illegal download letter

gunneradt

find this all very strange.

If you're gonna do it - do it properly so you don't get caught. It's not hard.

mr_fishbulb

gunneradt wrote:

find this all very strange.

If you're gonna do it - do it properly so you don't get caught. It's not hard.

That's not what this thread is about. And will probably get locked if you talk about how to do it.

This thread is about what the OP's friend should do since they received the letter.

wonderfullife_2

Hi
Ive been reading this post and I find this letter hard to believe, why are they willing to settle out of court, surely it would be better for them to prosecute everyone that they say they have caught downloading illegal material. And why such a low amount? It just doesn't make sense to me
Big court case, big advertising, big deterrent, and thats what its all about I would have thought.
It reminds me of a email I got last year from the FBI, yes the FBI, saying that they have tracked me through my isp and that I had been downloading illegally from Kazaa, now considering that I hadn't used Kazza for at least 4yrs I found this very hard to believe or take seriously. It gave a link on their email to go to their site, (can't remember, which one) but I never bothered, just marked it as junk and deleted and never heard from them again.
I would seriously consider if this letter is a Scam, I would be very surprised and gobsmacked if it wasn't.
And if it wasn't a scam, then I would have my day in court, especially if I knew they couldn't prove it, and how could they if I hadn't downloaded what they said I had.
So if your friend is prepared to go to court and fight, then I would just ignore this letter and wait and see what happens next, if anything does.

zappahey

wonderfullife wrote:

It reminds me of a email I got last year from the FBI, yes the FBI, saying that they have tracked me through my isp and that I had been downloading illegally from Kazaa, now considering that I hadn't used Kazza for at least 4yrs I found this very hard to believe or take seriously. It gave a link on their email to go to their site, (can't remember, which one) but I never bothered, just marked it as junk and deleted and never heard from them again.

This one perhaps? http://www.silicon.com/software/security/0,39024655,39117714,00.htm

wabbit02

Hey ho... looks like this is genuine then...

Register article

5th and 6th paragraphs

wabbit02

wonderfullife wrote:

Hi
Ive been reading this post and I find this letter hard to believe, why are they willing to settle out of court, surely it would be better for them to prosecute everyone that they say they have caught downloading illegal material. And why such a low amount? It just doesn't make sense to me
Big court case, big advertising, big deterrent, and thats what its all about I would have thought.

"FACT successfully prosecutes 150 file sharers" - that’s the only headline they want. Like I said earlier the costs have to be realistic or when contested the whole thing can be thrown out. They cant fine you in a civil case - only a criminal one.

Lob_Rockster

can I point out that IMO they're cracking down on people who've left P2P software running allowing UPLOAD of copyrighted material. The article in Register supports that - "145 individuals who also uploaded software for anyone else to download".

So someone sat there seeding the download at the IP address.

This "friend" - does he/she admit to using Kazaa at all?