BPI Defends Anti-File-Sharing Partnership With Virgin Media

MrSteveSD writes "The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has responded to criticism by Bill Thomson over its collusion with Virgin Media in targeting UK file sharers. BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor personally wrote to the BBC to set things straight, and he asserts that 'it's Mr Thompson, rather than music companies, who is stuck in the past.' Of course, Virgin Media customers who download music and TV legally often find their connections being turned down to unusable speeds due to Virgin's aggressive throttling policy." Mike also points out a blog entry that describes one of the letters received by a Virgin Media customer. In the letter were suggestions regarding the customer's router settings and anti-virus software.

Comments

Time for anonymity.

[Odder]

Bill Thompson has an irritating tendency to almost see things:

At the moment it's hard to use BitTorrent anonymously, although since the service itself is entirely legal and legitimate there should be no need to do so.

As an innocent person who's been threatened, he should realize the time for anonymity was long ago. Anyone who believes in free speech understands that it's always time, that identification can always lead to punishment by the rich and powerful. You can "be good" and try to hide but people like the BPI will always come to get you because they want your money and will tolerate no dissent. I wonder what he thinks of Vista now.