UK court to unmask 'file-sharers'

[HaX]

Taken from here

UK court to unmask 'file-sharers'

About a quarter of software in the UK is estimated to be pirated
Ten internet service providers have been ordered to hand over the details of 150 UK customers accused of illegally sharing software.
The High Court order follows a 12-month covert investigation by the Federation Against Software Theft (Fast).

Among the internet providers are BT, NTL, Telewest and Tiscali.

Over the next two weeks, they are expected to provide the names, addresses and other personal details of the alleged file-sharers.

Sounds like the Software companies are tightening up a little bit regarding piracy. To be honest I can see that they need to.

I do however think that if software wasn't so expensive, people would be more disposed towards purchasing it legitimately.

I wonder how much they are going to sue individuals for. Its' not as if the average bloke on the street will be able to afford being sued for £30 k for instance.

 

[HaX]

By law, will the ISPs be required to notify their customers that they have passed their details onto a law enforcement agency?

 

[HaX]

In my line of work (working for high profile financial clients in the IT Outsourcing industry) I'd be screwed for a job aswell as a way of life.

As I understand it, FAST tend to sue people for all they've got.

Where would someone stand if they were sued for an amount of money which would financially cripple them for the rest of their lives?

 

[HaX]

As someone who works at a ISP I am not surprised - we are daily suspending users who are sharing illegal software and its the large corporations that supply us with the info and evidence that we base these suspensions on.

So I assume that if someone had been caught by an Internet antipiracy agency their accounts would have been suspended automatically?

 

[HaX]

Someone's worried

I'm a bit worried. Probably totally unfounded. I've only downloaded about three things off bit torrents in the last year to help with my MCP studies.

 

[HaX]

Isn't just as easy as double clicking a customer's username and seeing what they've downloaded though. Or at least I certainly hope not

Basically, organisations representing the interests of the Software and Music industries will log onto file sharing systems (eg Bit Torrent) and note the IP Addresses of people sharing files or segments of files. Once they have the IP addresses they will then contact the organisation which owns the offending IP address, an ISP for example. They will then use some legal procedure to get the ISP to disclose who was using that particular IP address at that particular time.

 

[HaX]

Just thought I'd make this post my last one before I go to bed for the night.

I've just been onto the FAST website - www.fast.org.uk - as I thought I may aswell find out what is going on, rather than read the BBC's rather alarming and scare mongering report.

I think this excerpt taken from here will put a lot of our minds at rest.

Despite the accuracy of Operation Tracker, the emphasis of subsequent action will focus on organisations and the directors who allow their employees to break the law. However, if an individual is operating on a substantial scale, The Federation will consider acting accordingly. Action by The Federation is primarily to combat the complacency about the increasing problem of software piracy that it believes prevails in certain sectors of corporate UK.

So, in short, it would appear that they are only going to focus on piracy taking place within commercial organisation and large scale piracy by individuals.

 

[HaX]

One thing I'd be interested to know is how they identify high volume/persistent offenders (normally the ones they prosecute). Most ISPs assign dynamic IP addresses, so how do law enforcement agencies collect evidence about an individual prior to gaining court approval to get their details from the ISP.

 

[HaX]

So , from a legal perspective,

If the average Joe Bloggs has downloaded a copy of MS Office off a bit torrent site (thus sharing it at the same time), he would be liable for prosecution, even if this was the only thing he had downloaded.

As I understand it, FAST intend to throw the book at people to make an example of them. Does this therefore mean that people will not be given the option of out of court settlements and what kind of effects will this have on criminal records etc. What kind of fines will fast most likely give out? Will they be means based? I can imagine this action is going to ruin a fair few lives.

Will FAST be mainly looking for people pirating MS software, or all the different brands and games etc?

 

[HaX]

I doubt anyone could say at this stage - looks like its being used as a test case. The second you are sharing something you are breaking the law, I imagine this case is going to set precedants(sp?) so whether its a fine/how much/jail term... who knows.

Hmmm. I wonder how long it will be until we find this out. Are these processes normally fairly quick?

 

[HaX]

Personally, I feel that the chances of getting caught and prosecuted are very slim. You would have to be very unlucky to be one of the unlucky few.

FAST are going to prosecute 150 people - A miniscule amount when compared to the number of people in the UK who will be frequently downloading ISOs for Games, Windows and Office etc off bit torrent or other p2p app. It is not uncommon for 150 people to be seeding a single torrent.

If you get caught, you're screwed - through and through - though I imagine a number of people will end up going bankrupt through not being able to pay off the fines or settlements.

Whether or not people feel that it is worth the risk is another thing. I stopped downloading music and films years ago when the BPI jumped on the suing band wagon. Its' just not worth the hastle. W

In short while there may only be a small risk, its' not worth taking. Unfortunately we live in a society where £10k isn't much to one person or organisation, but a life time of savings for another.

 

[HaX]

Here's a question, what about files like Family Guy, Lost, OC etc, we've had Music and Software, what about video?

As far as I know - exactly the sam. There have already been cases in the UK of people being sued for distributing TV Programmes and films.

 

[HaX]

One thing I would like to know is that if you asked, would your ISP tell you whether or not your details had been passed on to an enforcement agency.

Surely under the data protection act, they would be required to provide information relevant to yourself as and when requested.