The BPI have accused BT of not doing enough to prevent music piracy, after handing them 100,000 IP addresses of users allegedly caught sharing copyrighted files, according to an article by TorrentFreak posted yesterday.
BT said it could cost ISPs £365m a year to take action against piracy, although the chief executive of the BPI, Geoff Taylor, claims that BT"s figures are exaggerated. The BPI said it was "shameful" that BT had nothing about the 100,000 IP addresses it gave them, however chief of BT"s consumer division, John Petter, said that taking such action could cost £365m a year, a whole £165m more than what the BPI claims the music industry will lose this year, due to piracy.
However, just as BT labelled the BPI"s figures for losses as "melodramatic", the BPI has claimed that BT"s figures are also exaggerated, implying that it would not cost as much to take the suggested action from the BPI. According to TorrentFreak, Geoff Taylor said to The Mirror, "It"s shameful for a company like BT to know that a high percentage of the traffic it carries is illegal material but do nothing."
BT claim that the responsibility lies on the BPI, and that they should prosecute the alleged file-sharers. The BPI, however, state the opposite.
Although harvesting IP addresses is becoming a more common practise, until a decision is made on who holds the responsibility of prosecuting the pirates, not much progress can be made, in the UK, at least.