UK ISPs demanded to pull plug on file sharers

The British music lobby has adopted a controversial new approach in its online anti-piracy campaign: shaming the internet service providers into closing the accounts of customers who trade copyrighted music files. On Monday, the British Phonographic Industry announced the new strategy, saying thatthe ISPs have a duty "to pull the plug on music cheats" before the courts get involved and force them to.

In the first roundup, the BPI has identified 59 Tiscali and Bulldog customers whom it accuses of swapping copyrighted songs. The BPI is demanding that the ISPs kick the offending parties off the service. The approach is not without controversy. Until now, the music industry would first go to the courts to obtain subpeonas that could then be served on the ISPs, who would then inform the individuals accused of file-sharing. Under this approach, the suspected guilty party would earn some time and the two sides could work out an agreement before their net service was shut down and they were required to pay a fine, or fight the matter in court.

In going straight to the ISPs, the BPI is bypassing the courts, demanding instead that the ISPs be good corporate citizens and terminate the contracts of the alleged offenders. The same approach was tried in the United States in 2004, but failed in the courts. Still, the BPI is undaunted. Peter Jamieson, the organisation's chairman, said: "We have demonstrated in the courts that unauthorised filesharing is against the law. We have said for months that it is unacceptable for ISPs to turn a blind eye to industrial-scale copyright infringement. We are providing Tiscali and Cable & Wireless with unequivocal evidence of copyright infringement via their services. It is now up to them to put their house in order and pull the plug on these people."

The BPI said it had obtained the IP addresses of the 59 offenders through its own probe of file-sharing networks. Only the ISPs know the identies. "Both Tiscali and Cable & Wireless [the company that provides Bulldog broadband] state in their terms of use for subscribers that internet accounts should not be used for copyright infringement. We now invite them to enforce their own terms of use," said Roz Groome, a BPI lawyer. If successful, the BPI could use this approach to cut off the net connection of many more suspected copyright infringers than before because it would appeal directly to the ISP, leaving the courts out of the matter entirely.