Virgin warns 800 punters for file-sharing

(2 replies) #1 stezo2k on 03 Jul 2008 - 14:09

Harsh if you ask me, whats wrong with just a warning and not banning? Im really starting to dislike VM, especially during peak times when my connections more like dial up than broadband

Last edited by stezo2k on 03 Jul 2008 - 14:16

#1.1 Brodel on 03 Jul 2008 - 14:48

Come on, it's in the first sentence. "The BPI has written to 800 Virgin Media customers warning them to stop sharing music files or risk losing their broadband connection."

#1.2 Sumeet on 06 Jul 2008 - 06:05

(Brodel said @ #1.1)

Come on, it's in the first sentence. "The BPI has written to 800 Virgin Media customers warning them to stop sharing music files or risk losing their broadband connection."

Its late and I' m tired so I'm not quite getting it .. What does what you quoted have to do with what he said?

#2 FloatingFatMan on 03 Jul 2008 - 14:34

Umm... Since when were they allowed to pass on personally identifiable information to the BPI without a court order?

(1 reply) #3 +chaosblade on 03 Jul 2008 - 14:39

Since when is Law involved with any of this? It's just companies looking to raise profits. Law has nothing to do with pretty much anything in these matters.

#3.1 FloatingFatMan on 03 Jul 2008 - 14:48

(chaosblade said @ #3)

Since when is Law involved with any of this? It's just companies looking to raise profits. Law has nothing to do with pretty much anything in these matters.

Law has quite a lot to do with it actually.. We have very strict data protection laws in the UK. Companies breaking them risk their licence to even operate as a company if they break them. Last time I checked, either a court order, or written permission from the person themselves, is required to release this kind of information to others.

#4 Exosphere on 03 Jul 2008 - 14:46

More confirmation Virgin Media is run by a bunch of cnuts.

(2 replies) #5 El Sid on 03 Jul 2008 - 15:54

Debate it all you want, but uploading files is illegal, and Virgin won't go for the little guy, there's no profit in that. They'll go for the people that are uploading Gigabytes of copyrighted materials, and make an example of them.

#5.1 FloatingFatMan on 03 Jul 2008 - 16:10

(El Sid said @ #5)

Debate it all you want, but uploading files is illegal, and Virgin won't go for the little guy, there's no profit in that. They'll go for the people that are uploading Gigabytes of copyrighted materials, and make an example of them.

Sharing the files may be illegal; but that doesn't immediately grant them permission to break other laws, ones more serious than copyright infringement, to hand out personal data just on another company's say so. That data can only be obtained as part of a criminal investigation as far as I know, and then only by the police.

It wouldn't be an issue if it were Virgin sending out the letters, but the BPI have no legal right to access that information.

#5.2 dev on 03 Jul 2008 - 16:37

(FloatingFatMan said @ #5.1)

(El Sid said @ #5)

Debate it all you want, but uploading files is illegal, and Virgin won't go for the little guy, there's no profit in that. They'll go for the people that are uploading Gigabytes of copyrighted materials, and make an example of them.

Sharing the files may be illegal; but that doesn't immediately grant them permission to break other laws, ones more serious than copyright infringement, to hand out personal data just on another company's say so. That data can only be obtained as part of a criminal investigation as far as I know, and then only by the police.

It wouldn't be an issue if it were Virgin sending out the letters, but the BPI have no legal right to access that information.

virgin are the ones sending out the letters, BPI write them, send them to VM with the users IP/date/time, VM look up the user and forward on the letter. this is nothing that other ISPs haven't been doing for years

#6 Orange on 03 Jul 2008 - 16:33

If anyone gets one, please post on here lol

(2 replies) #7 +kraized on 03 Jul 2008 - 17:42

Simple solution. Don't download illegal files then you won't get you're broadband cut off.

#7.1 chris4 on 03 Jul 2008 - 18:59

Or don't use BitTorrent? Use Warez forums. You won't get caught.

#7.2 Magallanes on 03 Jul 2008 - 22:18

(kraized said @ #7)

Simple solution. Don't download illegal files then you won't get you're broadband cut off.

