Interesting news from Great Britain this week. To our knowledge, this is the first initiative of its kind. Filesharing is a common way of getting free music downloads in Great Britain, but this new plan may deter a few people. Although legal action won’t be taken in this particular case, subscribers to Virgin Media’s broadband service might soon have a letter turn up in their mailbox warning them of the dangers of filesharing and illegal music downloads.

The move comes after Virgin Media joins forces with the British Phonographic Institute (BPI). Although personal information will not be shared, the BPI and Virgin Media will send letters to the addresses of people who have been using filesharing websites to download copyrighted material.

No further action will be taken because the BPI thinks that a lot of the people may have had their accounts used for filesharing without their knowledge. We’re dubious about this line of thought, but it is interesting to see an ISP taking action in this way.

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