Virgin Media is to become the first UK residential broadband supplier to warn customers that illegally download music from the internet. The Sunday Telegraph reports the cablenet is to work with the music trade body BPI on a trial scheme that could ultimately see dozens of customers disconnected. The trial will also be open to film and TV producers.
Virgin, which already reduces the amount of bandwidth available to some users during peak times, favours a voluntary scheme with content providers. The music companies have been discussing such proposals for over two years, but have failed to reach an agreement.
The BPI’s technical team is able to trace illegal downloads to individual accounts, the details would be passed to Virgin, who would match them with names and addresses.
