The battle against “illegal file-sharing” is heating up, especially in Europe where it looks like the media lobbyists are well worth their fees. Several countries are planning or debating whether to introduce a ‘three-strikes’ system for file sharers, and recently, the UK has been the hotbed of activity. With talks of making the system mandatory by law, some ISPs are making some compromises in the hopes it will deter lawmakers. Virgin Media, one of the biggest ISPs in the country, has announced it will test a system to monitor file-sharing on its network. The trial will affect some 40 percent of its subscribers and will use technology from Detica, a technology company which builds specialized networking solutions.
“Understanding how consumer behaviour is changing will be an important requirement of Virgin Media’s upcoming music offering and, should they become law, the Government’s legislative proposals will also require measurement of the level of copyright infringement on ISPs’ networks. Detica’s CView technology potentially offers a non-intrusive solution which enhances our understanding of aggregate customer behaviour without identifying or storing individual customers’ data,” Jon James, executive director of Broadband at Virgin Media, said.
The company claims t… (read more)