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Virgin Media to monitor filesharing in UK

Fri Nov 27 2009, 17:31 PM UTC

Virgin Media plans to trial a system that anonymously tracks illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing as ISPs move to counter plans by the UK government to force them to disconnect those downloading copyrighted material. The tracking system will affect 40% of Virgin Media’s customers. The move comes as some UK ISPs take steps to persuade the government that plans to force them to disconnect persistent filesharers are unnecessary and unworkable.

Virgin says monitoring illegal filesharing is necessary to comply with the forthcoming Digital Economy bill, which imposes new requirements on ISPs to help stamp out filesharing. ISPs are loth to begin disconnecting users because they believe it will hurt business. Rival ISP TalkTalk recently ran a poll which found that almost half of those with P2P activity on their internet connections were completely unaware it was happening. The ISP argues the figure shows it is both unfair and impractical to disconnect those detected sharing content.

Detica, the firm responsible for Virgin Media’s monitoring system, insists its software does not identify individuals in any way. However, the software is likely to attract criticism from privacy campaigners. Many campaigners previously attacked behavioural targeting firm Phorm for its WebWise software, which also claimed to be entirely anonymous.