BPI, Virgin launch anti-piracy drive

Education at center of campaign

By GORDON MASSON

LONDON — Record industry trade body the BPI has agreed a pact with leading U.K. Internet service provider Virgin Media to launch a public education campaign on downloading music.

Virgin Media is one of the first broadband providers to work in tandem alongside the music industry in an effort to help its customers safely download music from the Internet and avoid the risk of legal action.

As part of the program, Virgin customers whose Internet accounts appear to have been used to illegally distribute music files will be sent informative letters from both Virgin and the BPI warning them that they are breaking the law.

Those individuals will be identified by the BPI, who will supply the data to Virgin Media. Significantly, both letters will be distributed by Virgin Media without the need to disclose customer names and addresses to the BPI.

According to the BPI, more than 6.5 million consumer broadband accounts in the U.K. are used to access music without permission using peer-to-peer services. That astonishing number suggests that more than 10% of the entire U.K. population has broken copyright law.

However, BPI and Virgin believe that, in many cases, customers may not be aware that their account is being used in this way. Consequently the new campaign will provide practical advice on how to prevent account misuse, links to legitimate online music services and information about the potential dangers of downloading files from unauthorized sources.

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said: “Education is absolutely key to reducing the extent of illegal downloading and we are pleased to be working with Virgin Media on this campaign. We believe that new partnerships with ISPs can help build an Internet in which music is properly valued. That will benefit not just musicians, songwriters and labels, but all Internet users who love music. This joint campaign with Virgin Media is the first step toward achieving that goal.”