Virgin Media cracks down on illegal file-sharing

Virgin Media cracks down on illegal file-sharing Virgin Media has sent letter to 800 of its customers threatening to take action if they persist in downloading music and videos illegally.

The crackdown, initiated by the BPI which represents the British record industry, will go on for 10 weeks during which “thousands more letters will be sent”, according to a BPI spokesman. The aims to “educate” people about illegal file-sharing. The BPI’s tough stance on downloading may result in some ISPs being prosecuted if they do not do more to stop the practice. The BPI wants all ISPs to operate a three strikes policy, in which users downloading files illegally are given two warnings, then disconnected it they persist. With an estimated one in five Europeans involved in file-sharing, this move is unlikely to be popular with providers who believe that threats of disconnection may upset their customers.

As yet Virgin Media is the only ISP to have signed up to the policy. However, so far it has disconnected none of its customers, and is keen to stress that its current campaign to tackle illegal file-sharing is for education purposes only. The company said that wording on the warning letters that threatened customers with possible disconnection was a “mistake”. Virgin Media are to review the policy in mid-August.

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said that that the organisation was prepared to back up the education campaign with legal action: “If we have to go to court, we will go to court and we will win.” Under the current policy, the BPI tracks illegal traffic on file-sharing networks. It then looks for the IP address from which the traffic has come and informs the ISP. Virgin and the BPI then send a joint letter to the individual. Letters are sent both to people who’ve downloaded just one single file illegally, and those who have downloaded thousands.

Some ISPs such as Carphone Warehouse who have refused to instigate the policy could be taken to court by the BPI. Others already have their own policy for dealing with file-sharers. BT, for example, has already threatened some of its subscribers with disconnection.

“We do work with various bodies to help them protect their copyright material and will sometimes pass on warning notices to customers on their behalf where we feel this is appropriate” the telecoms company said in a statement. Geoff Taylor believes that the notion that everything on the net is free should be challenged: “There is a phenomenal amount of piracy out there and we believe that the idea that 95% of content on the net is free is not sustainable. We don’t believe that society can allow the free consumption of content to persist.”

That may be the case, but as US Judge Marilyn Hall Patel – who presided over the Napster case back in 2001 – said “There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but sometimes lunch is more expensive than it should be.”

Share This: