it seems to me that they have relieased that you're prepared to fight this so they've moved on to an easier target.
But, how is this kind of practise still allowed to go on. Isnt just extortion?
Advice on Sky Broadband > Court Order...
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But, how is this kind of practise still allowed to go on. Isnt just extortion?
looks this way so far.
how they get away with is beyond me especially since watchdog and trading standards etc have been involved. i guess they will carry on until they are finally forced to stop it, and even if this were true they would probably make another company and name and just rebrand themeselves and try and con more.
it doesnt even seem to be that they are that bright, the fact they have sent out a mass amount of letters and all of them accusing of downloading evacuate the dancefloor on a photocopied piece of paper, but they print out in a nice little white box the accused file, ip address and torrent client you used. We stated this in our letter, basically put it to them of what we are been accused of, sharing evacuate the dancefloor or sharing future trance, neither of which we have slightest interest on.
i have to say i feel sorry for the thousands of people who have these letters also and have been pressured or scared into paying them. If they want to stop piracy, surely its down each individuals ISP to warn you and then take it further if needed.
nevermind, you could be right and they moved onto other targets, but the fact it took them nearly a year of the alleged download to send a letter to us, i have a feeling we could get a letter from them at christmas time or something
yup cheers
if only there were a way to make more people aware of them and there practices before they pay up in desperation.
cheers for the advice everyone anyway, its been interesting digging up this so called company
Just for the record a second company (http://www.gmlegal.co.uk/index.aspx) has just stared in the same field so expect more spam 
Just for the record a second company (http://www.gmlegal.co.uk/index.aspx) has just stared in the same field so expect more spam
oh no!
good find though!
just an update, still no word back from them
guess they have backed down and are trying to target other people instead
they have had plenty time to write back or phone but we have had no contact since.
My Mum had a very similar case as yours with same said company, what started out as being accused of downloading a song and they were demanding £600 she is now 14 months on and the 3rd letter although they now only want £250.
She has replied to each letter they have sent clearly stating that she is not responsible for the download and has now replied one last time stating that she will not respond to any further letters and if they persist to demand money she will take legal advice / action against them. She is 75 by the way and can hardly use a computer.
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just stick at it hopefully they will bugger off. they are not bothered what age, or how computer literate the people are, they just want money. and how can they go from demanding £600 to £250
I do think the drop in money was / is there last attempt to try getting some money although they have got no chance, tends to be 6 months between their letters if you reply.
I imagine the vast majority of people who receive these letters especially if they have kids would actually pay the demand - I bet this company makes a fair amount of money
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I imagine the vast majority of people who receive these letters especially if they have kids would actually pay the demand - I bet this company makes a fair amount of money
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Dunno; ultimately if you commit an offence using a service provided by a third party (say you rent a car and are involved in a hit and run), I'd imagine that the authorities are still within their rights to pursue you directly once they have acquired your details from the company providing the service.
If you think about it logically, if this wasn't the case, people could effectively be immune from prosecution if their ISP never 'took it further'.
knowingly downloading something is different to been accused though. My point in the ISP warning you is so if you are been accused of something, you have a chance to tighten up your security should there be any "outsiders" using your wireless. At least this way you have a chance to strengthen your wireless security, rather then just been penalized immediately without warning.
Yes but how are they going to know whether you have 'knowingly downloaded' something or just had dodgy wireless security? Using my hire car analogy, it's like saying the car hire company should warn you so you can make sure you don't leave the car unlocked. That's not much help to the wronged party (record label / person who got run over). Being accused of something doesn't mean you have been found guilty; that's what the legal system is in place for. I don't really see how people are being penalized immediately without warning, you get a chance to defend yourself.
(please note I'm talking in general terms about how this sort of thing should be handled, I'm in no way condoning the approach taken whereby firms are writing threatening letters to people off the cuff).
(please note I'm talking in general terms about how this sort of thing should be handled, I'm in no way condoning the approach taken whereby firms are writing threatening letters to people off the cuff).
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Associate
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I have a question about this, say you download something that is in a winrar archive thats split up into many different parts, for example say 50. You get a letter saying that you have downloaded xyz which what these rar files contained, would you be able to counter sue them as they have opened the files?
Please note I havnt had a letter of any sort, im just curious to know what you could do in this position
Please note I havnt had a letter of any sort, im just curious to know what you could do in this position
Not a chance. Most torrens are publicly downloadable so all they do is read the packets and if they wanted to kick off the same download.
Associate
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what about private sites etc? Also, surely reading packets is illegal?
Yeah, but what if I set up a torrent containing my for-sale home video, calling the torrent 'Avatar'? If I monitor the downloads can I send the MPA a £2,500 "settlement" letter for violating my IP?
It is, but that's not what they do. AFAIK they basically sit on a network connecting to swarms serving the content their employers own, and logging the IPs joining in the swarm with them. No data interception required. Some of them even serve up their own content via torrents to log who downloads it. Some call it a honey pot, others call it entrapment. Others call it silly to use torrents to begin with.
Yeah, but what if I set up a torrent containing my for-sale home video, calling the torrent 'Avatar'? If I monitor the downloads can I send the MPA a £2,500 "settlement" letter for violating my IP?
I believe most of the torrents are even planted? Or downloaded first by the companies to check the content. Then they just hit every UK ip address they can with a letter.