Associate
First off, I hope this post isn't breaching any forum rules.
Secondly, I'm probably incriminating myself here, but I just want to test the water and maybe get some advice, so please, if all you want to say is 'serves you right' then save your keyboard.
Right so, down to the nitty gritty. Yesterday morning I received a letter from some random 'law firm' in London claiming that my ISP had provided them with evidence that I downloaded (and shared) an Xbox game via BitTorrent about 6 months ago. I'll hold my hands up right now and say that this claim is completely accurate, I downloaded a game via the BitTorrent protocol for my own personal use. I skimmed through the letter and read the name of the game I downloaded, the times and dates, my IP address and more. They basically said 'you've downloaded this game, therefore, on behalf of the game company, we're going to take you to court unless you pay this settlement fee'. In my just woken up state, shocked and slightly amused by this letter, and half-not believing it was authentic half-not WANTING to believe it was authentic, I threw the letter out.
My thoughts on this matter are thus:
I wouldn't call myself a criminal, far from it. I have reasonably high morals and can tell the difference between right and wrong. I believe in supporting the people who create the things I'm passionate about, and spend money on works (be they games, movies or music) I deem worth buying, my game, DVD and music collection can attribute to that. I do see how downloading can hurt industries, and I don't excuse it by saying 'they're a big, faceless company, so it's okay', but rather realise that every penny goes towards furthering that industry, even if they do charge way too much for their media sometimes.
The thing is, most of the large, money-hungry corporations have this 'you wouldn't steal a handbag; you wouldn't steal a car; but downloading is stealing!' mentality, when frankly I think this is just a scare tactic.
(at this point in the story, see http://stealthisfilm.com/
You can't steal data. You can make it. You can un-make it. But you can't steal it, it's not a possession. You can however share it.
So without getting too lost in rhetoric here, I just want to share my story with the community here and ask
If Mods deem any part of this a breach of regulations, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Thanks for listening.
P
Secondly, I'm probably incriminating myself here, but I just want to test the water and maybe get some advice, so please, if all you want to say is 'serves you right' then save your keyboard.
Right so, down to the nitty gritty. Yesterday morning I received a letter from some random 'law firm' in London claiming that my ISP had provided them with evidence that I downloaded (and shared) an Xbox game via BitTorrent about 6 months ago. I'll hold my hands up right now and say that this claim is completely accurate, I downloaded a game via the BitTorrent protocol for my own personal use. I skimmed through the letter and read the name of the game I downloaded, the times and dates, my IP address and more. They basically said 'you've downloaded this game, therefore, on behalf of the game company, we're going to take you to court unless you pay this settlement fee'. In my just woken up state, shocked and slightly amused by this letter, and half-not believing it was authentic half-not WANTING to believe it was authentic, I threw the letter out.
My thoughts on this matter are thus:
- I've downloaded more games, movies and albums than I can accurately count in my life, and suddenly somebody wants to call me on a game I downloaded, played for an hour, then thought 'man, this game sucks, I'm SO glad I didn't waste £40 on this' and never played again?! Unlucky.
- I'll ignore this letter; perhaps they're just fishing to see who'll bite; if I don't respond then maybe they'll leave it, if they don't leave it well I'll be moving house in 3 months anyway, how are they gonna find me then...
- Even if this is real, I don't have the sort of money they're telling me I have to pay them...I'd rather try and fight it on the grounds of 'downloading copyrighted media is intellectual property theft, but it's not like I'm selling them at a car boot sale or publishing it online for people; it should be up to me and all individuals what I/they download, and any attempt to control this is a breach of my human rights.
I wouldn't call myself a criminal, far from it. I have reasonably high morals and can tell the difference between right and wrong. I believe in supporting the people who create the things I'm passionate about, and spend money on works (be they games, movies or music) I deem worth buying, my game, DVD and music collection can attribute to that. I do see how downloading can hurt industries, and I don't excuse it by saying 'they're a big, faceless company, so it's okay', but rather realise that every penny goes towards furthering that industry, even if they do charge way too much for their media sometimes.
The thing is, most of the large, money-hungry corporations have this 'you wouldn't steal a handbag; you wouldn't steal a car; but downloading is stealing!' mentality, when frankly I think this is just a scare tactic.
(at this point in the story, see http://stealthisfilm.com/
You can't steal data. You can make it. You can un-make it. But you can't steal it, it's not a possession. You can however share it.
So without getting too lost in rhetoric here, I just want to share my story with the community here and ask
- Has anyone else received one of these letters before?
- Does anyone have any advice/suggestions?
- Has my ISP broken any laws by making my information available to this law firm without my consent?
- If I have unknowingly given my consent because it's lost in the small-print somewhere, can I appeal this?
- If you've ever downloaded anything, or continue to, please say '***I DO***', just so I can gauge a level of people's atitudes towards file sharing.
If Mods deem any part of this a breach of regulations, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Thanks for listening.
P
)
) and so now I should pay up.... except I'm skint, a recent graduate, and don't make £14k in legal fees in a whole YEAR! 
