Net awards targeted as NTL cap row enters another week

'Right to protest'

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 17th February 2003 17:09 GMT

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Angry NTL users are looking to hijack this week's Internet industry awards in London to protest about the cableco's decision to cap its broadband service.

E-minister Stephen Timms will be among 360 industry bigwigs attending the lavish event - dubbed the UK's "Internet Oscars" - at a swish London hotel on Thursday.

Acknowledging that this week's event might be targeted a spokesman for the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) told The Register: "Everyone has the right to protest."

Those behind the direct action are hoping that a demo outside the event will help raise public awareness while causing maximum embarrassment to the cableco.

Users had hoped that a wave of protests planned for Valentine's Day would help make NTL reconsider its decision to cap broadband use to 1Gb a day. At this stage, it's still not known whether the protests - including the threat of mass disconnections from the service - materialised to any great degree.

An online petition calling for NTL to overturn the cap has so far notched up more than 2,700 signatures. ®