[chubby_cheeks]

How will this affect newsgroups then?

Obviously it wouldn't be wise to use VM own newsgroups but what about giganews ..etc?

Also giganews offer full SSL encryption.

[razuraw]

this shit will never work it just takes one person too take vm to european high court and as the recent court cases have allready said isps are just like a mail service they have no right to disconnect you. they will lose and the system will go down with it. there is only going to be one loser here and thats vm as they are going to lose lot of custermers.

[hassan]

just change service, sends a powerful message to all ISPs

[Bonesy84]

there gonna be kicking alot of people off the isp then am sure someone will take them to court over it how can they prove who's downloaded what though

[lady_raven]

Originally Posted by carl.waring

Indeed. It never ceases to amaze me the lengths some people will go to to justify breaking a law/stealing IP.

Back in the 80's it was illegal to record off the tv, now you have sky plus and v+

[Fussy]

What a waste of time and money, it wont change anything.

Everyone i know downloads something they shouldn't be and yes we know thats naughty and so is overcharging for over hyped garbage.

I have an encryption service but if i ever get one letter from VM about my downloading habbit then they can say bye, bye to another £60 a month......................

[sc0ttish]

How will this work?

I mean everyone i know has downloaded something they shouldn't have, from music and films to games and mobile phone ring tones.

What networks are the going to be checking, is it just P2P networks? Or downloads from file sharing sites like rapidshare etc?
What about downloads from the news groups or people just emailing songs to each other?

Seems like they will have their work cut out to check everything and anything.

Please also what happens if you start downloading something but cancel it before it completes......wouldn't that be like walking round a shop with a CD in your pocket, planning on walking out the door without paying, but then putting it back as you walk out the door.......you haven't done anything wrong then.

[Snecklifter]

As soon as you start downloading a torrent you are uploading parts of that torrent so it doesn't matter how much of it you download as you are still uploading copyrighted material.

So if you start a file and it connects to the bpi (or whichever company is looking) then they will grab your ip and send it to virgin whether you finish the file off or not.

It will be interesting to see how many IP addresses they send in the first week, could be thousands!

[cabletron]

It's no good then boasting about being the only provider to offer a solid rapid connection if they keep coming up with this crap! They want lead the war against piracy but what else are you supposed to use these brilliant speeds for?

[sc0ttish]

[quote=Snecklifter;22659517]As soon as you start downloading a torrent you are uploading parts of that torrent so it doesn't matter how much of it you download as you are still uploading copyrighted material.
QUOTE]

Ok fair enough with torrents.
So are they only going to send out letters etc for people uploading?

What about file sharing websites.
If i go out and find a film on rapidshare and download it how are they going to know....unless they scan what i'm downloading.....but then most films are split into 7 or 8 pieces.

[Snecklifter]

I should imagine they'd mostly target torrents because they'll go for the 'easy kill'

[cabletron]

I imagine the list of people downloading torrents will be immense. Especially their 20mb customers. They can't full well target all these customers because that's where they make most of their money! Only Virgin will come off worse if they do go ahead with this and start targeting downloaders. There is too many to get through surely!

[les-d]

Originally Posted by cabletron

I imagine the list of people downloading torrents will be immense. Especially their 20mb customers. They can't full well target all these customers because that's where they make most of their money! Only Virgin will come off worse if they do go ahead with this and start targeting downloaders. There is too many to get through surely!

thats one thing we do have , safety in numbers.

[Snecklifter]

I wonder where we will stand if we do get a warning? If we are still in a 12 month contract will it be a reason to leave, and if not won't we just carry on until they do disconnect us so we can leave?


When I say 'we' I mean those other people who do download dodgy stuff, not me obviously.

[ssamantha]

Originally Posted by les-d

safety in numbers.

As you say, it's obviously impossible to track down every single illegal down loader. Virgin will implement this so that random people are targeted as a deterrent to others.
The alternative is for Virgin (and ISPs generally) to wait for actual regulatory control to be enforced, but they obviously want a voluntary code of practice so that the full weight of the law (with prosecutions rather than simple network bans) isn't deemed necessary by the government.

[ssamantha]

Originally Posted by Snecklifter

I wonder where we will stand if we do get a warning? If we are still in a 12 month contract will it be a reason to leave?

It's obviously going to become one of the Virgin terms and conditions, so it won't be grounds to break your contract earlier than the twelve months it lasts. Virgin would obviously impose further penalties on anyone using an illegal download warning as a reason to break their contract.

[!!11oneone]

They are not going to disconnect everyone who downloads anything illegal. If you grab an obscure song or two, or a deleted album here and there, or even the odd album or song you don't want to buy, you'll be pretty safe.

If, however, you've got your entire collection available for download, or you're downloading several full albums a month, or sharing pre-release material, you'll be warned.

Anyone who then goes on to download more content after two warnings is an idiot. It'd be a bit like nicking a car while in the company of a police officer.


My only concern is how long the warnings stay on your file? If you're warned in 2009, then again in 2015, will you get cut off in 2030? Can you then never download another copyrighted file for the rest of your life?

[ssamantha]

Originally Posted by !!11oneone

My only concern is how long the warnings stay on your file? Can you then never download another copyrighted file for the rest of your life?

The whole idea is to deter people from illegally downloading. Why would they put a time limit on the period a warning is in force?

[peasonokay]

Originally Posted by DieDieMyDarling

This is already possible/happening, where companies log IPs of users uploading copyrighted material to various P2P networks, then that information is used to get the customers information off their ISP, which is then used to press charges.

It would appear that what is being pushed now is, all users will have their headers read, to see what they are getting and sending, and if any of those headers match certain criteria for copyrighted material, they will be warned, warned again then disconnected.

VM will be policing their own network, instead of only acting when a company makes an accusation against one of it's customers, with logged IP details, etc.

It's a good time to get encrypted newsgroup access.

Still dont quite see how this works. I mean say I choose to genuinly buy and download an MP3 from Tescos for example. Alternatively I might "know" that the exact same file is already available on the P2P networks, same file, same header etc etc so how can they tell.?

I have a feeling this is going to be a case of VM finding you guilty unless you can prove your innocence?

[vangeezer]

This is nothing new,I got a letter from BT 4 years ago telling me more or less the same message virgin will send.
I stopped useing P2P for 2 weeks then went on as normal,that was the last I heard.Virgin simply don't have the commitment or resourses to follow this through to the end.Its what's known as "Paying lip service". pure and simple.

[liamhere]

when i DL i just hit and run...
grab what i want and shut down and remove file from my p2p list as soon as i have it
does this make me a bad person?

[liamhere]

What Will They Do If We All Move?

[Captain W]

There's now a new news article stating that Virgin have denied such plans

[goomba]

Originally Posted by liamhere

when i DL i just hit and run...
grab what i want and shut down and remove file from my p2p list as soon as i have it
does this make me a bad person?

Doubly bad! Not only are you considered a thief by one side, you are considered a leacher from the other

[mega pixels]

Originally Posted by liamhere

What Will They Do If We All Move?

Why would we all move? In any case thieving scum have no where to hide since all ISPs will have to impose similar rules or face regulatory enforcement.

Question is who will be the first ISP to impose such rules, and to date there is no evidence to suggest that will be Virgin. So for all we know they'll all be moving to Virgin Media. Thick as thieves us, we'd stick together for all time.


The BPI have not agreed any deal with Virgin Media.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=771763