ISP can't identify illegal p2p with precision right now, in some cases they can put a file to bait some users but nothing much else. Also to track every transaction is quite expensive, so the method is to log the amount of transaction and the kind of transaction used (megabytes and protocol).

So, if you download 4gb using the port 49393 then you will be catalogued as "pirate", no matter if the connection was used to download the latest and free linux distro or if was used to download the latest xbox360 game.

#8 jpcahn on 03 Jul 2008 - 18:33

With the economy the way it is people are not going to be paying for fast broadband unless they are downloading this stuff. If all I am doing is surfing and checking my email I don't need anything better then the 19.99 slower dsl special. The people springing for 50.00 a month internet are going to get their money's worth one way or another.

#9 mad_cow40 on 03 Jul 2008 - 20:26

so glad i sacked them. virgin media has turned a really good company (telewest) in to sh*t. nothing like is is a surprise to me. virgin love the bpi and hate their customers.

#10 siiix on 04 Jul 2008 - 01:02

LOL as that would be punishment to cancel service this days : )

ohhh wait there are just 400 other ISP's standing in line to get my business and get me connected in less then 5 business days : )

this corporate idiots !

(3 replies) #11 Shiranui on 04 Jul 2008 - 01:46

Sad.

I got a notification from my ISP stating that, from next month my uploads would be limited to 30GB, per day.....

Glad I'm no longer living in (not so) Great (these days) Britain.

#11.1 +DARKFiB3R on 04 Jul 2008 - 10:38

(Shiranui said @ #11)

Sad.

I got a notification from my ISP stating that, from next month my uploads would be limited to 30GB, per day.....

Glad I'm no longer living in (not so) Great (these days) Britain.

30 gigs up a day?!?!?!?! I'd give my left bollock for that kinda speed.

#11.2 stezo2k on 05 Jul 2008 - 14:14

speed? you mean limit?

#11.3 dnast on 06 Jul 2008 - 06:59

I think he means that he'd love to have enough bandwidth to even worry about surpassing 30 GB/day, uploading. I'd have to agree.

#12 +witalit on 04 Jul 2008 - 08:10

Virgin Media are c**ks pretty much. I can't handle there throtling crap. Got my connection swapped to VM thinking it was be better...I MIGHT AS WELL BE ON 1MB YOU THROTTLING GOONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(1 reply) #13 MightyJordan on 04 Jul 2008 - 10:30

I'll probably be getting one of those letters then!

It isn't going to make a blinding difference, though. They can't cut off my internet connection. They also can't accuse me of downloading illegal stuff, as they're not allowed to see what I'm downloading, as that is a violation of my privacy!

I don't know why the record companies are making such a big fuss anyway. Downloading music off torrents is like taking a penny from a millionaire. They can still afford it.

Last edited by MightyJordan on 04 Jul 2008 - 10:42

#13.1 stezo2k on 05 Jul 2008 - 14:16

Nice words there mate, agreed

I just wish they'd stop throttling me every 5 minutes

#14 +mrbester on 04 Jul 2008 - 10:56

The letters came in an envelope marked: "Important. If you don't read this, your broadband could be disconnected." But Virgin told Radio 1's Newsbeat that the phrase was a mistake and the letters were part of an education campaign. Virgin said it was not making any kind of accusation and that it was possible someone other than the account holder was involved.

So that means VM should have to send out another letter apologising for the implicit accusation and threat.

If anybody on VM gets one of these I recommend returning it taped to a padded envelope marked "Not known at this address" containing several slates with a 1p stamp on it.

#15 RanCorX2 on 05 Jul 2008 - 21:46

I wish NTL was still around, at least they knew how to run a decent ISP, Virgin are idiots, they've f***ed up a once good, fast, unrestricted service...sigh

#16 Geoff_Vass on 06 Jul 2008 - 03:28

All they're doing is writing to the top 800 uploaders. ISPs base their pricing on average usage so the people who upload and download the most data are loss-making, but because it's an average they don't usually mind. But they won't care either if the biggest users go to another ISP. But Virgin have the right to set their pricing plans the way they see fit, and users have the right to move to another ISP with a plan that suits them better. Nowhere does it say that other internet users have to subsidise people who use a lot of data just because they can't be bothered buying an album or hiring a DVD like the rest of us.

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