Articles for Category Tag - p2p

The European Commission (EC) has responded to BEREC’s final report into Net Neutrality (the principal of treating all internet traffic as equal), which criticised fixed line broadband ISPs and Mobile Broadband operators over a lack of transparency, by proposing to stiffen industry guidelines through “strong and targeted action” and deliver more “effective consumer choice“.

The High Court of Justice (London) has today ruled that UK ISPs Sky Broadband, Everything Everywhere (Orange UK and T-Mobile), TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media must all follow BT in blocking The Pirate Bay, one of the world’s largest BitTorrent (P2P / File Sharing) tracker websites, because it allows internet copyright infringement (piracy) to take place.

The UK governments Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has confirmed that its still highly controversial Digital Economy Act (DEA), which seeks to tackle “illegal” internet copyright infringement (piracy) by broadband ISP customers, won’t be implemented until 2014 (assuming it ever gets implemented).

One of the key people behind Golden Eye International, the firm that claims to hold numerous film copyrights and is linked with the UK’s Ben Dover porn brand, has confirmed that the reason they are pursuing O2’s broadband ISP customers, to settle “suspected” cases of “illegal” internet copyright infringement (piracy), is because it’s “the only way I can make money“.

The UK High Court (Court 6) in central London today ruled that Golden Eye International, a firm that claims to hold numerous film copyrights and is linked with the UK’s Ben Dover porn brand, can pursue O2’s (Telefonica) broadband ISP customers to settle “suspected” cases of “illegal” internet copyright infringement (piracy). But its victory, which has set a new precedent, came with several crucial strings attached.

The Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC), which is composed of the heads from 27 national regulators (e.g. Ofcom in the UK), has published its preliminary findings on internet Traffic Management practices by broadband ISPs and mobile operators in Europe. The practices were found to “vary widely” between countries and providers with some exceptions, the blocking of VoIP (e.g. Skype) and P2P (BitTorrent – File Sharing) traffic is common.