ACS Law - Letter of Claim

MacMonster

Hi Guys,

Yesterday I received a Letter of Claim from ACS Law dated 9th September stating that I have been involved in Infringement of Copyright of a very crudely titled pornographic film. Since then I have done nothing but worry about this letter and it's implications. As a grown male I have on occasion used the internet for the purposes of viewing pornographic content, but am 100% sure in the knowledge that I did not obtain the file in question.

I am very lucky in that my partner of 10 years has not seen the letter as due to the nature of the content implied I cannot envisage her taking the news very well despite my innocence. I know that it has certainly already had an impact on my health which is not at it's best after suffering a DVT in my leg around the time of the alleged infringement. I am extremely concerned about the affects this stress will now be having on my body.

I need to settle this matter very urgently as we are due to go on vacation for 2 weeks on the 20th of Sept which means that I will be away on the expiry date of the 21 day response period outlined in the letter. I have been to beingthreatened.yolasite.com and read through their information and viewed their template letter of response.

The advice given on that site suggests that I should delay my response as long as possible but for myself that would mean producing, understanding and submitting my letter of denial by the end of tomorrow.

I am only 25yrs old and have had the worst year of my life this year, with my ill health and other stressful issues that I won't go into for sake of keeping this post to the point. This letter is doing nothing but worsen my health and cause a great deal of mental anguish.

Any advice on how best to proceed over these next 24hrs would be very welcome and extremely comforting.

Tearfully,

MacMonster

Hintza

http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/blog/20100826-andrew-crossley-acslaw-facing-solicitors-disciplinary-tribunal

The guy is a chancer so ignore it.

However if I were you I would tell your OH before she finds out and thinks you have been a naughty boy.

I hope you have a strong constitution because you are going to get teased on here about this.

Edit:- If you reply he will know you are worried.

Bonbon

I agree with Hintza. I've just read the link and think in your circumstances I would also ignore the letter. However I think you should show it to your OH, tell her that's it's not true and show her the link which will explain/prove it.

MacMonster

Hintza, Bonbon. Thanks for your advice and support it is very calming to know that someone else has taken the time to read into my situation. I have been doing more reading and believe that the man behind this shoddy law firm has been taken to court for a second time back in August after his first firm was broken down for similar actions against people.

Despite this and the advice of yourselves and several other posters in threads relating to this very topic. Should I really ignore this letter? Has anyone had such a letter themselves and had any response/further action after ignoring the letter?

Torby

Infringement of Copyright?....did you copy it and sell it on, did you download it? ... sounds like one of those scams where they hope you will be embarrassed and just post them a cheque for any claim they submit ... not unlike the scams where you used to order stuff and send the money off and then the items aren't not available and they offer a refund (but they advise first) that their cheque will bear the name "lusty big men with an appetite for **** $ex Ltd." ...would you want to pay that in over the counter at your bank.....lol

rsykes2000

Torby wrote: »

Infringement of Copyright?....did you copy it and sell it on, did you download it?

While I agree it is likely a scam, the copyright infringement will be downloading it on a torrent site and making it available (seeding it) after it has downloaded, or during the download process.

shanks84

I have also received a letter today, from ACS, saying that I have been downloading and distributing a !!!!!! film starring Lindsey Dawn McKenzie (never even heard of the bint), so you are not alone! I've rang them up, going completely ballistic with them. I've certainly not downloaded such content, never mind distributed it! The problem I have is that I had a guest at the house during the time stated in the letter, so I suppose it could have been him. Either way, I'm not accepting it, and I'll be consulting Trading Standards, Citizens Advice, Watchdog etc. ACS have advised me to ask the guest I had to admit to it (as if he will!) in writing. Total shambles

Torby

there is a possibility that if you have a wireless network someone next door or in a car parked outside has hacked your network and piggybacked your net access.

I know of cases where residents have not run a secure network and people have accessed it quite easily....wonder how this stacks up in law if the download was made not by you but as a result of your network not being secured?

whattodo...?_3

Hey
I got the same letter yesterday giving me 21 from the 9th of September to pay £495.
I really don't know what to do. Should I pay it? Or not pay and risk having to pay even more....??

Any advise would be great.

KevInChester

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACS:Law#Lack_of_court_judgements

I'd ignore it, they haven't successfully been able to prove claims, all I would say is if they did take you to court, go and defend yourself (if you haven't done it). Chances are they won't show

garth549

Dont worry one jot - honestly they have no hard evidence. They are assuming/speculating you are guilty as they have logged an IP address on a torrent site. They then have sent a court order to your isp demanding the owner of that IP address at the time logged - if you are innocent you have just been unlucky. Points you can use to disprove:

Certain torrent sites sometimes flood downloads with fake/made up ip addresses so it is impossible to prove if a listed IP address is really 'sharing' the content.

Even if it was genuine there is also no legal obligation to keep your wireless network secure (if you have one) so then it could have potentially been anyone on your street.

Your PC could have been comprimised by a worm/virus allowing a hacker to tunnel their internet traffic through your internet connection. In this case it could be anyone in the world.

Seriously unless they have a video of you sat at your PC clearly showing you downloading the content, you have nothing to worry about.