CyberLaw Blog

Archive for the ‘Broadband’ Category

BT slams bandwidth brakes on all subscribers:

You’re all hogs in their eyes

BT is throttling all of its broadband customers’ bandwidth at peak times, not just heavy users, according to independent monitoring data.…

(Via The Register – Comms.)

Users should check this in the UK too even though it is no secret that major ISPs throttle their network…..

New ‘Switzerland’ Software Exposes Bandwidth-Throttling ISPs: “Net neutrality advocate group Electronic Frontier Foundation releases a new open source application to detect any bandwidth-shaping practices your internet provider may be employing. Users can download the application, named Switzerland, and run it on their own computer to put their ISP to the test.

(Via Wired News.)

Gov responds on throttling petition: Choke on it: “

Red Arrows trump web users on nation’s worry list

The government has told an e-petitioners calling for an investigation into ISPs taking on too many subscribers and throttling bandwidth to get over it.…

“

(Via The Register – Comms.)

Bits: An Imminent Victory for ‘Net Neutrality’ Advocates: “If regulators penalize Comcast for blocking some Internet file downloads, it would be a victory for advocates of an open Internet. But it could end up accelerating the move by Internet providers to make heavy users charge more

(Via NYT > Technology.)

Europe votes on anti-piracy laws: “Late changes to proposed European telecoms laws could see suspected copyright pirates banned from the net.”

(Via BBC News.)

Europe drafts law to disconnect suspected filesharers: “France has suggested an amendment to the pan-European Telecoms Package, which would bar broadband access to anyone who persists in illegally downloading music or films.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

Virgin admits disconnection threat mistake: “Virgin Media has said that a threat sent out to 800 of its customers that they could be disconnected from the internet because of alleged copyright infringement was a mistake.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

Virgin Media sends warning letter to file sharers – Computeractive

Disconnection threat an ‘administration error’, says internet provider
Andrea-Marie Vassou, Computeract!ve 03 Jul 2008

Virgin Media has sent around 800 letters to customers warning them to stop sharing music on file-sharing sites.

The letters are part of a 10-week campaign the internet service provider (ISP) is running in conjunction with the recording industry body, the BPI.

Virgin said the letters, which list the track that has been both uploaded and downloaded, along with the date and time, would help educate users on the possible penalties people face.

However, the envelope for the letters has a threat to disconnect repeat offenders printed on them.

Virgin denied it was the start of the company implementing a three-strikes system. This is where users of file-sharing networks get two warning letters to stop them downloading or uploading music or movies. If users persist their broadband service is disconnected. It has been adopted in France and is something that the BPI is pushing for UK ISPs to sign up to.

A spokesman for Virgin Media said: ‘The letters should have been sent out in a plain envelope and the printed warnings were an administration error.

‘This is about education. We make no assumptions about who is at fault. It may be someone in the family or someone illegally using their Wifi connection, ‘ he said.

Virgin Media is given people’s information by the BPI, which monitors file-sharing networks. It initiates a track to download from the IP address of the file sharer it is watching. It then sends the information to Virgin, which can identify the customer concerned from the IP address.

The BPI said there was no ‘spying’ involved in the collection of data. It said in a statement: ‘The evidence collected by the BPI is in fact made available by any uploader to in the normal course of using a P2P (filesharing) network. Nor does the process raise ‘data protection issues’.

However, privacy groups are concerned and point out that the scheme could have unintended consequences for Virgin.

Dr Yaman Akdeniz, director for the Cyber Rights Group, said: ‘Virgin is sending out these threatening letters which will upset lot of people.

‘These threatening ‘Big Brother is watching you’ tactics will only push users to other ISPs rather than acting as a useful educational tool.’”

Virgin Educates File-Sharers with Mistaken Envelops: “There seems to already be a bit of a hiccup in Virgin Media’s campaign to educate file-sharers. Last month, Virgin Media and the BPI joined forced in an effort to educate those suspected of uploading on P2P networks. This effort involved Virgin Media sending letters from both Virgin and the BPI informing suspected P2P butt pirates the dangers and alternatives to their activities. Virgin assured the Internet community that this was not part of a ‘three strikes’ policy to disconnect users.”

(Via Slyck.com File-Sharing News And Information.)

This is an article from: TorrentFreak

Virgin Media: ‘Absolutely No Possibility’ of Disconnecting File-Sharers:

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.