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Internet service provider BT has been whip-lashed by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for failing to take steps against online piracy. The BPI has highlighted the fact that BT’s negligence was encouraging illegal downloads by thousands of customers who managed to go scot-free.

The BPI managed to extract details of addresses of those customers who are suspected to be involved in illegal downloading and file sharing. Though the source of such information was not let out, the BPI has made accusations against BT for being negligent in taking action against the wrong doers.

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of BPI, expressed his opinions on the matter and said that a company like BT is under higher obligation to make sure that illegal traffic through its network is checked. However, the company has not been doing anything about the wrong use of its network, complained Taylor. He also added that such a lax approach on part of a commercial service like BT was unacceptable.

However, in response to these charges, a BT spokesperson said that peer-to-peer applications generally used for file sharing are also used for a number of other applications, like playing games and doing other activities that are perfectly legitimate. He added that any kind of detailed investigation would be tantamount to infringement of privacy, and the customers might complain of the same.

BT has already given its explanation that if web piracy is to be tackled in a better manner, its subscribers will have to pay around an additional of £24 a year.

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