By David Meyer, 15 June 2009 16:43
NEWS
Virgin Media could start suspending persistent file-sharers on a temporary basis, using information provided to it by the Universal record company.
The ISP announced on Monday that it would, before Christmas, launch an all-you-can-eat music download service for its users, based on a monthly subscription fee. The tracks will all be DRM-free.
"In parallel, the two companies will be working together to protect Universal Music's intellectual property and drive a material reduction in the unauthorised distribution of its repertoire across Virgin Media's network," a statement read. "This will involve implementing a range of different strategies to educate file-sharers about online piracy and to raise awareness of legal alternatives. They include, as a last resort for persistent offenders, a temporary suspension of internet access."
Virgin pointed out that "no customers will be permanently disconnected and the process will not depend on network monitoring or interception of customer traffic by Virgin Media".
A spokeswoman for Virgin told silicon.com sister site ZDNet UK on Monday that the suspensions "could be as little as five minutes, an hour or a day". She said the idea of suspensions was very much in the process of being worked out - they may not even happen - and would only be launched on a "trial" basis.
As for how Virgin will know which persistent file-sharers it should be suspending, the spokeswoman said this knowledge would be derived from information coming from the record company.
Universal will use technology from the Danish anti-piracy firm DTecNet to scour file-sharing networks - not Virgin's own network - and log the IP addresses of "persistent" file-sharers, along with the time of the transfers in question. That information will go back to Virgin, who will use it to identify the file-sharer and begin warning them of possible action that could be taken against them.
Comments
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1. karen challinor
so Virgin are going to be judge, jury and executioner are they ?
how does the record company intend to prove that people are file sharing, because virgin are going to be hit with lawsuits from the people it disconnects and the proof would come in handy when they get their day in court
and this comes a few days after France decided that it's illegal to disconnect someone from the internet without the say so of a judge
2. Richard Davies
This sounds a little silly. How will they stop users downloading from Virgin...sending it to their friend on another network who then hosts it on the file sharing network?
That was just one example.
ISP's should really stay out of it and simply let the record companies deal with the problem themselves.
Also, what would a 5 minute disconnection be in the way of a deterent?
I think that ISP's will have their fingers burnt on this issue and I wouldn't like to be the one to act first!
Remember that these people will always find a way!
3. anonymous
Sounds like a great way for Virgin to persuade subsacribers to move to Sky or another provider.
4. Jeremy Wickins
I wish there was competition in the cable market. I'm a Virgin customer mainly because of the reliability of their internet service, which allows me to work from home. However, they are making some seriously worrying decisions (Phorm, now this*), that make me wonder if the convenience is worth supporting yet another group that think my information belongs to them.
*Note: I do not, nor ever have, downloaded music, films, or any other entertainment media from P2P, and I don't actually know how to!
5. drew stephenson
I'm still waiting for anyone to explain to me how any of the ISPs (or anyone else) are going to identify whether the material on a file sharing site is in breach of copyright or not.
Lots of musicians make their own music available via torrent sites and the like, will they have their access suspended? Best get ready for those court cases and lost customers...