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ISPs concerned at game developer’s “strong arm” approach
21 Aug 2008 | 20.46 Europe/London
The gaming industry is coming after illegal downloaders and the bad news for ISPs is it appears the sector is not trying the educational route taken by the music industry.
Lawyers working for American developer, Topware Interactive, creators of Dream Pinball, have not only successfully prosecuted a UK woman for £16,000 worth of damages for illegal downloads but have managed to get a high court order for ISPs to reveal the identities of another “several thousand” people it believes have downloaded its games without authorisation.
The move has shocked UK ISPs which have just started, in the music field, to follow Virgin Media’s lead of issuing ‘educational’ letters designed to let the bill payer know that the record labels’ group, the BPI, has noticed some suspicious activity on their account and so they should seek to tighten their wireless security as well as ensure everyone who uses the connection only downloads material from legitimate sources
Certainly a spokesperson for BT has confirmed that, as one would imagine, some of the people Davenport Lyons (Topware’s UK lawyers) want to write to are on its service and hence it has received a high court order to pass over the names and addresses that correspond to the IP addresses believed to have been involved in unauthorised downloading. BT has also confirmed it sees this as a departure from the recently widely adopted policy of warning and educating customers which it believes will still continue to be customary for music industry.
“I can confirm that we are among the ISPs that have been approached by Davenport Lyons requesting details of customers who are alleged to have illegally downloaded games. I can't say whether this has happened yet,” a spokesperson told SamKnows.
“It does seem a much more strong arm approach compared to the music industry. However, it is only one company pursuing a limited number of miscreants at the moment. I doubt the music industry will follow suit as the potential numbers are too great, but who knows.”
Virgin Media has revealed it is similarly surprised by the move. A spokesperson for the company told SamKnows that whilst it could not confirm if it was one of the ISPs approached, it was a reasonable assumption that as a cable company popular with gamers, that it was involved in the debacle.
“We always take our customers’ privacy very seriously and wouldn’t disclose any information but, of course, with a high court order there is no choice, an ISP has to pass over the information as ordered,” the spokesperson confirmed to SamKnows.
“We certainly prefer the education route we pioneered with the BPI because you can’t assume people are guilty of anything, so we don’t, we let them know of what might have happened and give information on how to ensure they enjoy legal downloads. “This would definitely seem to be a very different approach from a different industry.”
Whilst the ISPs consider their next move, it is likely that all will have to pass on information because it is being ordered by a judge, rather than requested by a company or an industry body. The BPI has certainly made no secret of the fact it wants tougher action taken against illegal music downloaders and so it will undoubtedly be keeping a close eye on the progress of Topware’s far more aggressive approach to the issue of unauthorised downloads.
A legal spokesperson for Topware revealed it is taking legal action because games companies are spending millions of pounds on developing and launching new games and can no longer allow illegal copying and downloading to carry on unchecked.
Lawyers working for American developer, Topware Interactive, creators of Dream Pinball, have not only successfully prosecuted a UK woman for £16,000 worth of damages for illegal downloads but have managed to get a high court order for ISPs to reveal the identities of another “several thousand” people it believes have downloaded its games without authorisation.
The move has shocked UK ISPs which have just started, in the music field, to follow Virgin Media’s lead of issuing ‘educational’ letters designed to let the bill payer know that the record labels’ group, the BPI, has noticed some suspicious activity on their account and so they should seek to tighten their wireless security as well as ensure everyone who uses the connection only downloads material from legitimate sources
Certainly a spokesperson for BT has confirmed that, as one would imagine, some of the people Davenport Lyons (Topware’s UK lawyers) want to write to are on its service and hence it has received a high court order to pass over the names and addresses that correspond to the IP addresses believed to have been involved in unauthorised downloading. BT has also confirmed it sees this as a departure from the recently widely adopted policy of warning and educating customers which it believes will still continue to be customary for music industry.
“I can confirm that we are among the ISPs that have been approached by Davenport Lyons requesting details of customers who are alleged to have illegally downloaded games. I can't say whether this has happened yet,” a spokesperson told SamKnows.
“It does seem a much more strong arm approach compared to the music industry. However, it is only one company pursuing a limited number of miscreants at the moment. I doubt the music industry will follow suit as the potential numbers are too great, but who knows.”
Virgin Media has revealed it is similarly surprised by the move. A spokesperson for the company told SamKnows that whilst it could not confirm if it was one of the ISPs approached, it was a reasonable assumption that as a cable company popular with gamers, that it was involved in the debacle.
“We always take our customers’ privacy very seriously and wouldn’t disclose any information but, of course, with a high court order there is no choice, an ISP has to pass over the information as ordered,” the spokesperson confirmed to SamKnows.
“We certainly prefer the education route we pioneered with the BPI because you can’t assume people are guilty of anything, so we don’t, we let them know of what might have happened and give information on how to ensure they enjoy legal downloads. “This would definitely seem to be a very different approach from a different industry.”
Whilst the ISPs consider their next move, it is likely that all will have to pass on information because it is being ordered by a judge, rather than requested by a company or an industry body. The BPI has certainly made no secret of the fact it wants tougher action taken against illegal music downloaders and so it will undoubtedly be keeping a close eye on the progress of Topware’s far more aggressive approach to the issue of unauthorised downloads.
A legal spokesperson for Topware revealed it is taking legal action because games companies are spending millions of pounds on developing and launching new games and can no longer allow illegal copying and downloading to carry on unchecked.