Virgin Media is set to become the first internet service provider to take a more proactive role in policing illegal file sharing on the net. The cable company is reportedly working with record label trade body the BPI to set up a 'warning letter' system through which Virgin customers who use their internet connections to illegally access or share unlicensed content would receive letters telling them that they are infringing copyrights and making them aware of the legal implications of doing so.
The arrangement does not go as far as some of the net policing schemes discussed in the media recently. Firstly, Virgin itself will not monitor file sharing committed on its own servers, rather the record industry will employ agencies to do the monitoring (as they already do) and will pass the IP addresses of those who they suspect of accessing or providing the unlicensed content back to Virgin, and they will then send the warning letters out. In many ways this is similar to the role taken on by many US colleges, who are alerted to students who are file sharing via university internet connections by the Recording Industry Association Of America, and who then issue warning letters to those students.
Secondly, it's not known what will happen if Virgin customers do not heed the warnings - ie whether the ISP will go as far as some have proposed and cut off customers who persistently fileshare.
All that said, the announcement from Virgin Media is still an important sign that a major player in UK internet provision is genuinely committed to finding a voluntary system that placates the content owners and, presumably, the government ministers who have threatened to force ISPs to take on a policing role if they cannot agree a voluntary scheme with the record companies.
Confirming that they are currently working with the BPI in a bid to set up such a voluntary scheme, a spokesman for Virgin Media told reporters: "We have been in discussions with rights holders organisations about how a voluntary scheme could work. We are taking this problem seriously and would favour a sensible voluntary solution".
As previously reported, the internet service providers have been generally wary of taking on any policing role regarding copyright infringement committed by their customers. Although they have revealed the identities of customers accused of file sharing when told to do so by the courts, they have generally resisted taking on a day-to-day role, and have in the main been critical of the record company's suggestions that they should monitor content distribution on their networks and that they should issue warnings to and ultimately cut off persistent file sharers.