Illegal Downloading

esuhl

There's an article in Computer Active magazine (the issue that has "Take Control" in big letters on the front) that explains the problems that ACS Law are facing.

If I remember rightly (from scanning the article in WH Smith's), ACS Law are being investigated by an official body governing solicitor's conduct because they are issuing legal threats to alleged copyright infringers without sufficient evidence that the person receiving the threat has committed an offence.

The article suggested that IP addresses cannot be linked to an individual. IP addresses can be used by multiple ISP account holders and server time stamps cannot be considered accurate without further evidence. In addition, the offence may have been committed by someone other than the account-holder: their child, spouse, someone using their WiFi connection, etc.

The games continue...

esuhl

... And there's a related article on the BBC News website too:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8129261.stm

Pound

My friend said he got a "fine" of £500 through the post from a company about a game they illegally downloaded and they paid up because they didn't want to go to court. I think it's amazing that companies like this can play on the ignorance of joe public to get them to hand over abritrary and excessive amounts of money.

[Deleted User]

I don't know how they can make these fines stick in the age of wireless broadband, not everyone encrypts their connection so anyone can download anything. It is a very easy defence to make unless your isp TC's state you must keep your wireless encrypted.

jadex

Pound wrote: »

My friend said he got a "fine" of £500 through the post from a company about a game they illegally downloaded and they paid up because they didn't want to go to court. I think it's amazing that companies like this can play on the ignorance of joe public to get them to hand over abritrary and excessive amounts of money.

And I think in worst case you'd get fined by court, it'd be near that mark for the game which can be bought for £10, £20 or £30 from high street shops.
Not that I endorse illegal download, but paying £500 or more without court sentence is naive. Just because letter is from lawyer, bank, govmt., etc. doesn't mean they are in the right. They are just playing bullying tactics and relying on peoples ignorance.
Just my 2p.

wheresmydoshat

just burn the download onto disc and send them a copy.

mrnomoneybags

drinkupretty wrote: »

I don't know how they can make these fines stick in the age of wireless broadband, not everyone encrypts their connection so anyone can download anything. It is a very easy defence to make unless your isp TC's state you must keep your wireless encrypted.

I think by not securing your connection then you could be deemed accountable for anything that goes on with your broadband connection.




On a side note i offer very competative rates for networking :rotfl::rotfl:

MrsTinks

Tomlewis - correct YOUR broadband - YOUR responcibility to secure it. Then you have the obvious security issues of your own network if you haven't encrypted your wifi...
As for the OP - chances are you didn't even realise you were sharing the files - P2P software often run and share files without you knowing. Once you install them you have to turn OFF the sharing otherwise you are in effect allowing all music etc to be shared to anyone searching for it... You might not have MEANT to share it but someone found something on your machine they wanted and downloaded it from you without you necessarily realising...
Apart from the high likelyhood of your machine now being infected with viruses (I think p2p is still the number 1 cause for the spread of computer viruses...) you are potentially also opening up your machine to people accessing other information on there you'd rather they didn't...

The £500 fine... I'd fight it but don't hold out too much hope Fight it on the grounds that it's still pretty untested territory and you never know!

Oh and most IP addresses CAN be traced to an address and therefor it becomes the responcibility of the account holder THEY hold a contract and it is THEIR responcibility if their aunt/uncle/son/wife/husband/daughter/dog/parrot use it for illigal purposes.

Pound

MrsTine wrote: »

Tomlewis - correct YOUR broadband - YOUR responcibility to secure it. Then you have the obvious security issues of your own network if you haven't encrypted your wifi...

Err, there might be a responsibility to secure a wireless network but apart from any clauses in the contract with the ISP someone couldn't be considered accountable for anything that happens on their unsecured network.

For example, if someone else uses their internet connection for something illegal the owner of the network couldn't be charged with their crime.

[Deleted User]

Tomlewis007 wrote: »

I think by not securing your connection then you could be deemed accountable for anything that goes on with your broadband connection.




On a side note i offer very competative rates for networking :rotfl::rotfl:

Possibly true, however a lot of wireless routers are WEP encrypted which, if you know what your doing, is fairly easy to hack.