Posted June 7, 200817 yr Virgin to identify pirates with BPI Source: digitalspy Virgin Media is working with the music industry to identify broadband users who appear to be sharing music illegally. They will be sent "informative letters" on how to "safely download music from the internet and avoid the risk of legal action" from both the ISP and the BPI, the industry association. "The BPI and Virgin Media believe that, in many cases, customers may not be aware that their account is being used in this way," said a statement today. "Accounts will be identified by Virgin on the basis of information supplied by the BPI. Both letters will be distributed by Virgin, without the need to disclose customer names and addresses to the BPI." The BPI, recently lent support by the government, wants service providers to take action against music piracy, but many of them have opposed the idea. The agreement with Virgin is the first of its kind in the UK. BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said: "Education is absolutely key to reducing the extent of illegal downloading, and we are pleased to be working with Virgin Media on this campaign. "We believe that new partnerships with ISPs can help build an internet in which music is properly valued... This joint campaign with Virgin Media is the first step towards achieving that goal." The government has threatened to legislate to make ISPs responsible for their users' downloading material illegally if voluntary solutions are not found.
June 7, 200817 yr Virgin Media and BPI join forces to attack illegal filesharing. Let's make threatening music together By Chris Williams → More by this author Published Friday 6th June 2008 10:04 GMT Source: theregister -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Virgin Media will launch a campaign against illegal downloading next week, when it'll begin firing off warning letters to to subscribers that the BPI believes are sharing copyright music files. The move is being billed by the cable firm as an "education campaign". At this stage there will be no "three strikes" process; customers who continue to fileshare illegally will not be disconnected. Accounts identified as being used for illegal music sharing by the record industry will receive two letters: one from Virgin Media and one from the BPI. Investigators will monitor copyright-infringing BitTorrent swarms and log Virgin Media IP addresses, which will be passed on to the ISP to identify the customers. Virgin Media will distribute both letters, and no personally identifiable information will be disclosed to the BPI. The letters will include advice on "how to prevent account misuse", "avoid the risk of legal action", and warn customers that peer to peer networks carry "increased threats from viruses and spyware", a Virgin Media statement said. You can read the Virgin Media letter here and the BPI letter here (PDFs). The campaign will run as a trial for a flexible period of about two months. Its effect on behaviour will then be reviewed. Virgin Media claims a lot of account holders may not be aware their kids or others are using their line to download music illegally, for example via an usecured Wi-Fi network. The BPI has been pushing for enforcement alongside education, but Virgin Media said it was unwilling to disconnect customers who don't stop accessing illegal music. A spokesman said today: "It's a bit of a judgement call for us to be making threats of disconnection or account suspension. We weren't willing to do that." "There are now so many lawful cheap and free music services out there that we believe an education campaign in partnership with the BPI is the best way forward." The ISP industry is under enormous government pressure to cut a deal with the record industry following a successful lobbying campaign by the BPI. Ministers have vowed to introduce anti-filesharing legislation if a self-regulatory solution is not found. The BPI has recently begun threatening ISPs with court injunctions if they do not agree to act against illegal filesharers. One such threat sent to Carphone Warehouse received short shrift from the firm's bosses, who said they would never disconnect their customers and that they didn't belive legislation will be brought forward. Virgin Media appears to have taken a less confrontational approach to its dealings with the record industry. Although the "education campaign" is toothless in this first trial phase, getting a major ISP to publicly adopt a role in battling illegal downloading is a big win for the BPI. Its chief executive Geoff Taylor said in a statement: "Education is absolutely key to reducing the extent of illegal downloading... this joint campaign with Virgin Media is the first step towards achieving that goal." A survey commissioned by the record industry earlier this year claimed most illegal downloaders would stop if warned. The BPI struck a deal with Tiscali to implement a full three strikes last year. Four out of 21 warned account holders ended up disconnected from the internet. The deal fell apart however in a row over who should pay for the process. ®
June 7, 200817 yr These buggers can say what they like, it is NOT going to stop me from "trying before buying"... There's plenty of ways to mask your ISP when downloading stuff from Torrent sites.. And it's all very well them saying "oh there's plenty of legal sites out there..." blah, blah, yeah, but precious few of them have the sort of stuff that I would want to download available.. Not to mention that quite often the only way to get rare and obscure stuff which has been deleted is through the more "grey" channels... There's loads of stuff that you just aint gonna get through the proper channels, so Virgin can just fukk off frankly....
June 7, 200817 yr These buggers can say what they like, it is NOT going to stop me from "trying before buying"... There's plenty of ways to mask your ISP when downloading stuff from Torrent sites.. And it's all very well them saying "oh there's plenty of legal sites out there..." blah, blah, yeah, but precious few of them have the sort of stuff that I would want to download available.. Not to mention that quite often the only way to get rare and obscure stuff which has been deleted is through the more "grey" channels... There's loads of stuff that you just aint gonna get through the proper channels, so Virgin can just fukk off frankly.... Well said. Couldn't of put it better myself. I can't find half the stuff on Itunes that i want and most of the other legal websites are just the same. -_-
June 7, 200817 yr it is NOT going to stop me from "trying before buying". But most people download illegally, and most of them don't buy anything at all.
