Filesharers find Hull ain’t a good place to be

July 24, 2009

Filesharers find Hull ain't a good place to be Internet users in one British city are facing instant disconnection if suspected of sharing copyrighted files. It’s a particularly serious punishment as, thanks to a quirk of British telecommunications, only one ISP serves the area.

Kingston-upon-Hull (better known as simply Hull) was, like several other cities, given a license to run a locally controlled telephone service at the start of the 20th century. However, unlike the others, it did not give up this right when a national phone service was created. To this date it remains the only place in Britain where phone lines aren’t under the control of the national network controller British Telecom, and for many years was the only city without Britain’s distinctive red payphone booths.

The phone company in the area has since been privatized and has protected its local monopoly by only allowing one company – a subsidiary of itself using the brand name Karoo – to provide Internet services through phone lines.

That gives Karoo a great deal of power over its customers, power it is now exercising with one of the toughest copyright control policies of any Internet firm. It has begun disconnecting users suspected of illegally sharing copyrighted files without any warning. Users must then write a letter admitting their guilt and promising not to re-offend before they are reconnected.

Bizarrely those who are then suspected of a second offense are allowed to again say sorry and promise to behave, but this time the reconnection costs £29.36 (approximately US$50.)

Those who are wrongly accused, or simply don’t want to admit guilt, are pretty much screwed. Disconnections will last as long as two years, and with no other ISPs or cable companies in the area, the only alternative is mobile broadband, a pricier and more limited option.

It will be interesting to see if there is any response from the national government. Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently claimed that Internet access was as vital to citizens as water and gas.