Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads

Virgin Media is trialling a scheme that will identify whether its broadband customers are illegally downloading.

The ISP is using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to identify the type of traffic (email, web surfing, gaming etc) a broadband connection is being used for.

Any file-sharing activity will be then be checked against a database of music and films. According to Detica, which is working with Virgin Media on the system, it can identify whether the download is simply family photos or a music album, and if so the artist and title.