Just a few days ago, there was news reported about the British Phonographic Industry demanding Tiscali and Cable & Wireless to suspend 59 customer accounts which they found to be sharing copyrighted music. Tiscali has now responded denying the BPI's claims that it is ignoring piracy and also for claiming that 17 Tiscali customers have been illegally downloading music, since Tiscali have only received evidence about one of its customers using Kazaa. They have yet to receive anything about the other 16 customers being accused.
The BPI have also tried getting Tiscali to reveal personal details for this suspect user, but while Tiscali is suspending the user's account, so far Tiscali has refused to provide any information on its customers as no court order has been pursed.
Just a month ago, Tiscali has been forced to close its online interactive Juke Box service as the European music industry complained that their service was "too interactive". This service allowed consumers to legally stream and share music, but what the music industry did not like is the service's search feature and want this feature removed before the service can go online again.
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However, Neal McCleave, the managing director of media and customer operations at Tiscali, said he was "disturbed by the BPI's tactics in immediately going to the press". "Of the 17 users they [the BPI] allege illegally downloaded music, they have only provided evidence about one customer," he said. The full article can be read on the Guardian. |
With Tiscali reporting that they have only received evidence about one suspect account, it makes me wonder about the accuracy of the statistics and information the BPI and potentially other music industry bodies provide. For example, if a portion of the remaining 16 IP addresses turn out to be owned by another ISP, then the information would in-turn would be way off.
Source: Guardian Unlimited Technology
