The European Commission to look at the legality of
software being used to analyse file-sharing in the UK by Virgin Media.
CView will be used by ISP Virgin Media to identify legal
versus illegal traffic on its network, however Privacy International was
concerned that the software posed a risk to privacy. The software uses deep packet inspection, which means
that it can identify actual file-names, making it possible to accurately find
out what content is legal and what is not.
However to Alexander Hanff, head of ethical networks at
Privacy International said that the software was illegal under the Regulation
of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa). In UK law intercepting communications is a
criminal offence regardless of what you do with the data.
The EC has said it will monitor the use of the software
but Virgin Media countered that the software posed no risk to privacy.
Published in
News
EC to investigate Virgin's sniffer software
Human rights
group complains