Virgin Media sends letters to educate consumers about illegal file sharing

Virgin Media has renewed its calls for its subscribers to stop downloading music on file sharing sites. The media company has sent around 800 letters to customers warning them about using file-sharing sites.

It claims that the direct mail is part of a 10-week campaign that aims to “educate” consumers about illegal downloading. It is running the work in conjunction with the British Phonographic Industry, which represents the UK record industry. The BPI says that “thousands more letters” will be sent.

The BPI wants all UK ISPs to sign up to its three strikes policy – where users of file sharing networks get two warnings and, if they continue downloading, are thrown off the network.

It is the second burst of activity in this area for Virgin Media and it is the only media company to officially signed up with the BPI. It stresses it is an education-only campaign and that no one has been disconnected from its network.

Carphone Warehouse, the phone retailer and media company, has refused to participate in the BPI’s scheme and the music industry body has not ruled out the possibility of taking it to court if it refuses to join the scheme.