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On August 18 2011 14:34 nttea wrote:
I got jack shit knowledge about law, and you need to talk to someone that do i guess. But what i would do in this situation is just completely deny you ever doing such a thing, and that someone else stole your wifi (this should work even if you don't have one, they have better things to do than check up on such details; if you are really paranoid just get one or maybe at least read up and remember a certain model in case they ask which one you have). There is no way they can prove someone else didn't download the file, and the worst thing you have done is similar to leaving your door unlocked. stupid but not illegal.
I am just speculating here however so you should get some legal advice, don't admit anything to them either however; makes it easier for them.
I just read the contents of link 1 (which by the way is broken for some reason) which I must apologise for not doing before my initial post and it talks about how this is absolutely not an excuse and has gone through the courts before and failed almost every time.
Reading that link does make it sound a lot more like it might be genuine and not a scam I'm afraid. But I still encourage you to do everything in your power to absolutely confirm it’s real.
I and I’m guessing almost everyone else that will reply to your post will not be in a well enough informed position to tell you what to do if it is real. If any similar cases go through the courts or a settled before you’re deadline is up it would be a good idea to see what happens in them.
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Read this thread for general advice. Then accept that you have three choices. Get a lawyer, ignore it or pay up. I wouldn't recommend the third option or the fourth, unsaid, "Taking internet advice about something that can fuck you over royally" option.
Contact a lawyer or if you feel very ballsy ignore it. But I've had intimidation letters sent before and while scary at first, amounted to nothing. Except the ass beating I gave my friend for using shit public trackers at my place.
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you really screwed up by telling your aunt, i wouldnt worry about this, just change your ip adress
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I would suggest that you contact TorrentFreak. They have often said that they are willing to give legal advice when it comes to things like this.
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Doubt it's a scam if they have that info, and what others have said is actually somewhat mindboggling in its ignorance -- $3400 isn't worth going to court over. Obviously that's true, which is why the companies offer it as an out of court settlement.
The companies that fire off thousands of letters like this have no intention whatsoever of taking anyone to court but the most egregious of offenders, nor would they have any chance of winning a case against any but those individuals. If 10% of those who are sent letters pony up the small out of court fee, the company makes back some if not all of the money it lost.
If that's all the letter talked about, then I'd ignore it. If you get more letters, consult with an attorney. Whatever the company is, they are not going to take you to court over one downloaded product.
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On August 18 2011 14:39 jenzebubble wrote:
Please do not take legal advice from random people on the internet.
This needs to be the first post in any "legal advice" thread.
That said, you've probably done more research on the matter and understand what you're up against better than anyone who has replied to you with "advice." It's not clear from your post whether you've actually been sued. If you received the letter/email via your ISP, all the law firm has is your IP address, a time, and what you downloaded. They don't know who you are yet. Your ISP, most likely, isn't going to bend over backwards to supply the firm with that information either. They're just hoping that you pay up and they don't have to spend any time/money going after you. Besides making an example out of a few people, it really isn't worth their effort to attempt to file suit. Most people are just going to ignore it and cross their fingers.
If they actually do file suit, there's a cheap option to fight back. When these suits first became popular, an attorney named Graham Syfert made some self-help forms, which he sells for $20. At the very least, you'd want to file a motion to quash and a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. From what I've read, judges are getting pretty pissed at these suits and are very willing to dismiss them given any good reason.
Getting a lawyer to deal with these blackmail letters is impractical because a lawyer is going to end up costing you more than the settlement. That's the entire point of the scheme for the copyright holders and the law firms that represent them. However, you did break the law, and you could certainly get screwed by ignoring them or fighting back if they sue. The risk is your choice.
(Disclaimer: I am a lawyer. I'm not your lawyer. I'm not an expert in these issues, and you should definitely seek out second opinions before doing anything that could jeopardize your legal rights in this matter.)
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I don't see it said anywhere, but have you contacted whoever sent the letter? Just thinking that if you do, your options get a lot worse.
ShadowDrgn definitely has the right ideas. There's a lot of information not listed. We don't know how they found you, how you got the letter, whether anything is filed or not. You can probably find at least at lawyer to talk to you for a consult. That'd be the best suggestion. 
Also, this is why you *never* use a public tracker.
