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BBC News – EU to assess piracy detection software

A human rights watchdog has asked the European Commission to assess the legality of software being used to analyse file-sharing in the UK.

The software in question is called CView and will be used by ISP Virgin Media to identify legal versus illegal traffic on its network.

The EC has said it will monitor the use of the software, following a complaint from Privacy International.

Virgin Media countered that the software posed no risk to privacy.

Privacy International has concerns about the software, designed by monitoring firm Detica.

It utilises so-called deep packet inspection, which means that it can identify actual file-names, making it possible to accurately find out what content is legal and what is not.

According to Alexander Hanff, head of ethical networks at Privacy International, use of such software is in breach of current UK law.

‘Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) intercepting communications is a criminal offence regardless of what you do with the data,’ he said.

Mr Hanff said he would file a criminal complaint if Virgin Media deployed CView.

He said the software is similar to that used by ad firm Phorm, which developed technology to monitor individual’s web use in order to better target adverts.

Trials of the technology in the UK have been put on hold while the EC investigates how it was tested.

Legal service

The UK government is in the process of creating legislation that could see illegal file-sharers identified and, potentially, thrown off the network.

But this software will not do that job, said a spokesman for Virgin Media.

‘It was never designed to capture identities. This isn’t an answer for that,’ said Asam Ahmad.

Instead the software will be used to identify how much traffic on its network is illegal.

‘We want to understand what we can do to reduce illegal file-sharing. This will tell us things such as the name of the top ten tracks being shared as well as the percentage of legal versus illegal,’ said Mr Ahmad.

Virgin Media is about to launch its own music service.

‘Double-edged’

Mr Ahmad said no date had yet been set for the trial but told BBC News it will monitor traffic on three peer-to-peer networks notorious for trading illegal as well as legal software; Gnutella, eDonkey and BitTorrent.

He admitted that potentially 40% of Virgin Media’s customers could have their data scrutinised and confirmed that it has no plans to inform them beforehand.

He also conceded that it would not be technically difficult to link up deep packet inspection technology with the IP addresses which would identify individuals but stressed that was not the plan currently.

‘These mandates have not yet been set and when it comes down to identifying individuals or prosecuting them, that is a role for content providers, not us,’ he said.

Virgin Media is involved in an ongoing education campaign, which includes sending letters to those identified as downloading illegal content on its network.

Andrew Ferguson, editor of broadband news site ThinkBroadband, said the trial could be ‘double-edged’.

‘If Virgin can form a baseline for its ‘illegal’ P2P traffic, it can see how much effect any legislation has, and perhaps plan better for the letter forwarding side of things,’ he said.

But he pointed out that Virgin Media is not alone in using deep packet inspection – BT has been doing it for years, he said.

‘It is possible they may be doing exactly what Virgin are doing,’ he said.

Virgin Media to trial piracy-detection software: “For Alan Ellis, last week was a good one: he was acquitted of conspiracy to commit fraud. The prosecution had argued that the 26-year-old received at least £190,000 in donations to Oink, his filesharing website. Until Oink was shut down in 2007, it had, the crown claimed, helped 200,000 users illegally to download 21m copyrighted music tracks.

(Via Tech and Web from Times Online.)

Virgin Media to roll out copyright infringement detection tool: “(Computing)
Virgin Media is trialling a copyright infringement tool that could be built into the technology underpinning its upcoming music download subscription service. The Detica-supplied system is now being tested by the internet service provider (ISP) in what is claimed to be a UK first. According to Virgin, the trial is aimed at understanding how consumer behaviour is changing and will also support upcoming government requirements for measurement of copyright infringement levels on ISP’ networks. see also Net piracy: The people vs the entertainment industry (New Scientist) and What does Detica detect? by Richard Clayton.

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

Virgin Media trials longer bandwidth throttling: “

And cutting weekend data allowances

Virgin Media’s heaviest cable broadband users will be hit with tighter bandwidth throttling at peak times, as the firm tries to cope with increasing demand across its network.…

“

(Via The Register – Comms.)

Virgin Media to dump neutrality and target BitTorrent users:

It’s deep packet inspection, but it’s not for Phorm…

Exclusive The UK’s second largest ISP, Virgin Media, will next year introduce network monitoring technology to specifically target and restrict BitTorrent traffic, its boss has told The Register.…

Note also the TorrentFreak coverage.

Virgin Media to Throttle BitTorrent Users

In the US, Comcast has been ordered to stop slowing down BitTorrent users, because this violates Net Neutrality. Across the pond, this does not seem to be an issue, as several ISPs have installed hardware to slow down BitTorrent users.

There haven’t been many reports of British ISPs throttling BitTorrent traffic, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t. Pipex, one of the largest ISPs in the UK, is notorious for its anti-BitTorrent measures. They actively throttle BitTorrent traffic, especially during peak times, and also throttle all encrypted traffic. Other UK ISPs that throttle BitTorrent traffic are BT Broadband, Eclipse, Plusnet, Freedom2Surf and TalkTalk. Virgin Media has not (openly) targeted BitTorrent traffic, but they will now follow suit.

Virgin Media’s CEO Neil Berkett told The Register that the company will start limiting BitTorrent traffic for all its customers. To some this might not really come as a surprise, as earlier this year Berkett said ‘This net neutrality thing is a load of bollocks.’ Virgin’s BitTorrent throttling plans seem to back up this earlier statement. Which throttling methods Virgin will use has not been announced, but Berkett said that they will be implemented mid 2009.

ISPs have been messing with BitTorrent traffic for years, even when the traffic generated was just a tiny fraction of what it is today. When the first ISPs began throttling BitTorrent traffic, Azureus (now Vuze), BitComet and uTorrent introduced a countermeasure, namely, protocol header encryption. This worked well initially, but soon after encryption was introduced, ISPs started to use hardware that could detect encrypted traffic.

The degree of traffic shaping varies a lot between different ISPs. Some only limit BitTorrent traffic during certain times of the day or throttle in specific regions, others take a more aggressive approach and prevent their customers from seeding or even downloading .torrent files. The most used argument to justify their actions, is that all the BitTorrent traffic on their network slows down other customers’ connections.

Whether this is indeed the case can be debated. Nevertheless, instead of investing in their own network to solve these potential congestion issues, ISPs prefer to slow down customers who just happen to use the ‘wrong’ protocol, claiming problems with capacity. Which is interesting, since Virgin started offering an unlimited 50Mbit/s package this week, up from their old limit of 20Mbit/s. Maybe BitTorrent throttling helps make room for this new service.

Net firms in music pirates deal: “Six of the UK’s biggest net providers are believed to have signed up to a government-backed plan to tackle illegal file-sharing.”

(Via BBC News.)

Downloading illegally? Look out, they’re watching you: “It is easier for the authorities to find out if you – or your children – have
been illegally downloading music than you think. When Virgin Media started
writing to some of its customers saying that they had been downloading
illegally, it was able to include the date and time of the activity as if it
were issuing a speeding ticket.”

(Via Law News from Times Online.)

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.)