I got this back from the petitions site:

I'm sorry to inform you that your petition has been rejected.

Your petition was classed as being in the following categories:

* Potentially libellous, false, or defamatory statements

Further information: No such proposals have been put forward.

Hmm.

I have created a petition opposing this. It should be up at:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/process4pirates

by tomorrow. (It's just waiting for approval.)

The full text follows:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to refrain from introducing legislation mandating the disconnection of individuals suspected of piracy. We hold that the government should not be aiding in the bringing of civil procedures against suspected pirates and that criminal liability should only be imposed after full judicial process has been followed, in line with the existing criminal law on copyright infringement.

Planned legislation would mandate ISPs to disconnect users who download pirated material. We the undersigned strongly oppose this. It is very hard to distinguish my downloads from those of a user of my open wireless network, just as it is very hard to distinguish the legitimate sharing of a film in the public domain from the sharing of the latest blockbuster. Thus it seems inevitable that many innocent parties would have their internet connections disconnected by ISPs who would be scared of criminal proceedings were they to let any pirates slip through. We hold that punishments such as disconnection can only be legitimately dished out if a court finds the suspect guilty beyond reasonable doubt, and though we recognise the rights of copyright holders to seek civil damages against those infringing their rights, we strongly object both to the state helping in the accumulation of evidence for the rights holders and to paying more for our internet connections to subsidise costly piracy detection technology at our ISP.

Please sign it!