Leading broadband providers in the UK have co-signed a letter published in the Financial Times about recent amendments to the Digital Economy Bill.

The changes to the Digital Economy Bill to adopt amendment 12A that Parliament are to address look to force broadband providers to block websites that have been accused of hosting copyrighted material illegally without the case even being heard by a judge.

The letter in the Financial Times says that:

“The Lords have been thoughtful in their consideration of the bill to date. It is therefore bitterly disappointing that the House has allowed an amendment with obvious shortcomings to proceed without challenging its proponents to consider and address the full consequences,”

“Put simply, blocking access as envisaged by this clause would both widely disrupt the internet in the UK and elsewhere and threaten freedom of speech and the open internet, without reducing copyright infringement as intended. To rush through such a controversial proposal at the tail end of a parliament, without any kind of consultation with consumers or industry, is very poor law-making”

The weight behind the letter is considerable, with BT Chief Executive Ian Livingstone, alongside representatives from broadband providers Orange, TalkTalk and Virgin Media and also Google, Facebook and Ebay adding some very heavy “internet weight” to the opposition.

However, music industry officials welcome the amendments and say it sends a clear message out to those hosting copyrighted content illegally.

Mr Livingstone, the Chief Executive of BT also thinks that instead of cutting of users who illegally transfer copyrighted music and videos they should be issued with fines living driving fines where they are able to appeal it if they think it is unfair. If they don’t appeal it then they pay the fine.

The bill will have it’s third hearing in the House Of Lords next week and it will then be put before the House Of Commons to see if ther government can get it pushed through before the General Election which is expected on May 6th 2010.