I'm curious as to how, in these circumstances, you think the law could change. It's statute rather than judge made law and it's based on an EC Directive so it would only be the ECJ who could truly derogate us off of the directive. Of course you can always read between the lines, but both the act and the directive seem awfully clear to me with no wriggle room whatsoever.Furthermore, when it does reach the higher courts, the law is liable to change.
They were never campaigned for by individuals - it was ISP bodies that did so - but there's no evidence to suggest that they're not meant to apply to individuals equally.The mere conduit provisions were never meant to deal with individual liability.
There's no chance of a criminal conviction here - the solicitors have contacted his friend rather than the police/CPS and, as such, they're looking to go down the civil route.the most sensible action is to pay it off and avoid going to court with the chance of ending up with a criminal record for copyright infringement.