Virgin hits downloaders

The ISP joins the crack-down on illegal music sharing

06 June 2008 - Virgin Media have joined the campaign to reduce illegal downloading and will soon be sending warning letters to the homes of downloaders. 

Back in February the Government set a deadline of April 2009 for Internet Service Providers to prove they are trying to stop music piracy - and Virgin Media is the first company to take action.

They are working with the BPI, a company representing British record companies, to launch an educational campaign which will highlight the dangers of music piracy.

Together, the aim is to target people who are unaware that their accounts are being used illegally as well as being tougher on downloaders.

Matt Phillips, Director of Communications at BPI, said: "We have to reduce the availability of the free music through licensing and deterrents , there is no one-size-fits-all to this solution but we are firmly headed in the right direction."

"This is about giving the people the information they need to put the problem right themselves"
 Director of the BPI - Matt Phillips

Taking an educational tack is their strategy on which he said: "The BPI believe there is a huge number of broadband customers who are unaware of the laws surrounding downloading.

"To have an Internet Service Provider not only passing on useful educational information, but also reminding them of the laws in this respect, is very helpful."

Whilst "this is about giving the people the information they need to put the problem right themselves," as Phillips said, the distribution of illegal music is wide-spread.

This issue has been a hot topic in the music industry for a while now.

U2's manager was a speaker at the Music Matters conference lately, urging Internet Service Providers to take a more active role in combating the illegal industry.

Paul McGuinness believes the music industry is in a terrible state and took the time out to speak to 6 Music from Hong Kong about this issue.

He said: "The recorded music business is in a terrible crisis and there is help available from the Internet Service Providers but they are not providing it. It's time to start identifying what they could do and what they are not doing.

"They could prevent peer to peer file-sharing on their networks and they could also enter into meaningful discussions with the content owners to collect revenue, basically start a new business model."

The BPI's Matt Phillips believes that creating legitimate alternatives for consumers is not going to be far-reaching enough and so there are some people that need further deterrents.

Public Opinion

6 Music went out into the streets to find out what you think.  There was a range of opinions on this:

One parent we spoke to said:  "It's a very good idea to be warned about downloading from the internet and we need to know exactly what it is our children are downloading so it's very important."

But others didn't think it was such a good plan:  "I just think we'll get warnings and stuff but we're still going to do it anyway so is there any point in wasting the paper and stuff."

And people don't think artists suffer as much as record companies suggest:

"A couple of free downloads ain't that big of a deal, really.  I wouldn't see it as that big of a deal, I'd just be happy that people are happy to listen to my music and download it."

Georgie Rogers