Virgin likely to lose 800 customers by colluding with BPI over file-sharing
Thousands of UK broadband users who share music tracks illegally may receive letters warning them of the consequences. Music trade body the BPI claims to have already identified and contacted about 800 Virgin Media customers who have been sharing copyrighted material (this despite it being impossible to tell what files are being shared). Virgin has agreed to send the letters to those customers, informing them that what they are doing is illegal.
tags: BPI, BT, file-sharing, music piracy, P2P, Phorm, Virgin MediaUK ISPs to spy on all web traffic to your home (if you let them get away with it)
If you’re a BT Broadband customer, watch out! The company intends to track the websites visited by 10,000 customers (eventually all of them) and hit them with targeted ads. This is to secure extra revenue, of course. Virgin Media and the (always dubious) Carphone Warehouse will be getting their act together later in the year to pull the same trick, which may be illegal under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). One expert believes it will only be legal is if ISPs obtain prior consent from the users they want to spy on.
tags: advertisements, BT, Carphone Warehouse, criminality, human rights, Internet, spying, Virgin Media
