AfterDawn: News

Virgin to trial P2P packet sniffing

Virgin is planning to use packet sniffing software in order to measure the amount of illegal file sharing on its network. The software is called "CView", and it will be used to monitor traffic from about 40 percent of Virgin customers in the UK, none of whom will be notified prior to the test. However, the ISP stresses it is only measuring the amount of illegal sharing on the network, and it will not be collecting data that could identify an individual user.

The system uses Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to sniff files being shared through P2P networks, which can then be matched against a third-party database of music tracks to flag copyright violations. Customer's IP addresses will automatically be stripped from each packet of data and replaced with a randomly generated identifier instead. Virgin claims that the system will keep individual file sharers completely anonymous.



CView, the ISP claims, is being used simply to provide a statistical view of digital piracy on the network as opposed to becoming an anti-piracy tool aimed at identifying individual sharers for litigation. As for the law, Virgin Media does not consider the system to be in violation of UK or European legislation that protects Internet users' personal information because the system keeps each user anonymous.

While the system might not be used to identify individual sharers for legal purposes, it could be possible that the recording industry could cite the statistics that result in anti-piracy cases when determining damages.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 21 Jan 2010 5:50

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• 16 comments

• Amak

  Bull, prepare to have a letter sent to you soon...

  21.1.2010 05:59 #1

• Mik3h

  I'm with virgin, and I'll be sure to stick to using SSL newsgroups with my VPN.

  21.1.2010 06:18 #2

• scum101

  Illegal wiretapping.. where is their warrant?
  
  They already do a total 404 dns fail intercept to one of their error pages even though I use my OWN dns servers.
  
  These people have been doing this for quite a while now.. because they know in some places they have a total monopoly.
  
  They won't be laughing when all their customers vanish overnight.

  21.1.2010 07:30 #3

• manrod

  Originally posted by scum101: Illegal wiretapping.. where is their warrant?
  
  They already do a total 404 dns fail intercept to one of their error pages even though I use my OWN dns servers.
  
  These people have been doing this for quite a while now.. because they know in some places they have a total monopoly.
  
  They won't be laughing when all their customers vanish overnight.Unfortunately people in the U.K either don't care or don't know about ow Virgin works. As long as they can access Fecesbook and do a bit of gaming then everything is hunky-dory.

  21.1.2010 08:12 #4

• av_verbal

  so they are going to monitor every byte sent, this is just what our police state government wants.
  
  i'm sure that people here in the uk are unaware of the implications of DPI and that everything that is unencrypted will be able to be viewed, including all usernames, passwords, voip conversations, emails, etc.
  
  i'm sure virgin would protect their customers details, but even the government cant keep our private info safe, so whats the chance of virgin employees selling our details or harvesting them to commit fraud themselves?
  
  BTW files inside a passworded RAR or ZIP file cannot be read so it kind of makes this a pointless effort at the grave risk to peoples privacy?
  
  will spotify traffic also be deemed illegal as they are a p2p application?
  
  edit: pirates are one step ahead and the only people that suffer are legitimate customers.
  
  http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/20/pirate-bays-vpn-goes.html
  
  Quote:Pirate Bay's VPN goes public: Ipredator
  
  As governments around the world consider proposals to hand surveillance powers to the entertainment industry and twitchy cops, the Pirate Bay is striking back. Its new €5/month IPRedator service is an encrypted VPN that you can use to hide your traffic (whatever it may contain) from prying eyes. The name comes from Sweden's adoption of IPRED (the "IP Rights Enforcement Directive," a punishing piece of anti-Internet legislation). I've been looking for a reliable VPN to use on public hotspots -- this might just be it. is it about piracy or snooping, as the pirates are one step ahead as per usual?