June 8, 200817 yr most of them don't buy anything at all. Frankly, that's impossible to prove despite what the BPI claims.... People are buying, they just aint buying in places like HMV or Zaavi.... The likes of Amazon, CD Wow and Play are seeing sales of CDs going up year on year.... There's no proof at all that artists are sufferering... In fact, a lot of artists are more than likely leaking advance copies of CDs onto filesharing sites themselves to generate publicity.....
June 8, 200817 yr Actually, I object to "Filesharing" being in anyway associated with "Piracy"... Surely "Piracy" is when you make an illegal copy of something and then SELL IT for profit, like those dodgy geezers who go around pubs selling DVDs.... Filesharers on P2P sites are not profiting financially from filesharing any more than I did when I was making tapes of albums that I bought for my mates when I was at school..... I see NO DIFFERENCE in essence between the two things..... And here's a bit of irony as well - if the BPI actually clamp down hard on Filesharers, this will be an absolute godsend to the organised Music/DVD pirating gangs out there.... Perhaps they should be thinking about what the lesser of the two evils is here..... Filesharing might be naughty, but it aint contributing to profiting criminals, drug-dealers and terrorists.....
June 8, 200817 yr I think claiming file-sharing prevents terrorism is a bit OTT ;) It's bound to happen as this is a big world-wide problem which does cost artists becuase people simply don't want to buy music anymore and I'm one of them. I don't get why I should buy a single if i can listen to it for free. The trouble is they've not acted quickly enough, perhaps if they cracked down ten years ago when this first became popular they would have been able to prevent it but file sharing is now so common trying to prevent it will be impossible.
June 9, 200817 yr I think claiming file-sharing prevents terrorism is a bit OTT ;) I'm was just going by what the old "Anti Piracy" adverts were telling us mate.. Remember...? That if you bought a pirate CD or DVD off some bloke down the pub your were contributing to drugs, prostitution and Terrorism..... I remember those ads, so I was being Devils advocate, and taking the issue to its logical conclusions..... IF the claims of these ads and the Police, Govt, etc were true, then surely Filesharing is a better option cos you're not actually buying off of dodgy people, and Filesharers aint making a profit are they....? "Piracy" to me (and to the law as well actually) equates to someone, somewhere profiting, no one actually IS where Filesharing is concerned, ergo, it is NOT "Piracy" IMHO....
June 9, 200817 yr Well Virgin are the last choice for most with regards to broadband, so all this is is another incentive to stay away from them. I used to be with Virgin - and yes, they're at best shoddy, at worst, totally c**p.
June 10, 200817 yr I used to be with Virgin - and yes, they're at best shoddy, at worst, totally c**p. Same here mate.. An absolute sh!t service provider they are... I cannot recommend highly enough that people steer well clear of them when considering getting broadband or telly....
June 10, 200817 yr Filesharing might be naughty, but it aint contributing to profiting criminals, drug-dealers and terrorists..... About the drug dealing - as Frankie Boyle once said on Mock the Week: "You got this thing on DVDs now, where they say DVD piracy funds the drug trade... Funds the drugs trade – I don't know about you, but I reckon, if you can't make money out of heroin, you're gonnae struggle in general. "Oh, the problem with this crack cocaine is people can just take it or leave it - thank God we're still selling the Harry Potters!"" Edited June 10, 200817 yr by DitzyNizzy
June 10, 200817 yr Same here mate.. An absolute sh!t service provider they are... I cannot recommend highly enough that people steer well clear of them when considering getting broadband or telly.... We've been on it since it was NTL about six years ago and only ever had problems with the 'On Demand' service for the tv box. Personally, I think your description sums up every tv, internet, phone, mobile provider there is. Some people have nothing but problems, some people never have any problem. I just think if you find a decent one for you then stick with them... Edited June 10, 200817 yr by RabbitFurCoat
June 12, 200817 yr It's utterly ridiculous. I'm nto saying I personally could do it, but there are thousands of ways out there to block your IP's, permanntly delete histroy/cookies etc: They believe that sending this so called 'letter' will make them appear that they are on top of things, when really they should be focussing on better stuff, like their $h!tty services. I have wasted endless amounts of money on film and music from rip-off bast*rds such as HMV and GAME, where they stock the majority of the stuff I want. I wouldn't mind if the prices of watching a film these days weren't so freaking high! I don't know about London but it's £7 for a ticket up here. With downloading I'd at least get to get a flavour of the film at home, and if I liked it I would get the full experience at the cinema! I'm not the kind of person who downloads things 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! I like to download a couple of tracks from an album, and if i get a feel of it, and enjoy the tracks, I would go out and buy the album. Virgin a fukking $h!t anyway..
June 12, 200817 yr :lol: Virgin is one of the best for broadband. I've had it for about 5 years now, and not one problem (okay the TV is another issue but hey it makes life interesting). (Plus don't lead me down Sky's anti competitive stands, buy demanding ridiculous money for Sky One etc., deliberately buying nearly 20% in ITV to stop Virgin starting a takeover, and the fact they want to now buy Virgin's channels :lol:) Tiscali, Sky, and BT are all as shocking as each other. I've experienced that for myself having been called over to friends houses to fix things with wireless and what not.
June 12, 200817 yr Tiscali, Sky, and BT are all as shocking as each other. I've experienced that for myself having been called over to friends houses to fix things with wireless and what not. Don't even get me started on Sky Broadband - I had them for a short while, and they were faqing awful (there was a while when, if I was downloading something, I couldn't do ANYTHING else!). So I went back to Virgin Broadband, and have no complaints whatsoever about them.
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