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In terms of getting a lawyer, remembering back to when this happened a long time ago
(and btw, at least one of the mass letters was a confirmed scam where some guys stole another companies name)
There were specific websites which were set up where people detailed *exactly* how to fight this
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TLADT24920 Posts
As mentioned, take the letter and go see a lawyer. He'll be able to lay out your options and hopefully help you out
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I don't know if it's different in the US, but here in Germany law firms send tons of those mails but never follow up on them unless you call them and say "yeah, i downloaded it and a lot of other stuff, too".
Got one about a year ago, put it in the trash and never heard of them again.
It's not legal advice though. When in doubt, ask a lawyer.
ShadowDrgn definitely has the right ideas. There's a lot of information not listed. We don't know how they found you, how you got the letter, whether anything is filed or not.
Again just speaking for the german situation:
The lawfirms sue in mass, get the neccessary papers, send them to the ISP and drop everything again as soon as they have the adress.
Produces a lot of paperwork but costs them almost nothing. Time for a sue-fee... a hundred euro every time you file something would finally stop that scaremail stuff... though ofc it would prevent poor people from suing anyone which is also bad :-/
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in germany you pretty much only have to react to this type of letter when a court sends it to you. So go see a lawyer and he will be able to tell you if you have to react
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ShadowDrgn says pretty much what I've heard. I'm reading TorrentFreak regularly and at least over there it seems like judges are throwing out these cases regularly if they actually go to court.
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You have a right to torrent their files if you actually own the files in question (such as you own the DVD, given by a friend, etc). If you want to defend it safely the cheap way, you can purchase (or have a friend purchase) what you torrented and then tell them that you already own the DVD, and was torrenting for an electronic copy (can't rip DVD or some other excuse). This would be a legitimate use of the torrent. You actually did download this right?
That said, IANAL (I am not a Lawyer), just speaking from what I've heard from other people's experiences.
Also, your Aunt is obviously shocked and you should reassure her that this was your mistake, but no one is going to care that she downloads porn as a pediatric or find out, and even if she did lose her job over this, she would actually have very good grounds to sue on. (Either where she works, or the company that sued you)
Edit: Just read the torrent stuff, and if you plan to defend yourself using the forms for Motion to Quash etc, then this defense might weaken your case. (But then again, if you did download, you probably have no case anyway, whereas you would have a case if you own this DVD/file)
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This really depends of where you live. For example, in Belgium, there are no such things as illegal downloading. Websites that gives the opportunity for downloading are illegal tough.
If you download an mp3 album, video games, movies for free it's not illegal.
Why? There are no legislations in Belgium. How cool is my country?
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I'd bet alot that it's a scam. They use spyware or something similar on something 'embarrassing' like a porn file and then offer a cash settlement once you DL it. They just wanna make money off noobs who are scared of being labelled as porn-users in court. No way a legit company is taking you to court over this. Just see a lawyer and they'll confirm it's bullshit.
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This whole thing is funny. Out of all the things you could get legally screwed for downloading, you got screwed for porn. Porn is borderline legal and they still have the nerve to sue somebody over it. I sincerely hope they get a legal asskicking for this bullshit they are trying on you, should this not really be a scam and all.
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United States24753 Posts
On August 18 2011 18:13 stink123 wrote:
You have a right to torrent their files if you actually own the files in question (such as you own the DVD, given by a friend, etc). This is not true unless... you somehow have your client set up to not upload when you download, which is doubtful.
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On August 19 2011 00:40 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On August 18 2011 18:13 stink123 wrote:
You have a right to torrent their files if you actually own the files in question (such as you own the DVD, given by a friend, etc). This is not true unless... you somehow have your client set up to not upload when you download, which is doubtful.
Yup. Usually, downloading is not the problem (IANAL, but it might even be legal since there is no indication that the uploader doesn't have the distribution rights and otherwise, any time you download something from anywhere, it might be illegal without you having any indication), the sharing is the big problem.
Torrent clients upload the content while downloading which is violating copyright since you do not possess the rights to distribute the content.
Anyways, as i said, i am not a lawyer and any legal advice you will get in this thread has a high chance to be wrong
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not to mention, how the hell would they get your email address?
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EPT
