Copyright warning letters about your broadband

Each sender has different powers. An ISP (internet service provider) is simply your broadband provider. A rights holder is whoever owns the copyright in the film, song, game or programme.

Every provider has an acceptable use policy (AUP): the part of your contract that sets out what you mustn't do with the connection. Infringing copyright is on the banned list in the two big-provider policies we checked in October 2026.

• Virgin Media bans storing, distributing or transmitting material that infringes someone else's intellectual property rights, including copyright. It says the account holder is responsible for use of accounts in their name, even use they didn't know about.
• BT lists infringing copyright or other intellectual property rights as an illegal use you mustn't make of its services. It makes the account holder responsible for use by anyone at the home or anyone they're responsible for, naming family, friends, tenants and visitors, and for any other devices connected to the network.

Both set out a ladder of responses. Virgin Media may investigate, give an informal request or formal warning, suspend or restrict the service until it's satisfied the conduct has stopped (it may, at its discretion, lift a suspension once you give a formal written undertaking) or terminate, though it says it generally tries to work with users first. BT can investigate, issue a formal warning, block, limit or suspend access, or end the agreement with or without notice, and in serious cases report you to the police.

Gigaclear's residential terms (February 2026) say you're responsible for all use of the service whether or not you gave permission, and that you could be liable for unlawful use such as illegally downloading copyright material. Wording differs, so read your own provider's AUP rather than assuming any of this applies word for word. Switching won't change much, since every provider we checked makes the account holder responsible, but read the AUP alongside the contract summary before you sign. Our guide to UK broadband providers links to each provider's page, including Virgin Media broadband deals and BT broadband deals.

A rights holder watching file-sharing usually sees only an IP address: the number that identifies an internet connection at a given moment. To turn that into a name and postal address, it has to go to the High Court and ask for a Norwich Pharmacal order, a court order that makes a third party (here, your provider) disclose information about people who may have wronged the applicant.

In the leading case, Golden Eye v Telefonica, decided in March 2012, rights holders asked for the details of up to 9,124 O2 customers. It was undisputed there that providers served with the relevant notice had since 2009 had to keep a year's records of which customer used which IP address.

The Intellectual Property Office's guidance on letters alleging online copyright infringement explains why file-sharing is usually the trigger: peer-to-peer software normally uploads pieces of a file to other people while it downloads, and the IP addresses of everyone sharing that file are visible to the copyright owner's monitoring systems.

If your provider handed over your details, a court made it. In a 2019 Virgin Media case the judge noted customers might blame Virgin for the demands, though it acted under compulsion of a court order. Our guide to what your broadband provider can see explains more about the records providers hold.

Golden Eye accepted that the downloader may not be the account holder, giving these examples:

• someone else in the household, whether they live there or are visiting;
• someone outside the home using an insecure Wi-Fi router;
• a computer infected with a trojan (malware that lets someone else control it);
• a public computer.

Records can also be wrong: the same judgment notes providers sometimes identify the wrong customer, for example through time-zone mistakes. The 2019 Mircom judgment noted that the applicants themselves accepted some account holders identified this way may not be the actual infringers. The Intellectual Property Office's guidance makes the same point plainly: a provider can only give out the account holder's details, that may not be enough to hold you responsible, and it is for the copyright owner to prove who committed the infringement.

If you think a neighbour or stranger may have been on your network, our guide to checking whether someone is using your Wi-Fi without permission shows how to look at your router's device list. If you knowingly share your connection with a lodger or neighbour, read sharing broadband with neighbours, lodgers or guests, because the provider terms we've checked make the account holder responsible for other people's use.

1. Don't click, call or pay from the message itself. Citizens Advice's scam checklist includes unexpected contact, missing company details such as a postal address, pressure to pay quickly and unusual payment methods such as vouchers. It says genuine organisations shouldn't pressure you to pay straight away.
2. Check who sent it through a route you trust. Citizens Advice advises using contact details from the organisation's official website, not the number on the letter, and not replying to an email or text to check it. For a provider message, log in through its own app or website. The Intellectual Property Office adds that your provider may be able to tell you whether a rights holder's letter is part of a legitimate enforcement process.
3. Work out what kind of message it is, using the table near the top of this guide.
4. Read the details closely. In Golden Eye, the rights holders' evidence listed each IP address with a date, time and time zone. See what the letter says about yours, then write down where everyone in the household and every device was at that time, and check whether your Wi-Fi was secured then.
5. Don't ignore a genuine legal letter, and don't rush. In England and Wales, Citizens Advice explains that before a court claim the parties are expected to try to settle and share relevant documents, and a letter before action must be sent; the court takes it into account if those rules are ignored. The Intellectual Property Office's advice is to respond even if, at first, you only ask for more time to get advice.
6. Get advice before you pay or admit anything. Citizens Advice or a solicitor can help you understand your options and decide how to reply.
7. Reply in writing and keep copies of everything you send and receive, with dates.
8. Secure the connection whatever the outcome (see below).

If you think the message is fake, our guide to broadband scam calls and emails explains how to report it. If you later want to change provider, you can compare broadband deals at your postcode; a partner runs the comparison, and we don't switch you or give legal advice.

Not every warning involves file-sharing. In December 2025, ISPreview reported, the anti-piracy body FACT (the Federation Against Copyright Theft) emailed and texted more than 1,000 UK broadband users who had bought "loaded" Firestick, Android or Kodi devices from a convicted supplier, telling them to stop or risk prosecution and citing Section 11 of the Fraud Act 2006. Our guide to the risks of illegal streaming sticks and IPTV covers what to do if you have one.

Blocked piracy sites are separate again: a court-ordered block (under section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) is aimed at the website, not at you. If a site has stopped loading, see why a website is blocked on your broadband.

Whether or not the claim was right, a few changes help:

• Lock down the Wi-Fi. Use a strong password and security setting, change the router's admin password and keep it updated. Our guide to securing your home router and Wi-Fi has the steps.
• Give visitors a guest network so they're kept apart from your own devices, but remember the account holder is still responsible under the terms we've checked.
• Talk to the household, including lodgers: letters go to the account holder.
• Remove file-sharing software you don't need from computers, and scan devices if you've had any hint of malware. The Intellectual Property Office warns that with default settings such software will often offer files on your computer to other people, so it can share material without anyone meaning to.