Son of a female dog...

[thegayhare]

Good god it doesn't rain but it pours...

well snows in this case

so in the middles of this new massive snow storm we get a letter from our isp saying we among 2098 other people are named as defendants and that the isp has been sued for our names and address so they can try and make us pay a couple thou in copyright infringement fees for a movie I didn't even know exists

[Inumo]

... Is that even legal?

[Darkmoon]

Technically.

Do you have wireless network setup? If so, is it password protected? If not, then you are, technically, liable for any infringement that happened on your connection.

[thegayhare]

It apparently is the group seems to think this is a great business model to make money too

I don't know its just freaking depressing


https://www.eff.org/issues/file-sharing/subpoena-defense

[Drayco84]

For all intents and purposes, it looks like this is a group of lawyers testing the waters for smaller, independent film companies. Obviously, first and foremost, DON'T AGREE TO PAY THEM ANYTHING. While I understand that hiring a lawyer is going to be expensive, if enough people refuse to fight this thing, it means the sue-happy group can get a precendent, making it 20 times harder on the next victims.

Plus, they have to PROVE that people downloaded the stuff they claim was stolen. Hell, not even the MPAA and the RIAA could get that, and they have tons more money to throw at it than the Indie film makers would.

[Darkmoon]

Except the RIAA did prove that -- twice. In both cases, the defendants were held liable for half a million (an up) in damages (depending on the trial). While, sure those damages were then reduce each time to somewhere in the 50k range, that's still a hefty chunk of change.

The first thing you have to find out is how they pinpointed you as the offending IP address and why it is they think you "stole" whatever it is they're cranky about.

[Sofox]

TGH, play this one cool. If you didn't download the movie, then all they have to go on is your IP address which previous court cases have proved is not accurate in determining identity and hence not proof of wrongdoing (if it was, you wouldn't be falsely accused).

You already seem to know of the EFF, their page contains advice and Q&A on the issues, so best you can do is check various sites and follow their advice.

Sorry this happened to you, it's a pain in the ass (like any legal entanglement). I've been following issues like this for weeks (many companies have been doing stuff like this, one in England even set the whole "practice" back significantly by accidentally publically posting the names and contact details of all those they sent the letters to, along with what they were alleged of downloading).

Anyway, best of luck and you have our support.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

acslaw. What a wonderful bunch. *snerk*