EC involved in Virgin Media packet inspection controversy

[Internet News]

Virgin Media’s plans to use deep packet inspection (DPI) technology have come under fire from privacy advocates.Although the company hasn’t used DPI yet, it is planning trials of the tech, which can monitor what its customers are downloading, and sniff out how much illegal file-sharing is going on.Watchdog body Privacy International has contacted and enlisted [...]

More: EC involved in Virgin Media packet inspection controversy

[mitford]

Originally Posted by Internet News

Virgin Media’s plans to use deep packet inspection (DPI) technology have come under fire from privacy advocates.Although the company hasn’t used DPI yet, it is planning trials of the tech, which can monitor what its customers are downloading, and sniff out how much illegal file-sharing is going on.Watchdog body Privacy International has contacted and enlisted [...]

More: EC involved in Virgin Media packet inspection controversy

EU ask if software used to track illegal downloaders is illegal itself


EU ask if software used to track illegal downloaders is illegal itself | BitterWallet

[G77]

certainly controversial isnt it.

i think they'll change there mind on this one and soon advertise that they actually dont packet sniff to get people coming from isp's who do.

isp's dont really need any fancy software, they just need to install utorrent and search for a file on a torrent search engine, download the torrent and write down the ip's of the peers as it downloads

[TheCoder]

Originally Posted by G77

i think they'll change there mind on this one and soon advertise that they actually dont packet sniff to get people coming from isp's who do.

Fat chance !

The government is effectively forcing this issue on ISP's due to high pressure lobbying from a panicking music industry (ISP's really dont want to be bothered with this stuff) and will no doubt get their way using one method or another.

[bigc_imp]

Surely Virgin realise the only reason you'd want thier 50MB broadband is to download lots of movies

[TheCoder]

Originally Posted by bigc_imp

Surely Virgin realise the only reason you'd want thier 50MB broadband is to download lots of movies

Not everyone is interested in music & movies. I have much better uses for my internet than downoading that kind of tripe !

[PerryCox]

Originally Posted by TheCoder

Not everyone is interested in music & movies. I have much better uses for my internet than downoading that kind of tripe !

Too right, I'm struggling to work my way through Rocco's back catalogue, and I haven't even started on Ben Dover's early work!

(seriously though, music, movies, porn...what other uses does high speed internet have?)

[TheCoder]

Originally Posted by PerryCox

seriously though, music, movies, porn...what other uses does high speed internet have?

Would you believe communications - When you have multiple people in the household who like Video conferencing and such like then bandwidth soon gets eaten, especially the upload bandwidth which, even on 50Meg, is barely adequate.

Downloading multiple movies etc is just a waste of time though. Whats out their today is going to be out their tomorrow so whats the point of trying to collect it all and write it onto DVD. Why not just download what you want when you actually want to watch it instead of trying to get everything there is, archiving it and then never actually using it again !

[PerryCox]

Originally Posted by TheCoder

Would you believe communications - When you have multiple people in the household who like Video conferencing and such like then bandwidth soon gets eaten, especially the upload bandwidth which, even on 50Meg, is barely adequate.

Downloading multiple movies etc is just a waste of time though. Whats out their today is going to be out their tomorrow so whats the point of trying to collect it all and write it onto DVD. Why not just download what you want when you actually want to watch it instead of trying to get everything there is, archiving it and then never actually using it again !

Ahhh, I thought video conferencing was just one of those fads that people do a few times for the novelty, then don't bother with. Just me being narrow minded again, assuming every internet connection is going to a house with mum, dad and 2.4 kids

I agree with you re: downloading films though. I download as I want it, and never save it, bar occasionally to my 500Gb media drive, which has about 400Gb spare (and that's got my full CD collection on it).

With the advent of iPlayer, 4OD et al. though, I'm planning on doing away with all broadcast receiving equipment and legally watching all I want to via the net (and my high speed connection, subsidised by my licence fee monies), though I think 10Mb is adequate for my needs. I'm sure it wouldn't be sufficient if I wanted to watch HD though.

On topic, I agree that the majority of 50Mb connections are probably currently used for file sharing, but as content catches up with connection speeds, there'll be more demand for high speed internet. As for ISP's snooping, it's a certainty, and in less than 5 years, all ISP's will be giving away information to any Tom Dick and Harry with a slight claim against the users.

Let's face it, the government is at a stage where it can pretty much do what it wants regarding privacy. Anyone who objects is a terrorist!