EU to watch Virgin Media ’spy on users’ trial
p2pnet view Freedom | P2P:- The European Commission says it’ll “closely monitor” Virgin Media’s plans to use a DPI application to secretly spy on almost half of its customers.
Virgin will be using CView, a Deep Packet Inspection systen, to monitor 40% of subscribers for file sharing activities.
This is “equivalent to 1.6 million accounts”, says paidContentUK.
Users won’t be told they’re accounts are being ‘monitored’ in this way.
“The Commission confirms its commitment to the protection of privacy and security of electronic communications as one of its priorities, and it keeps a close eye on the further development of technologies in favour of businesses and consumers, in order to ensure they are used in a way that complies with EU rules,” ISP Review has the EU stating.
“The Commission’s services will closely monitor this case.”
IT Pro quotes a Virgin Media spokesperson as saying it’s already in talks with the EC “to make sure everything was in line with laws. ‘We’ve engaged with all the relevant bodies, including Ofcom, the ICO and the EC, to ensure they have the information they need to make an informed judgement about our planned trial,’ they said in a statement.”
The EU isn’t alone in keeping a close eye on CView.
Phorm nemesis Alex Hanff believes Virgin’s protestations that it won’t use the Detica spyware to ID individual file-sharers are, at the least, questionable.
CView maker Detica in London, England, says although it’s “the first commercially available solution to provide a metric highlighting the volume and nature of Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing activity on an ISP network”, it doesn’t and can’t, “identify individual Internet users.
Rather, it’s the “only accurate way of providing a ‘digital piracy’ index to both ISPs and CPs is to measure the actual P2P activity taking place within an ISP network.”
But as p2pnet said recently, “Virgin’s decision comes in the midst of entertainment cartel plans to have the UK government officially deploy the ‘creative’ industry’s Three Strikes net censorship plan.
“The company already has an unfortunate record of caving in to record label demands.
“Last year it sent about 800 letters to customers as part of a campaign it was running with Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music’s BPI (British Phonographic Industry) to ‘educate’ users‘.”
The BPI told the BBC “thousands more letters” would be sent, and the BPI said it was a “stricter stance on illegal downloaders” which “might result in some ISPs being taken to court”.
Stay tuned.
..… and identi.ca
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
paidContentUK – VirginMedia, January 26, 2010
ISP Review – EC to Monitor DPI CView Trial on Virgin Media UK Broadband ISP Users, January 26, 2010
IT Pro – The EC is keeping an eye on Virgin Media’s piracy gauging system, January 26, 2010
Virgin’s protestations – Campaign protests Virgin Media spyware, December 3, 2009
net censorship plan – Hollywood touts ACTA, November 22, 2009
‘educate’ users – Virgin goes after UK P2P file sharers, July 3, 2009
BBC – Warning letters to ‘file-sharers’, July 3, 2008
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January 28th, 2010 at 2:22 am
“The European Commission says it’ll ‘closely monitor’”
That’s political speak for “they aren’t gonna do anything about it”.