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Archive for the ‘Virgin’ Category

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.

Virgin warns 800 punters for file-sharing: “

‘Important. If you don’t read this, your broadband could be disconnected.’

The BPI has written to 800 Virgin Media customers warning them to stop sharing music files or risk losing their broadband connection.…

“

(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Warning letters to ‘file-sharers’: “The music industry says thousands of UK broadband users who share tracks illegally will be warned about it in letters.”

(Via BBC News.)

Virgin Media ads throttled by peak time bandwidth squeeze: “

BT snipe on target

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has rapped Virgin Media for making dodgy claims about its download speeds after a complaint by rival BT.…

“

(Via The Register – Comms.)

Virgin rapped on broadband speeds: “ASA upholds complaint about advertisements lodged by rival broadband provider BT.”

(Via BBC News.)

Virgin Media rubbishes P2P throttling rumours: “

Secret testing denied

Virgin Media has today strongly denied a charge it is running secret tests with a view to introducing new bandwidth throttling hardware to target peer to peer and Usenet downloaders.…

“

(Via The Register – Comms.)

Virgin Media burns customer banking details to CD, then loses it: “

If only they had some sort of network instead…

Virgin Media is conducting an internal inquiry into why 3,000 customers’ bank details were burned to a CD which was then lost, it emerged today.…

“

(Via The Register – Comms.)

Out-law coverage for the Virgin Media action…

Virgin sends file-sharing warnings to customers: “Virgin Media has begun sending letters of warning to some of its customers saying that artists’ lobby group the BPI has evidence of illegal file sharing from their accounts. Virgin, the UK’s second largest ISP, is the first to take such action.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

BPI & Virgin Media Press Release: Virgin Media launches downloading education campaign with BPI: 6:6:2008

Virgin Media and the BPI today announced a new education campaign to help Virgin Media’s broadband customers safely download music from the internet and avoid the risk of legal action.

As part of the campaign, customers whose accounts appear to have been used to distribute music in breach of copyright will receive informative letters, one from Virgin Media and one from the BPI. Accounts will be identified to Virgin Media on the basis of information supplied by the BPI. Both letters will be distributed by Virgin Media, without the need to disclose customer names and addresses to the BPI.

Research suggests that across the UK, over six and a half million consumers’ broadband accounts are used to access music without permission using peer-to-peer services [i]. The BPI and Virgin Media believe that, in many cases, customers may not be aware that their account is being used in this way. The new campaign will provide practical advice on how to prevent account misuse, links to legitimate sources of on-line music and information about the potential dangers of downloading files from unauthorised sources, including increased threats from viruses and spyware.

Virgin Media will also provide information for all its broadband customers on its website.

Commenting on the new campaign, Virgin Media said: “Virgin Media’s fibre optic broadband is a great platform for people who want to download lots of music on-line. But we want them to do so without infringing the rights of musicians and music companies. This campaign is about helping our customers understand how they can do this and get the best out of the internet.”

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI added: “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. That will benefit not just musicians, songwriters and labels, but all internet users who love music. This joint campaign with Virgin Media is the first step towards achieving that goal.”

– Ends –

Notes to editors

Virgin Media
Virgin Media is an innovative and pioneering UK entertainment and communications business. For the first time consumers can get everything they need from one company – the UK’s only quad play of TV, broadband, phone and mobile plus the most advanced TV on demand service available, the UK’s first high definition TV service and V+, our high specification personal video recorder. We’re the UK’s largest residential broadband provider, the largest virtual mobile network operator and the second largest provider of pay TV and home phone.

Virgin Media owns two content businesses – Virgin Media Television (VMTV) and sit-up. VMTV owns seven entertainment channels – Virgin1, Living, Living 2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Challenge, and Trouble – and is a 50% partner in UKTV which consists of nine channels including Dave, UKTV Gold and UKTV History. sit-up runs retail TV channels bid tv, price-drop tv and speed auctiontv.

Virgin Media is the largest Virgin company in the world and has almost 10 million customers. To find out more visit www.virginmedia.com/presscentre.

The BPI
The BPI (formerly known as British Phonographic Industry) represents the UK recorded music business.

Its membership comprises of hundreds of music companies including all four major record companies, associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies representing thousands of labels.

Further information from the BPI about ISP Partnerships http://www.bpi.co.uk/isp-partnership

[i] Source: Jupiter Research

BBC News: Time to take on the file sharers: By Chris Martin

On 9 June, BBC commentator Bill Thompson wrote a critique of a joint venture between the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) and Virgin Media to write to customers whose net connection may have been used to download unlicensed content.

Here, BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor responds to his comments.