BPI gives BT 100,000 IP address of music pirates

Are you a music pirate? If so, the BPI is upset that BT isn't hounding you right now!
Are you a music pirate? If so, the BPI is upset that BT isn't hounding you right now!

The chief exec of the BPI – the trade group for the British Recorded Music Industry – has hit out at BT's inaction on music piracy, after giving the broadband provider the IP addresses of 100,000 music pirates.

The BPI has obtained the IP addresses of 100,000 BT Broadband customers since February of this year.

However, BT has chosen to take no action, deciding to not use the IP addresses to send warnings to its customers over internet piracy or take any further action.

Anti-piracy costs outweigh benefits?

The boss of BT Broadband's consumer division boss John Petter said recently that the anti-piracy process could cost ISPs £365 million a year, which Torrentfreak notes is "£165 million a year more than the £200m the BPI says the industry will lose to online music piracy in 2009."

The BPI has branded BT's effective refusal to take action on the matter as "shameful". In turn, BT's John Petter has said that the organisation's response was "melodramatic".

"If you operate a commercial service and know it is being used to break the law, taking steps to ensure it is used legally is a cost of doing business," Taylor told the Daily Mirror.

Via Torrentfreak.com

Adam Hartley