Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Virgin Media To Trial Filesharing Monitoring In UK

Posted by timothy on from the deep-pocket-inspection dept.

Shokaster writes "The Register reports that Virgin Media are to begin monitoring file sharing using a deep packet inspection system, CView, provided by Deltica, a BAE subsidiary. The trial will cover about 40% of customers, although those involved will not be informed. CView's deep packet inspection is the same technology that powered Phorm's advertising system. Initially Virgin Media's implementation will focus on music sharing and will inspect packets to determine whether the content is licensed or unlicensed, based on data provided by the record industry. Virgin Media emphasised that records will not be kept on individual customers and that data on the level of copyright infringement will be aggregated and anonymised."

15 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. How do they know? by Nursie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have a friend who's an amateur musician and devices (his mobile phone) have started to deny him the ability to play his own music due to it being "unlicensed".

    How the hell do these clowns expect to be able to figure out what's unauthorised copying?

    1. Re:How do they know? by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The more false-positives they measure, the more they can make the case for increasingly intrusive DPI which will inevitably include personally identifying users and meddling with their traffic if not disconnecting them.

      It's nice to see the military industrial complex involved in the music industry's problem.

  2. Six months from now by Ynot_82 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    27th May 2010

    Just 6 months after the announcement to monitor their network for illegal filesharers, Virgin Media has seen a dramatic decline in subscribers.
    90% of their top tier customers (renting 20Mb/sec) have canceled their subscriptions
    This figure is similar (82%) for their 10Mb/sec tier

    Furthermore, the cost of the controversial detection methods (Deep Packet Inspection) has meant that the company has had to increase monthly subscription costs across all tiers by 10-20%
    This has seen decline (albeit much smaller, at 47%) in their lowest tier of service

    1. Re:Six months from now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Only in your fantasies. Nothing will change. They'll keep the same subscriber level, and if there's any changes in level it will be due to deteriorating economic conditions.

      Face it: the average schlub doesn't give a rat's ass about the security of their internet connection from the ISP itself. In their thoughts: "Why should I? I've got nothing to hide!"

  3. Time to encrypt everything. by pushf+popf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they thought DPI was expensive, wait until they try real-time decryption

    1. Re:Time to encrypt everything. by Nerdfest · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I've got a better idea. Have your legislators ensure they stay the hell out of your content. They aren't allowed to listen to your phone calls, wy the hhell should they be allowed to look at your data. Seriously ... if they suspect people of committing a crime, they should get a warrant.

    2. Re:Time to encrypt everything. by Cryacin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      if they suspect people of committing a crime, they should get a warrant.

      But that would involve due process and presumption innocence, and well, we can't have that now. What's next? Right to a fair trial?

      --
      Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
    3. Re:Time to encrypt everything. by Darkness404 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They aren't allowed to listen to your phone calls, wy the hhell should they be allowed to look at your data

      Yeah, and look at how well governments followed that law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_warrantless_surveillance_controversy

      Any human rights documents from any western country (UK, US, Canada, etc) are quickly becoming no more than toilet paper.

      The only way we have to stop them is to make it physically impossible for them to trample our rights. Encryption is one way we can stop this abuse of power. Laws only get us so far when "national security" is on the line.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    4. Re:Time to encrypt everything. by Tom · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Of course, most of us have nothing to hide

      I hear that all the time and it's time to stop this lie by the surveillance fanatics once and for all.

      Of course we all have something to hide! It's called our private life. You have no business snooping around in it. Not if you're a cop, not it you're an ISP, not if you're god.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  4. No one believes the promise of anonymity by erroneus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I guess I'll fill in some space down here because slashdot will not likely let me post a subject-only comment, but seriously, what more needs to be said? I can't believe they are even saying that with a straight face. Governments barely have anyone or anything to answer two when they lie to people. Businesses like Virgin media most certainly do not. The only thing that their bullshit proves is that they are aware of what the public response will be and that they are afraid of it at some level.

  5. Could this cause legal problems for them? by BitterOak · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok. They're monitoring their customers for illegal file sharing, even going so far as to identify whether or not the copied material has been licensed by the copyright holders. Does this not make them guilty of contributory infringement? They are providing the networks which allow users to infringe copyright. They know that infringement is taking place via their deep packets inspection, down to the level of individual acts of infringement. Then they are destroying data which can identify infringers, but they continue to provide them with networks service. How is this legal?

    --
    If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
    1. Re:Could this cause legal problems for them? by d36 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      because they have enough money to buy the government?

  6. Encrypt by some_guy_88 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Everything.

  7. In Other News... by florescent_beige · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All public and private communications of all executives of companies in the UK valued at 500 million or more will be monitored for illegal, unethical, and undesired behaviour.

    "If we had only known what certain Wall Street bankers had been up to the world could have avoided financial losses in the trillions. In a world of high speed communication and free flowing capital, the expectations of privacy have to be balanced against the interests of all stakeholders." said noted expert florescent_beige.

    --
    Equine Mammals Are Considerably Smaller
  8. Re:More details here: by martin-boundary · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Excellent! I presume that Virgin Media have also built the infrastructure to comply with EU/UK privacy regulations?

    Such as, e.g., a facility to allow *every* broadband customer to be informed of and if they so choose to view *all* the information being gathered about themselves, and allow *any* of this data to be edited for accuracy by the customer, and allow *all* of this data to be deleted from *all* their servers if the customer decides to end the contract with Virgin at any time, etc.

    Moreover, I presume that Virgin Media have ensured that the nature of the data they do collect is technically necessary for the provision of their ISP service to each customer, and not simply a gratuitous and illegal collection of data that is requested for a completely independent purpose set out in a completely different contract with another entity, and to which the customer himself is not actually a party.

    These are bad economic times, and it would be a pity if some idle British lawyer were to look a little too closely at this announcement...