The Real Pirates Are The Anti-Pirate Organizations!

Thanks to TF and WikiLeaks we see the real rogues, and pirates of the world: the so called ‘anti-pirate’ organizations show down from their moral high grounds.

Copyright infringement occurs when a person downloads a file that has not been authorized for download by the person who owns the copyrights to the files  – for example if you downloaded “The Dark Knight” from anyone other than the studio who owns the movie, you have just committed copyright infringement. But if the studio that owns the dark knight themselves put the movie on a torrent site for download, its not copyright infringement as the studio  themselves have authorized sharing of the file, exactly as a lot of free software like Linux is shared.

Here’s a twist, ‘anti-piracy’ companies are buying the rights to certain titles, sharing them on p2p networks and then trying to litigate the people who download these titles!

Scummy? Absolutely! Lawful? Not likely, because you cant give somebody the right to do something and then later sue them for it.

From Torrent Freak:

A source inside lawyers Davenport Lyons and their partner DigiProtect has leaked sensitive documents detailing how the companies generated profit from porn. They show how the pair extracted money from alleged file-sharers, how the revenue was split and how individuals were ranked to decide who to chase and who to leave alone.

leakedIn 2007, UK lawyers Davenport Lyons (DL) got into the lucrative business of threatening to sue file-sharers. Their clients used anti-piracy tracking companies to harvest the IP addresses of many thousands of users allegedly sharing video games. This information was used to get court orders which forced ISPs to hand over their details.

DL then wrote to the individuals demanding several hundred pounds to make the threat of a lawsuit disappear. Some paid up, but many did not, and the only cases DL took to court were against those who didn’t defend themselves.

Generating revenue from porn proves controversial

Then the law firm overplayed its hand and got into bed with DigiProtect, the German piracy exploitation outfit with a catalog of hardcore porn titles to its name. The rights were signed over to the company by the copyright holders so that DigiProtect could use them to generate revenue
…
Document 1 – Ranking alleged infringers in order to decide who to pursue

The first document reveals how the targets are ranked based on an estimation of how likely it is that they will pay up. Each alleged infringer has their details filled in on a form (download here from WikiLeaks). The document shows that despite the claims that an IP address alone is irrefutable evidence of an infringement and will lead to being taken to court, the reality is rather different.

Letter recipients are given a ranking based on many parameters. Does the law firm want to continue to pursue the person? What are the chances of success? A zero would mean “no action” up to ten which would mean the respondent is ripe for maximum pressure. One letter recipient hired Michael Coyle at Lawdit Solicitors to defend him and this earned him a “three”.

One part of the form is entitled “Circumstances” and this is a very surprising section indeed. Despite the “fact” that the law firms supposedly already have solid evidence of infringement that they say will lead to court action if recipients don’t comply…

This scam is being run like a well oiled machine… by the very people (and lawyers – not sure if they fall into the ‘people’ category) who claim they are trying to ‘fight piracy’.\

Read the much more detailed article and commentary on TF,
related WikiLeaks documents, as well as here

and related Gulli article

Related posts:

1. Legit Game Buyers Penalised – Pirates Uneffected. (UPDATED)
2. Anti-P2P Laws Working?? Not Really.
3. Spanish Man Gets Justice From Anti-Piracy Thugs
4. Pirates Don’t Screw The Artists, Labels Screw The Artists
5. HOT: UK’s Pirate General.. Overseen By Mr.Corrupt Himself
6. The Real Music Pirates…Rogues
7. ‘Pirate’ reports Anti-Piracy Mob To the Police!