James Delahunty
15 May 2007 18:27
Virgin Media has denies that it has begin blocking the controversial Russian MP3 site, AllofMP3.com. The site, which is second most popular paid download site in the United Kingdom behind iTunes, sells tracks for only a fraction of the price of other "authorized" stores. The website has been highly criticized by the record industry and and US trade officials but insists it complies fully with Russian IP laws.
Virgin subscribers noticed recently that there were problems accessing AllofMP3 and jumped to the conclusion that Virgin had blocked the site. However, the company denied such a policy change. "One of our networks team tested this out for me and indeed we do seem to have a problem here - but we don't block the site, this looks like a fault. The technical support team are raising this now," said Alex Brown, the firm's broadband product manager.
No other ISPs in the UK appear to have a problem with AllofMP3. Russian president Vladamir Putin promised action against AllofMP3 parent company, Mediaservices, but the site still remains available and working (and cheap) to this day. U.S. trade officials have said that AllofMP3 is acting as an obstruction to Russia joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Source:
The Register