- Tuesday, 6 January 2009
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Oxymoron of the day: Amusing ringtones - Evil Doc Spinola
Virgin fires warning shots over bow
VIRGIN MEDIA, one of Britain's biggest internet service providers, has fired off 800 scathing letters to users who are allegedly involved in illegal file sharing according to the BBC.
The campaign, which has been put together by copyright cops the BPI, will last ten weeks and will result in thousands more letters being sent out.
The BPI wants ISPs to excommunicate anyone who is caught with their hands in the copyright cookie jar, but so far Virgin Media is the only company to buckle under the pressure.
Virgin is adamant that the campaign is about education rather than punishment but BPI boss Geoff Taylor has other ideas. In fact he's even threatened ISPs which don't toe the line with legal action. "If we have to go to court, we will go to court and we will win," he said.
So here's a prediction of a mathematical kind, which is normally beyond the brains of INQ hacks.
If Virgin sends out 12,385 snotty letters, it will lose... ooh, let's say 12,384 subscribers, who will go to an ISP which didn't buckle under the heavy-handed bullying tactics of a non-elected body which acts like it is the boss of everybody.
Which means that Virgin Media will disappear up its own fat pipe. µ
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i dont even open the normal virgin bill/letter anyway so im sitting here wondering if i am one of them!!! oh well, i have some tv to go get!! im loving wipeout at the moment!!!!!!!! ;-)
"Which means that Virgin Media will disappear up its own fat pipe" Which means a better, more stable internet connection for me! F**k off you music pirates - it's all crap anyway :)
... if VM has a fat pipe why are they STM'ing all their subscribers? I've just gone to O2 and OMG ... the customer service is some of the best i've ever had anywhere, period :D
So I won't be getting a letter. Although if I do get one it means Virgin are doing more than just mailing the people on the BPI's list...
If Virgin will receive 800 scathing letters concerning their service and capping policy.
Something I don't understand about the opening paragraph: "VIRGIN MEDIA, one of Britain's biggest internet service providers, has fired off 800 scathing letters to users who are allegedly involved in illegal file sharing according to the BBC." So, the BBC is identifying the users allegedly involved in illegal fire sharing? Shame on Auntie Beeb! As for Virgin Media ane the BPI, if you put your crap on the Internet, it is basically similar to transmitting it over the air, and anyone who can "record" it can use it for their own use. Now if we can just get the politicians and their bureaucratic owners to stop stuffing their pockets with corporate money long enough to actually THINK about the laws they pass, we might have something. Akin to a miracle, I would add. So stop buying from V.M.
f Virgin sends out 12,385 snotty letters, it will lose... ooh, let's say 12,384 heavy bandwidth users, who will go to an ISP thus saving Virgin wads of cash. Virgin then can claim this was all necessary to protect the starving pop stars whilst selling their 20mbit pipes to people who just web surf and email using only kbits/s. Win for Virgin.
Music industry owned (copyright protected) music is used as landmines and placed in network to kill underground music! Pretty smart move... but a little undemocratic.. Network admin at ISP side decides if you guilty or not.. Everyone served by ISP is potential “downloader” and therefore his traffic is monitored…Where we can see list of copyrighted songs? I love to refresh my legal music library using independent artists.
THis is same type of tactic that the BBC tv licensing employ try and get into your house without a search warrant to see if you have a TV. Having had several discussions on the doorstep with TV licensing at a previous address of mine, its quite comical how they pretend they are allowed into your home with out a warrant. On the flipside if the BBC iplayer wasn't so crap license fee payers wouldn't need to get the stuff elsewhere. Additionally iplayer deletes content from your PC without permission after a set time which actually meets the criteria for a virus or malware, so Auntie had better watch out! It really is a joke, bring em on I say, and see you in court....its impossible to prove and impossible to make it stick, they are just a bunch of lovies flapping their stockings... [handbags at dawn etc]
Music industry suppose to provide best and most effective services to MUSICIANS and CONSUMERS and to comply with FREE MARKET rules. Also, they suppose to use best up-to-date technology to reduce carbon footprint, crude oil consumption by chemical industry, and to provide the best product (music) to all of us for affordable price. Instead, they use terror based approach by trying to enforce outdated ill-explained laws, and sue they base of existence – their customers. WOW! If they cannot manage situation somebody else will. These days filling 8GB iPOD with music shouldn’t cost you $10k. If middlemen takeaway shrinks we should get legal music to fill our players for ~ 300-500 bucks.
bt & other telecom providers. If a person is using they're phone for a small illegal activity will they be cut off!. same goes for watching some illegal p0rn. will sony or toshiba stop selling you tv's.... the list could go on. Maybe you wont be able to buy a car if you cross the channel with a couple of litres extra booze!!
Well...like anyone lumbered with virgin media broadband has sufficient bandwidth to pirate anything of worth anyway..i certainly didnt,which is why i moved to BE broadband and now can download to my heart's content! arghhhh