Virgin Media Denies Doing a Deal to Disconnect Pirates
Virgin Media, the ISP accused of doing a deal with the British Phonographic Industry to disconnect persistent file-sharers from the internet, has denied the reports. Calling such measures “draconian”, Virgin went on to say they raise both privacy and legal issues.
Last week it was reported by The Telegraph that UK ISP Virgin Media had done a deal with the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) to disconnect persistent file-sharers from the internet. Now, according to a Computer Active report, Virgin Media is denying it has reached an agreement.
A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “There is no pilot in place. There are no details to confirm as we haven’t come to any sort of agreement with the BPI. The BPI wants the Government and ISPs to adopt the three-strikes system, we don’t want to go down to that level as it raises questions about privacy and funding.”
Under the suggested proposals, those caught sharing unauthorized files would be disconnected from the internet, should they fail to heed warnings to stop. Virgin is right to be cautious about privacy issues. Anti-piracy outfit Logistep ran headlong into operating illegally in Italy recently, when it was ruled that they illegally spied on P2P users.
When quizzed, the BPI said it was unable to talk about its discussions with ISPs: “We can’t talk about the pilot and can’t give out details but we have outlined plans with Virgin and do have a dialogue with them. But there is no confirmation of a pilot.”
