Virgin Media

[Virgo's Haircut]

Apparently Virgin Media are sending warning letters to users who illegally download music, films etc. If user carries on downloading then they will be cut off.

I thought what we did on on our own computers was private to us? Are ISP's allowed to monitor what we do?

 

[nlf]

Out of interest where did you hear about it as doesnt sound viable to me really for one thing to be able to check every single customers every move would surely take huge man power and secondly if they could do that i would have thought they would see it as more important to report to the police anybody downloading child porn than bloody music, i could be wrong but doesnt seem likely to me.

 

[algie]

Wouldn't worry about it.I just think they are protecting there backsides.They have enough problems with users with dodgy top boxes

 

[Cian]

I thought what we did on on our own computers was private to us? Are ISP's allowed to monitor what we do?

You'll have signed over the right for the ISP to monitor your traffic on their network when you signed the contract with them.

nlf - they can tell who's using unencrypted bittorrent/kazaa/etc by entirely automated packet analysis. No manpower at all. Telling what images are just standard pictures or are kiddie porn requires human intervention, which is why its not being done...

 

[nlf]

You'll have signed over the right for the ISP to monitor your traffic on their network when you signed the contract with them.

nlf - they can tell who's using unencrypted bittorrent/kazaa/etc by entirely automated packet analysis. No manpower at all. Telling what images are just standard pictures or are kiddie porn requires human intervention, which is why its not being done...

Ah ok thanks for clearing that up for me hopefully they can develop something that will check photos as well id much rather child porn was stamped out before illegal music, but still is a company as crap as virgin really going to start booting the customers it still actually has?

 

[Kylies Stunt Arse]

Out of interest where did you hear about it as doesnt sound viable to me really for one thing to be able to check every single customers every move would surely take huge man power and secondly if they could do that i would have thought they would see it as more important to report to the police anybody downloading child porn than bloody music, i could be wrong but doesnt seem likely to me.

It was all over the news on the radio this morning.

 

[Uncle C]

Its not like we didn't see this coming.

 

[nlf]

If they do go ahead with it its only really going to affect people who want to put the music onto a cd anyway as there is plenty of sites you can listen to the music without downloading it.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

If they do go ahead with it its only really going to affect people who want to put the music onto a cd anyway as there is plenty of sites you can listen to the music without downloading it.

Yes, that are targetting the users of Limewire / Kazaa / Bitorrent - file sharing sites, and it also appears to the the recipients rather than the senders that are getting the letters.

 

[steward 433]

Yes, that are targetting the users of Limewire / Kazaa / Bitorrent - file sharing sites, and it also appears to the the recipients rather than the senders that are getting the letters.

OOOPS we use Limewire

 

[captainmorganrum]

My brother's friends uncle down the road from me uses PEER GUARDIAN

Phoenix Labs PeerGuardian 2

I don't know what it's for though?

 

[Bluejuice]

Thing is there are plenty of legitimate torrents out there for people to seed and download.

Most open source software is released in torrent format to save on bandwidth is it not?

How do you differentiate between legal and illegal downloading?

Also legitimate sites such as BBC iPlayer and 4OD use peer to peer software to stream their media, won't this data flag up as suspicious to an ISP as well?

 

[clippedgull]

The British Phonographic Industry are passing on Virgin IP addresses of people that are sharing music to Virgin, and have told Virgin to comply or be seen in court.

Virgin have buckled.

I'm sure all ISP's in time will follow suit.

 

[clippedgull]

Thing is there are plenty of legitimate torrents out there for people to seed and download.

Most open source software is released in torrent format to save on bandwidth is it not?

How do you differentiate between legal and illegal downloading?

Also legitimate sites such as BBC iPlayer and 4OD use peer to peer software to stream their media, won't this data flag up as suspicious to an ISP as well?

No, how it works, is that the BPI download tracks from the 'sharers' and then they are bang to rights.

Specialised software and all that.

 

[Wozza]

How do you differentiate between legal and illegal downloading?

Also legitimate sites such as BBC iPlayer and 4OD use peer to peer software to stream their media, won't this data flag up as suspicious to an ISP as well?

No, they can see EXACTLY what you're downloading.

I know of people who have had letters from TV studios regarding the downloading of specific episodes of TV shows.

 

[Bluejuice]

Shit.

Then more people should be like Lee & Herring, offering their old work for download to all, ENTIRELY FREE

http://www.stewartlee.co.uk/oldshows.htm

 

[beardy gull]

Not sure why this is news today - it was announced weeks ago

 

[Evil Edna]

Virgin Media: ‘Absolutely No Possibility’ of Disconnecting File-Sharers
Written by enigmax on July 03, 2008

Virgin Media, plagued by a recent flurry of bad publicity thanks to its policy of working with the music industry to warn file-sharers, has announced today that there is “absolutely no possibility” that it will disconnect its users from the Internet or hand over their details to the music industry.

As the war of words over file-sharing in the UK heats up, the music industry represented by the BPI has been seeking ways to stop an estimated 6 million British citizens from sharing music. It has been pressurizing ISPs to take responsibility for the actions of their subscribers, and demanding that they disconnect those who share unauthorized music, something the ISPs don’t want to do.

To its credit, one ISP, Carphone Warehouse, has refused to comply. Others are working with the music industry and at the forefront of that group is Virgin Media.

Virgin has been receiving quite a lot of bad publicity recently after it was revealed that it agreed to work with the music industry to send out so-called ‘educational warnings‘ to its customers the BPI accuse of file-sharing. Virgin has sent out hundreds of these at the behest of the music industry and they have been dropping through mail boxes up and down the country. The letters come in an envelope and printed on the outside are the words: “Important: If you don’t read this, your broadband could be disconnected” so recipients could be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that, frankly, if they don’t read it, their broadband could be disconnected.

However, Virgin Media told has told Jim over at Newsbeat that the printing on the envelope was “a mistake” and there is “absolutely no possibility” of legal action or disconnection for any recipient of these letters. Nice to know.

Furthermore, Asam Ahmad from Virgin notes that they cannot be 100% sure that the person they send the letters to has actually committed any offense at all. “It is important to let our customers know that their accounts have been used in a certain way but we are happy to accept it may not be the account holder that’s involved.”

He goes on to highlight the problematic issue of incorrectly accusing someone due to a lack of solid evidence: “It could be someone else in the family or someone living in a shared house. It could even be someone stealing wi-fi. We are not making any form of accusation.”

Virgin Media has also stated that it will not hand over the personal details of anyone accused by the BPI “under any circumstances”. This is a good start by Virgin and all credit to them for taking this stance but the reality is that Virgin hands over its subscriber’s details in the blink of an eye when faced with a court order to do so. We know for a fact that they hand over the details of petty file-sharers to the likes of lawyers Davenport Lyons for the alleged sharing of one cheap game costing little more than a single album. However, the BPI has said in the past that it doesn’t want to start taking legal action against individuals.

Source: Virgin Media: of Disconnecting File-Sharers | TorrentFreak


I still don't trust them! There now trying to cover themselves so they don't start losing customers and trying to fix this PR mess. But while really ratting you out to the people that sue

PG is a good safe gurd, but nothing can stop somone joining your swam and seeing all the IP's.

 

[surrey jim]

Virgin media = rubbish. end of!

 

[Juan Albion]

If they don't want you downloading songs on Limewire, they shouldn't be ripping you off on iTunes. Looked at the British site yesterday and they are charging you about 60% more for a song than they are charging us. That's not right.