The company has also demanded that the BPI acquire a court order
before it will release the identities of the people concerned.
Meanwhile the BPI is claiming that Tiscali has supported its
actions.
The BPI wrote to Tiscali and to Cable & Wireless demanding
that the internet access accounts of 59 people be withdrawn because
it said it had evidence that those people were making copyrighted
music available online.
While Cable & Wireless pledged to "take whatever steps are
necessary to put the matter right", Tiscali said that the BPI had
not provided "proper evidence" that offences had taken place.
Both ISPs said that their terms and conditions forbade using the
net connection to breach copyright and that the accounts of
customers proved to have been doing so would be suspended.
Tiscali's legal response to the request to suspend 17 accounts
said: "You state that the evidence is 'overwhelming'. However,
you have provided no actual evidence in respect of 16 of the
accounts. Further, you have provided no evidence of
downloading taking place nor have you provided evidence that the
shared drive was connected by the relevant IP address at the
relevant time."
It rejects not only the supposed evidence, but also the action
proposed by the BPI. It said that the body had demanded that
Tiscali identify and suspend the customers in question until both
the customers and Tiscali sign a legal agreement with the BPI.
"Tiscali does not intend to require its customers to enter into
the undertakings proposed by you and, in any event, our initial
view is that they are more restrictive than is reasonable or
necessary," said the letter. "It is not for Tiscali, as an ISP, nor
the BPI, as a trade association, to effectively act as a regulator
or law enforcement agency and deny individuals the right to defend
themselves against the allegations made against them."
More extensive evidence was provided in one of the 17 cases, and
Tiscali has given that person seven days in which to respond to the
allegations, it said.
The BPI released a statement claiming that both Tiscali and
C&W back the scheme and that "the BPI can provide full evidence
on all 16" alleged file-sharers. "If ISPs do face up to their
responsibilities on copyright infringement that has to be good news
not just for artists and record companies, but for all the
law-abiding music fans who do choose to pay their way," said BPI
chairman Peter Jamieson in the statement.