  21.1.2010 09:01 #5

• beanos66

  Originally posted by scum101: Illegal wiretapping.. where is their warrant?well when "Our" government strips away all our rights it isn't unexpected for private organisations to think they can get away with it as well

  21.1.2010 11:12 #6

• scum101

  theres an election coming.. I wrote 640 letters last year over the 3 strikes nonsense.. as did a few thousand others... now it's time for the claws to come out..
  
  has anybody been taking notice of the parliament channel recently? .. seen that the "unelected ministers committee" has been sitting? ..
  
  http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_c...asc0809pn41.cfm
  
  I'm a political animal.. It's time this mob of sleazesters were held to account by the public. Too much unelected and undemocratic shenannagins has been going on over the last few years. Nothing less than full electoral reform and accountability will satisfy a lot of people who are going to vote nazi at the next election. (not me.. I'm a libertarian.. but many I know will vote for Griffins brownshirts)
  
  I'm just going to use my neighbours bt ho-hub for all my p2p stuff from now.. ahhh.. the bt ho-hub.. pimping your bandwidth to the hood XD
  

  Yes, we give you 100% free, no strings attached email! Just send us your address and we will send you as much free email as you could ever wish for

  21.1.2010 11:23 #7

• Mrguss

  Originally posted by scum101: Illegal wiretapping.. where is their warrant?
  
  They already do a total 404 dns fail intercept to one of their error pages even though I use my OWN dns servers.
  
  These people have been doing this for quite a while now.. because they know in some places they have a total monopoly.
  
  They won't be laughing when all their customers vanish overnight.Virgin is just another like many Nazi Company like Verizon....hope they chook soon on them own agenda.
  At the end of the day they will find out that they can't control shit !

  21.1.2010 15:50 #8

• fgamer

  Hmm seems a little suspect to me. Aw well, I don't have Virgin so I don't care.

  21.1.2010 15:55 #9

• akira247

  they must be using it already...if i start any torrent client,my internet nearly stalls for web pages on all pc in the house..it only started December..turn off torrent client everything runs ok..
  
  speedtest while running torrent client is very high..no problem with bottleneck ..nothing to do with upload bandwith i restrict it to half upload..never ever had problems for 4 years.....and is still doing it now..nothing has changed on my setup for years...
  it was that bad i thought my router had packed in..
  so there fu***ng around with summat already..
  
  twats..thought branson wouldn't snub the sharers...
  or is it mandelson on the thumb screws today....

  21.1.2010 17:11 #10

• MrZoolook

  Quote:i'm sure virgin would protect their customers details, but even the government cant keep our private info safe, so whats the chance of virgin employees selling our details or harvesting them to commit fraud themselves?Frankly, the vetting procedure for private firms is stricter then that used by the government...

  21.1.2010 21:14 #11

• MrZoolook

  Quote:Originally posted by scum101: Unfortunately people in the U.K either don't care or don't know about ow Virgin works. As long as they can access Fecesbook and do a bit of gaming then everything is hunky-dory.Not all of us are that pathetic... some (and I include myself in this) think that Facebook is more damaging then ANY amount of digital piracy. At least pirates have a focus in life (delivery of a service) whereas your average facebook/twitter/fucking-idiot-space user seems to think the internet revolves around their use of the toilet and an investigation into their piles...
  
  I mean, seriously... twitter the *bleep* off the net and stop hogging bandwidth!
  
  /unrant

  21.1.2010 21:22 #12

• juventini

  That sucks

  21.1.2010 21:55 #13

• borhan9

  What a load of nonsense this is a cover up of course they are going to sue the info against u. The only thing Virgin has done by doing this is loosing customers current and future. It will become one of the ISP's to stay away from.

  22.1.2010 04:14 #14

• av_verbal

  Originally posted by borhan9: What a load of nonsense this is a cover up of course they are going to sue the info against u. The only thing Virgin has done by doing this is loosing customers current and future. It will become one of the ISP's to stay away from.unfortunately as said earlier in this post people in the UK do not understand the implications & don't care, if the media reported the truth it would be a different story but.....

  22.1.2010 05:00 #15

• Mez

  They are not going to sew anyone they are not that stupid. You can't use evidence gotten illegally in court. They are using slower, cheaper methods of getting what they want. This is a pressure tactic. It will also provide fuel to the fire. They have probably already run their tests. The announcement is just for cover.
  
  Scum you do put you money where your mouth is. I write letters too. That has worked in the past. We are up against big money though. 2 yrs ago the anti piracy league was only second to the banks in the US election contributions. The banks got trillions of dollars for their money.

  22.1.2010 10:08 #16