I think I'm in serious trouble for illegal downloads

daniellaoxox

Thanks for the advice I don't think I'll ever download music illegally again - iTunes is a lot safer, not worth getting sued!

*Boris*

Why do you think you are in "serious trouble"?

daniellaoxox

A company is trying to sue me for over £8,000

marleyboy

Sounds more like a scam to me. I would not fret until you get an official court letter with a date to stand before an official court judge.

daniellaoxox

Yeah I initially thought it was a scam

marleyboy

You dont need to, its up to them to PROVE you downloaded them, track for track. It should be simple enough for them to prove it if they were legit, evidence of an unauthorized download is not restricted to an ISP, particularly if its an unsecured one. tell tale signs would be on your hard drive, a legal seizure of your items would be required, this they can only have provided by a judge.

That all they have provided you is not even more than a sporadic letter, I would wish them luck on their case and remind them you will be happy to represent yourself to the mercy of the judge on the given date, not prior to it.

spacey2012

The first mistake was contacting them.
They now have a fish on the hook.

Do nothing until they send stamped court papers.

You did say you were 17 at the time ?
Who held the contract for the broadband ?

twiglet98

The founder of Limewire paid a substantial out-of-court settlement in 2011 to 13 record companies who sued over copyright infringement. Did you attempt to sell the files you downloaded? If not, I would ignore it. They're hardly going to chase all the millions of people who enjoyed Limewire while it lasted.

Jemma-T

daniellaoxox wrote:

I think I'm in serious trouble for illegal downloads

Says who? A bunch of scumbag chancers (I'm paraphrasing, but I've heard judges say it).

Either ignore it (maybe (if you like to worry) too late if you were stupid enough to reply) or see a lawyer.

And stop speaking to strangers.

macman

You were under 18 at the time, so the broadband contact was not in your name. The account holder is the only person potentially liable.
It's just a lawyer's fishing trip.
It's not possible to track the person who used your open network. Wireless network security, BTW, is the responsibility of the user, not the service provider.

BJV

twiglet98 wrote: »

The founder of Limewire paid a substantial out-of-court settlement in 2011 to 13 record companies who sued over copyright infringement. Did you attempt to sell the files you downloaded? If not, I would ignore it. They're hardly going to chase all the millions of people who enjoyed Limewire while it lasted.

Agree If you are in trouble then I think that half of the Uk are! Sounds like a complete scam!