Virgin media possibly getting serious on dodgy boxes?

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by beeman

funny you say that....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8548190.stm

(old story i know but i thought it was intreasting concidering your comment)

Virginmedia is a private company and they would use your credit history to stop you or other means to blacklist you.

Plus access can be via a cyber cafe so no real issue.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by Masque

Virginmedia is a private company and they would use your credit history to stop you or other means to blacklist you.

Plus access can be via a cyber cafe so no real issue.

How exactly are VM (or any other ISP) going to blacklist anyone for having a conviction for fraudulent reception of broadcasts?
Last time I signed up with VM they didn't do a CRB check.

There is no blacklist, and never will be a blacklist, so don't make out like there is. It's frankly ridiculous. Even if you have convictions under the computer misuse act and are banned from going near a pc or connecting to the internet there is still NOTHING to stop you signing up with an ISP. Sure you'd be breaching the terms of your sentence, but there are no actual preventative measures in place and enforcement is down to probation workers carrying out checks.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by TheDon

How exactly are VM (or any other ISP) going to blacklist anyone for having a conviction for fraudulent reception of broadcasts?
Last time I signed up with VM they didn't do a CRB check.

There is no blacklist, and never will be a blacklist, so don't make out like there is. It's frankly ridiculous. Even if you have convictions under the computer misuse act and are banned from going near a pc or connecting to the internet there is still NOTHING to stop you signing up with an ISP. Sure you'd be breaching the terms of your sentence, but there are no actual preventative measures in place and enforcement is down to probation workers carrying out checks.

You did read the credit part of my post, they can have you blacklisted for credit alone and f you fail the credit check.................

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

It's not over until the fat lady sings:

Indeed, Looks like some one might have to sell his granny after the judge has finished with him. .

So the starview servers are down and out , Lets hope the Kryptview server is blocked next

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Masque

You did read the credit part of my post, they can have you blacklisted for credit alone and f you fail the credit check.................

Given that virtually no ISP does a credit check as nearly all of them take payments in advance it's a non-issue.

Virgin can't 'blacklist' the credit of people who don't have credit agreements with them, even if people do so long as they are paying their subscription on time it's a non-issue.

Virgin would be sued senseless if they started messing with people's credit records for any reason other than failing to pay them subscriptions due in a timely fashion.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by Masque

You did read the credit part of my post, they can have you blacklisted for credit alone and f you fail the credit check.................

Yes. I also read this post of yours:

You would just be blacklisted from getting services from any ISP.

Which was in direct response to someone about people not being charged for the use of chipped boxes.

Where is the reference to credit in there? And what does a credit check have to do with this thread anyway. It's entirely irrelevant and off topic.

Whoopee people get denied services for failing credit checks, go post about it in a billing thread rather than posting rubbish about blacklists in this one implying there's some global "no internet for you" blacklist that all ISPs sign up for (and why an ISP would care about you stealing TV, I don't know).

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

Given that virtually no ISP does a credit check as nearly all of them take payments in advance it's a non-issue.

For some reason Virgin do do a credit search on all applicants, however unless you actually owe them (or one of the previous incarnations) money, they'll generally just put a Credit Limit on or ask for a deposit

[pabloo]

Originally Posted by Sirius

Indeed, Looks like some one might have to sell his granny after the judge has finished with him. .

So the starview servers are down and out , Lets hope the Kryptview server is blocked next

yes also lets hope the method of cardsharing through cable isnt leaked by the starview and kv guys or anyone else,thats all vm needs joe blogs setting up private cardshares up and down the country all over the place

[BenMcr]

And then you will start to see 'Joe Bloggs' taken to court. Also I doubt many would have a clue how to set one up.

[jem]

Originally Posted by pabloo

...snip joe blogs setting up private cardshares up and down the country all over the place

Personally I'd be astonished if there already aren't a handful of private cardshare rings already about. The principals, methods and requirements involved are not exactly state secrets.

In reality though the overwhelming majority of people would either find it too much trouble to learn or lack the technical skill to either setup a server or configure a client. You only have to browse certain 'other forums' to see that the majority simply need a plug and play solution.

When the N3-as it's generally known by-encryption method was rolled out from late 2009, I'd be interested to know what percentage of people using a pirate box then, (and lets face it, they were virtually just plug it into the cable and away you go) moved over to a card-sharing solution? 'What-I have to connect it to a router? 'I have to flash new firmware', What's a null-modem cable?'

I'm going to bet quite a small proportion.

The weak-point of cable card-sharing is that unlike satellite, you need to have something physically attached to the VM cable network, which potentialy makes it vulnerable to detection. Find it and remove it and the whole lot comes crashing down, as a number of Starview owners have recently discovered. Admittedly being detected is unlikely but is it really worth the risk, just to share with a couple of mates?

It may only be a short-term thing anyway, switched digital video (whenever VM start to roll it out) would probably render all of these card-sharing schemes useless or at least very hit-and-miss.

[pauldavies83]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

For some reason Virgin do do a credit search on all applicants, however unless you actually owe them (or one of the previous incarnations) money, they'll generally just put a Credit Limit on or ask for a deposit

Probably because as a double/triple-play you have the ability to run up a negative balance with them (on phone calls, pay per view etc). And even if you take BB only, I'd suspect it's a limitation of the billing system used that a check is required (in case you move to double/triple further down the line)

If you went to a pure ISP only such as BE and paid in advance, you wouldn't have this ability and therefore wouldn't need to be credit checked.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by pauldavies83

Probably because as a double/triple-play you have the ability to run up a negative balance with them (on phone calls, pay per view etc). And even if you take BB only, I'd suspect it's a limitation of the billing system used that a check is required (in case you move to double/triple further down the line)

If you went to a pure ISP only such as BE and paid in advance, you wouldn't have this ability and therefore wouldn't need to be credit checked.

What you say makes perfect sense, there is an element of credit offered other than with broadband.

But If they didn't do some sort of a credit check how on earth would they know it wasn't a kid ordering it?

In fact it could be a completely bogus person intent on committing fraud, literally Joe Bloggs!

Surely there is some legal requirement by ISP's to verify identity? I would like to think so.

[pauldavies83]

Originally Posted by mersey70

What you say makes perfect sense.

But If they didn't do some sort of a credit check how on earth would they know it wasn't a kid ordering it?

In fact it could be a completely bogus person intent on committing fraud, literally Joe Bloggs!

Plenty of other ways to find out who someone is without resorting to looking at credit history.

2 forms ID / proof of address being one. That's good enough to get you a bank account with credit facilities in the first place.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by pauldavies83

Plenty of other ways to find out who someone is without resorting to looking at credit history.

2 forms ID / proof of address being one. That's good enough to get you a bank account with credit facilities in the first place.

Do VM do that though, it's all done online or over the phone isn't it?

Gladly I never provided anything like that, I wouldn't have either.

In fact I haven't provided paper ID for credit for years.

[pauldavies83]

Originally Posted by mersey70

Do VM do that though, it's all done online or over the phone isn't it?

I never provided anything like that.

I believe they don't, but its all hypothetical, not really stemmed from the original discussion.