Mandelson: Don't rush through extreme internet laws

Dear Lord Mandelson,

Please don't rush through rules that will allow the government to cut off our internet connection.

The government stated in June this was an ineffective way to tackle filesharing, it's a worrying threat to our freedom of expression and it breaches our fundamental human rights.

How would you feel if the government suddenly cut your internet off? Peter Mandelson has plans which could mean cutting off the internet connection of the 7 million Britons who have downloaded copyrighted content over the internet. These new measures are being rushed through by Mandelson in an attempt to tackle online filesharing. However industry experts warn these harsh new measures could easily lead to innocent web users being cut off by mistake.

Only in June this year the government had ruled out draconian measures like this but now it appears Mandelson has caved in to the wishes of the music and film industry. His change of heart comes just days after a dinner with an industry lobbyist in Corfu.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the companies like Virgin Media and Talk Talk that provide our internet connections, have warned that these laws would "breach fundamental human rights" . Digital Rights campaigners have warned that the new measures would be a “curtailment of people’s freedom of expression.” The government plans to force through these measures even though a similar law was ruled to be unconstitutional by France's highest court and may be illegal in the UK . If Mandelson's proposals become law ISPs warn that thousands could be cut off because someone had hacked into their home network.

Mandelson's long been associated with pushing through unpopular policies but we know that if enough of us come together we can force him to back down. By joining forces with other campaigners including the Open Rights Group together we can send a powerful message it will be hard for him to ignore. He recently had to give up on his plan to privatise the post office after a popular outcry. He may hope he'll get an easier ride with this policy but we can work together to make this petition big enough to force him to back down.