More Virgin Media news and this time you really do wonder what’s going on! The one that grabs most headlines is that they are to pilot a scheme working with the BPI to send letters to users downloading music illegally via P2P. The pilot is not up and running but according to the Telegraph is starting soon. In some ways it’s no big surprise as there’s been lot’s of talk about a proposed three strikes and your out system. Indeed some ISP’s have already sent letters to users warning them about the content or bandwidth they are using. As long as there are no false positives and the action they are taking is clear, transparent and applied to all users can anyone really complain? Not really, although I’m still surprised that they will act in cases of ‘suspected’ piracy. I would damn well hope they act when they have concrete evidence and it’s not just a way of targeting heavy downloaders and their Linux iso’s.
What makes this all a bit more odd is that Virgin Media are beta testing a new Usenet service. In conjuntion with Highwinds they are looking to improve their newsgroup offering. What are newsgroups – well according to Virgin they are:
…discussion forums (usually on a specific topic) but can also be used to download and upload files such as photos and videos.
No shit Sherlock. Their binary retention will be at least 7 days and text retention over 90 days. Not bad for a free service although nothing like the service you get from providers like Giganews. Notice also that newsgroups are great for photo’s and videos. No music to be found though. Or applications, games, books etc. Just photo’s and video’s.
This doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. What happens with one provider will eventually happen to all. What I want is a reliable fast connection at a reasonable price. On reflection this isn’t what Virgin are offering although I must admit to it being prety bullet proof compared to ADSL. Time to switch?
The hypocrisy of Virgin in this post made me laugh out loud.
The bottom line is that ISP’s are businesses. Managed by guys with targets. Growth and profitability targets undoubtedly bigger than last years. They are not extensions of the Government and when the two interests conflict – as I believe they do with this issue then the principal concern for ISP’s should be maximising shareholder returns (‘… now with USENET access!!!!’).
Its not pursuing kids downloading the lastest Number 1 mp3.
Incidentally, any idea where the ‘hash’ symbol is on my keyboard? (puzzled!)
PS. Any idea on what the current Number 1 sounds like? Me neither. So very old…
Hash – alt 3. It’s a Mac feature. Shhhhhhhh 😉
Your right – total conflict and it looks like a business that is reactive rather than following some sort of long term strategy. This will hit the papers when it’s kids getting taken to courts. I wonder if you go with the ‘my router is open’, prove it was my PC defence, especially with a cloned mac address. Could they prove it? Will it take someone going to court to make the argument? Ultimately if they want to withdraw a service they can. What if cable is my only option and they ban me? Broadbandless?
Meant to up this link, ok, it’s a week old now but it struck a chord…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7329801.stm