THE British record industry has called on internet service providers to disconnect customers who share music files illegally, opening up a new front in the battle against piracy.

After targeting individual file-sharers, the music industry is now on a collision course with the internet giants, which it claims have turned a blind eye to illegal downloading.

Record companies want to see the personal accounts of known downloaders terminated. But the internet operators — which include AOL, Yahoo! and BT — say that it is impossible for them to act as the internet’s “policemen” and monitor millions of daily file exchanges.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) yesterday called on Tiscali and Cable & Wireless to pull the plug on 59 customer accounts, which it claims are being used for widespread illegal filesharing.

The industry has identified 17 Tiscali IP (computer) addresses and 42 Cable & Wireless IP addresses that have been used to upload significant quantities of music owned by British record companies.

Most file-sharers use false names, and only the operators have access to their real identities, home addresses and credit card details.

The BPI is now requesting that the operators suspend the accounts of the 59 individuals until they sign undertakings agreeing to stop unauthorised filesharing.

The BPI has already taken legal action against 139 individual British uploaders, who have paid out in settlements of up to £6,500. However, illegal music-swapping still cost the British record industry an estimated £650 million over the past two years.

Peter Jamieson, chairman of the BPI, said: “It is unacceptable for ISPs to turn a blind eye to industrial-scale copyright infringement. We are providing Tiscali and Cable & Wireless with unequivocal evidence of copyright infringement via their services. It is now up to them to put their house in order and pull the plug on these people.”

In a separate case, ten British operators, including BT, NTL, Tiscali and Telewest, have been ordered by the High Court to hand over details of 150 customers suspected of illegally sharing software.

The court order was secured by the Federation Against Software Theft after a 12-month investigation. The operators were told to hand over to the court full personal details of client names, addresses and dates of birth.

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