Illegal File-Sharers Warned Posted on July 6th
12:11pm UK, Thursday July 03, 2008
Hundreds of letters have been sent to Virgin Media customers warning them against downloading illegal music files.
Users being ‘educated’ about the law
It is part of a campaign the company is running with the BPI to “educate” users about what they can, and can’t, file share.
The BPI, the body which represents the music industry, has told Sky News Online that the 800 letters could be followed by thousands more.
The industry as a whole has been given until spring of next year to find a solution to illegal downloaders or face legislation.
The current system involves the BPI policing file sharing networks. It looks for illegal traffic and identifies the IP address it has come from and informs the ISP.
A joint letter from Virgin and the BPI is then sent to the individual.
A BPI spokeswoman stressed that at this stage the letters are purely for “education”.
The body believes that the majority of those who get them will not know about any illegal downloads.
These could include, for example, parents whose computers are being used by sons or daughters, or people whose wireless connections have been intercepted.
“That is why this is a soft campaign,” said the spokeswoman, who also pointed out that such action had not been carried out before and the results would be carefully looked at.
Virgin Media is the only provider which has signed up to the campaign to date - talks are going on with others.