Virgin Agrees To Be IFPI's Copyright Cop
from the but-why? dept
Back in February, there were reports that the entertainment industry had somehow convinced the UK gov't that the "file sharing issue" should be the responsibility of ISPs, rather than the record labels whose obsolete business model caused the problem in the first place. The UK gov't then issued a very public threat that ISPs had better start kicking file sharers off the internet, or it would pass a law requiring them to do so. It appears that rather than push back, Virgin Media has jumped right in and will start kicking those accused of unauthorized sharing off their system using a "three strikes" policy. Of course, some might find this a bit ironic, considering that part of Virgin's entire marketing campaign was around how you could get free stuff via its internet connection. In the meantime, it's still not clear why ISPs should be responsible for propping up a different industry's business model.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: file sharing, isps, uk
Companies: ifpi, virgin media
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Re:
So enforce the law properly: if it's a civil matter, have the companies sue the folks responsible. If it's a criminal matter, have the police take on the case.
In this case, they're asking a 3rd party to take on the situation.
So, no, it's quite different than just "enforcing the law."
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Re: Re:
You know that once these people are kicked off virgins internet, that the music/movie companies will want to get their IP address, name, etc so they can sue them for illegal downloading
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Re: Re: Re:
I'd also predict that Virgin will see an exodus of its tech-savvy consumer base at some point soon. Not because the people leaving are "pirates" but because they don't appreciate being spied on by service providers. It also depends on how they do the monitoring - protocol? (WoW and Linux users won't be happy at piracy accusations over downloading patches and ISOs) filenames? (what if the songs are legal but the filenames are similar to an illegal file?) bandwidth? (again, gamers won't be happy...). The article suggests that the IFPI will be doing the monitoring to begin with, so if they're as accurate as the RIAA data, it'll fail very quickly as innocent people complain.
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Re:
What law are you talking about? Did you even read the blurb from above? The blurb said, "The UK gov't then issued a very public threat that ISPs had better start kicking file sharers off the internet, or it would pass a law requiring them to do so."
In other words, there is no law to be enforced!
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Re:
Besides, this is a civil matter, not a legal one.
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Re: .....
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Virgin self-sacrifice
All their users will leave them in droves and they can thus demonstrate the folly of this policy.
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Re: Virgin self-sacrifice
Who knows how to encrypt my .torrents ? ;)
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You're partially right
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Re: You're partially right
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Why is anyone surprised?
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Re: Why is anyone surprised?
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Re: Why is anyone surprised?
NVD, no comcast over here :)
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It appears
I hope Branson's company can afford to lose about 2.5 million customers (glad Im with a different devil.
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