “misguided”. He argued that the government does not understand how difficult and expensive the proposed plan would be to implement.

“It’s like asking us to stop and search every car that travels across a highway," he said. "This is something you really have to leave to the market.”

Cooper acknowledged that government may have the best interests of the public in mind, but said that, in practice, government legislation usually fails to help the industry progress.

“If you look at past government legislation, it has tended to hinder the industry's competitiveness," he said.