Virgin Media has denied recent reports that it plans to disconnect ‘pirates’ from the Internet for unauthorized file sharing and instead is working a policy out with the music industry. There is “absolutely no possibility” that users will be disconnected or that private details will be handed over to the record industry, added the company.
The BPI, the British equivalent of the RIAA, has been pushing UK ISP’s to be more responsible with the actions of an estimated 6 million citizens who allegedly share files. On one end, there is Virgin Media who says it is working with the music industry, while on the other end there is Carphone Warehouse who has refused to comply with the demands.
Virgin has been hit with a publicity blitz as of late after it was revealed that Virgin users were receiving ‘educational warnings‘ at the behest of the BPI. The letters began with “Important: If you don’t read this, your broadband could be disconnected” so many were led to believe that their Internet would indeed be shut off by the ISP. Virgin has changed its tune however and is now saying that header was a “mistake” and that it should be ignored.
Asam Ahmad, rep for Virgin, added that the ISP cannot be completely sure if the alleged offenses were even committed by the person who received the letter. “It is important to let our customers know that their accounts have been used in a certain way but we are happy to accept it may not be the account holder that’s involved. It could be someone else in the family or someone living in a shared house. It could even be someone stealing wi-fi. We are not making any form of accusation.”
Result for: flv
After receiving tons of complaints, Telia Sonera has changed its tune and will offer upcoming Apple iPhone 3G owners the option for an unlimited data plan. Users will also be able to choose between its existing voice plans.
Last week Telia released details on the upcoming iPhone 3G launch saying users would only be allowed to purchase data plans offering 100, 250, or 1000 minutes, SMS, and data on plans that cost as much as 859 SEK per month. Telia was “flooded” with complaints and has now decided to offer an unlimited plan. There was no word on the price however.
In Canada, a similar situation has been brewing, where Rogers has hit users with very expensive data plans that offer little SMS and daytime minutes. This is also on top of a mandatory 3-year contract. According to Ruinediphone.com, there is a petition going around to stop Rogers’ exploitive data rates and has already reached 31,000 signatures.
Result for: flv
Roku has announced that it will be bringing more streaming content providers to its new set-top box soon, allowing users to have more content than just movies and TV from Netflix.
The Roku box has been very popular since its release, even though only 10 percent of Netflix’s content is available for streaming and the quality is just under DVD. When the support for other content providers hits, Roku will have the first box to offer content from more than one source. Currently AppleTV and Vudu still offer content from a single source.
Netflix continues to add content daily to its streaming service and over time hopes to have most of its catalog available. If Roku owners can be patient, then the cheap feature heavy set-top box can be a very useful piece of technology in the future.
