MESSAGE
| DATE | 2010-01-26 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Copyright Wars Continue
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8481790.stm
Piracy letter campaign 'nets innocents'
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Some 1,000 fresh letters have been sent to alleged illegal file-sharers
More than 150 people have approached consumer publication Which?
Computing claiming to have been wrongly targeted in crackdowns on
illegal file-sharing.
ACS:Law has sent thousands of letters to people claiming they have
illegally downloaded material and offers them a chance to settle by
paying around £500.
Which? says it has been approached by some - including a 78 year-old
accused of downloading pornography - who have no knowledge of the
alleged offence.
ACS:Law said its methods were accurate.
The London based firm said that it would send more letters soon.
However, since the latest letters were sent two weeks ago, ten new
people have come forward saying they have been wrongly accused.
One told Which?: "My 78 year-old father yesterday received a letter from
ACS Law demanding £500 for a porn file he is alleged to have
downloaded.
"He doesn't even know what file-sharing or BitTorrent is so has
certainly not done this himself or given anyone else permission to use
his computer to do such a thing."
'Wrongly targeted'
Which? Computing estimates that 50,000 letters have been sent so far and
is concerned that too many innocent people are being wrongly accused.
"Innocent consumers are being threatened with legal action for copyright
infringements they not only haven't committed, but wouldn't know how to
commit," said Matt Bath, technology editor of Which?
Many "will be frightened into paying up rather than facing the stress of
a court battle", he added.
It has been said that we have no intention of going to court but we have
no fear of it
Andrew Crossley
Lawyers target 'pirates' for cash
Games firms 'catching' non-gamers
He advised people who believe they have been wrongly targeted to
"rigorously deny it and, if possible, provide physical evidence of where
they were when the infringement took place".
He also advised them to contact Which with the details of their case.
Andrew Crossley, of ACS:Law, said that some cases had been dropped
although he declined to give numbers.
He said that he is convinced the method used to detect the IP address
used for illegal downloads is foolproof.
"We are happy that the information we get is completely accurate," he
said.
He said the letters do not accuse individuals.
"We explain that an infringement has taken place but it may not be the
account holder who has done it," he said.
He advised those who believe they have been wrongly accused to seek out
the "advice of a technical expert or the citizens' advice bureau".
But he warned that people "shouldn't just think that writing and saying
they didn't do it will be sufficient".
Mr Crossley said the majority of illegally shared content was music with
only 10% being adult content.
'More letters'
He told BBC News that the law firm had a range of clients that it was
representing, including German content firm DigiProtect.
The company is based in Frankfurt and brands its business with the motto
"turn piracy into profit".
It has represented a range of rights holders in the past including the
German techno band Scooter.
It tracks down alleged pirates by logging the individual Internet
Protocol, or IP, address of internet users logged on to file-sharing
networks.
It then applies to the High Court to force broadband companies to
release the physical contact details of customers matched to those
addresses.
ACS:Law is currently under investigation by the Solicitors Regulation
Authority.
Mr Crossley said that the law firm planned to send "lots more letters"
this year although conceded that none of the current 10,000 actions had
yet come to court.
"It has been said that we have no intention of going to court but we
have no fear of it," he said.
Some are already in the process of going to court, he told BBC News,
although the majority of the accused settle out of court.
Mr Bath is not convinced.
"These cases have been pending for a long time. I suspect that if they
went to court it would be very difficult to proof beyond doubt that a
particular individual was responsible for downloading the illegal
content," he said.
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