Today's news: Virgin Media are sending out letters advising people not to download content from peer-2-peer torrents.
Coming next: the G8 bring on the "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement" (ACTA).
Could this be the end of the interwebs as we know it or the start of the real war on the G8?
Coming next: the G8 bring on the "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement" (ACTA).
Could this be the end of the interwebs as we know it or the start of the real war on the G8?
The war is moving in on the cyber-frontier! This could prove to be quite interesting for the lost anti-globalisation cause. If it becomes massively illegal to download anything across peer to peer networks with storm-troopers kicking down doors to take away computers everywhere in the free world, then things could get interesting. Since it is the G8 that are pushing through the new laws in this new offensive, what happens next?
Potentially a new generation of people get politicized, to be brought in to a wider war against the G8. This will be no bad thing, to date only a small army of fluffy protestors have been manning the barricades. The 'movement' could get wider support, with more people wising up on the G8, hopefully to take appropriate direct action. The economy going 'tits up' adds to the mix and with the fear regarding the make believe 'al-whatever' having worn off, all is looking good for a battle royale...
Here is the text from the Virgin Letter, keep reading for 'ACPA' details:
Mr A.B. Sample
23 Road Street
Sample Town
Sampleshire
AB1 2CD
Date:
Account Number:
Case Ref:
Dear [name]
We’re writing to you about downloading and sharing of copyrighted files on the Internet.
That’s because we’ve received a report that copyrighted music has been shared using a
computer linked to your Virgin Media Internet account. Please allow us to explain.
As we’re sure you’ll know, many files that can be saved on your computer (like music and
videos) are protected by copyright. While it may be okay to store them for personal use, it’s
unlawful to download or share them without the permission of the copyright owner – for
example, the record company or film studio that released them. Otherwise it’s a ‘copyright
infringement’, which can lead to legal action being taken against the person responsible.
It’s one of the jobs of the BPI, which represents British record labels (www.bpi.co.uk), to make
sure that copyrighted music files aren’t unlawfully shared over the Internet. They wrote to let
us know that they believe your Internet connection is being used to share files.
We understand you may be concerned about this, and you might be unsure how it happened.
One possible answer is that other people in your household have used your computer and/or
Internet connection, and they might have shared these files with others by using unauthorised
‘peer-to-peer/P2P’ filesharing networks like ‘BitTorrent’ or ‘Limewire’.
However, you need to make sure that these files aren’t downloaded or shared from your
Virgin Media internet connection in future – for example, making sure they’re not being made
available through the use of file sharing networks, and securing any wireless router that you
have. We encourage all our customers to use appropriate security solutions to safeguard
their computers whilst online, and therefore we recommend that you use PCGuard, our suite
of security services, which can be found at: www.virginmedia.com/pcguard. This can also
help to prevent the spread of computer viruses which are sometimes disguised as illegal
music files. All this will help make sure that no further steps are taken against you .
We’ve included a summary of the BPI report below, we hope that this and the enclosed BPI
letter helps explain how to prevent unauthorised downloading and filesharing and how to
enjoy music safely online. If you’d like details of any further technical information supplied to
us by the BPI or if there’s anything else you’d like to know, just call our Internet Security team
on 0845 454 1098. Please note we have not shared any of your account or personal
information with the BPI as part of this communication.
Resources on the ACPA:
http://wikileaks.org/w/index.php?title=Proposed_US_ACTA_multi-lateral_intellectual_property_trade_agreement_%282007%29&oldid=29522
Note that this was first proposed by the Japanese in Gleneagles back in 2005. This time the new laws are probably going to be rubber stamped. May we live in interesting times.
Potentially a new generation of people get politicized, to be brought in to a wider war against the G8. This will be no bad thing, to date only a small army of fluffy protestors have been manning the barricades. The 'movement' could get wider support, with more people wising up on the G8, hopefully to take appropriate direct action. The economy going 'tits up' adds to the mix and with the fear regarding the make believe 'al-whatever' having worn off, all is looking good for a battle royale...
Here is the text from the Virgin Letter, keep reading for 'ACPA' details:
Mr A.B. Sample
23 Road Street
Sample Town
Sampleshire
AB1 2CD
Date:
Account Number:
Case Ref:
Dear [name]
We’re writing to you about downloading and sharing of copyrighted files on the Internet.
That’s because we’ve received a report that copyrighted music has been shared using a
computer linked to your Virgin Media Internet account. Please allow us to explain.
As we’re sure you’ll know, many files that can be saved on your computer (like music and
videos) are protected by copyright. While it may be okay to store them for personal use, it’s
unlawful to download or share them without the permission of the copyright owner – for
example, the record company or film studio that released them. Otherwise it’s a ‘copyright
infringement’, which can lead to legal action being taken against the person responsible.
It’s one of the jobs of the BPI, which represents British record labels (www.bpi.co.uk), to make
sure that copyrighted music files aren’t unlawfully shared over the Internet. They wrote to let
us know that they believe your Internet connection is being used to share files.
We understand you may be concerned about this, and you might be unsure how it happened.
One possible answer is that other people in your household have used your computer and/or
Internet connection, and they might have shared these files with others by using unauthorised
‘peer-to-peer/P2P’ filesharing networks like ‘BitTorrent’ or ‘Limewire’.
However, you need to make sure that these files aren’t downloaded or shared from your
Virgin Media internet connection in future – for example, making sure they’re not being made
available through the use of file sharing networks, and securing any wireless router that you
have. We encourage all our customers to use appropriate security solutions to safeguard
their computers whilst online, and therefore we recommend that you use PCGuard, our suite
of security services, which can be found at: www.virginmedia.com/pcguard. This can also
help to prevent the spread of computer viruses which are sometimes disguised as illegal
music files. All this will help make sure that no further steps are taken against you .
We’ve included a summary of the BPI report below, we hope that this and the enclosed BPI
letter helps explain how to prevent unauthorised downloading and filesharing and how to
enjoy music safely online. If you’d like details of any further technical information supplied to
us by the BPI or if there’s anything else you’d like to know, just call our Internet Security team
on 0845 454 1098. Please note we have not shared any of your account or personal
information with the BPI as part of this communication.
Resources on the ACPA:
http://wikileaks.org/w/index.php?title=Proposed_US_ACTA_multi-lateral_intellectual_property_trade_agreement_%282007%29&oldid=29522 Note that this was first proposed by the Japanese in Gleneagles back in 2005. This time the new laws are probably going to be rubber stamped. May we live in interesting times.
