The US seems to be everyone’s scapegoat atm. Remember that the reason these big companies are the ones causing the uproar with us because the majority of the pirated material comes from them. Look at the top 100 torrents on TPB. Most of that is made or produced by US Companies. Im not trying to give them a break with how they are handling things but I think this “blame the us” bullshit has to stop.

They’ve got them dead to rights for obstruction of justice and racketeering, the combination of which triggers triple damages – not to mention jail time. Or does no one else notice the parallels between “Pay me $1000 “protection money” or I’ll force you to close your store” and “Pay me $1000 using the info I misused the federal courts to subpoena or I sue you for $100000 with a meritless claim”?

I know because it was me who reported it to them as I found it strange that obvious criminals seem to be able to do as they want and yet traded since then not only at Hull Fair but also the Walton Street market in Hull.

I might add that file-sharing is such a technologically advanced concept that those middle-aged legislator men and women in grey suits don’t know how to approach it due to lack of understanding. They do know what a rip-off DvD looks like on a dodgy market corner though.

(Sorry for the extreme generalization and stereotyping of middle-aged people and people who own grey suits.)

Davenport Lyons are planning on sending out another few thousand letters similar to the previous ones. The more people they try to sue, the more uproar will be created and action will be taken – especially if they happen to sue a solicitor who is vengeful by nature.

I’m pretty sure the Dream Pinball legal threats were entrapment. The rest of the games were cashing in on the success of the Pinball suings.

Ignorant comment my man, do your research on a certain Dirk P Hassinger, he’s a German ex Jailbird who came up with this scam.

He is the CEO of Topware, he is responsible for 1,000′s of file sharers being threatened all over Europe, he is closely linked to Logistep the IP address providers to Davenport Lyons, Logistep have been discredited all over Europe and the UK is now their happy hunting ground.

Topware I believe is quite happy to see one of its second rate games released onto the file sharing scene so they can go and persecute people they accuse of downloading their 3rd rate products!

Something needs to be done and soon!
Before things get out of hand.

What I mean to say is that the sharing of pre-release music falls under the “Conspiracy to Defraud the Music Industry” offence, due to this being a very general offence.

(Unfortunately, this is part of *criminal law* with an unlimited fine and up to 14 years imprisonment.)

Had no pre-released music been shared on OiNK, it would have been almost impossible to prosecute OiNK’s users/Alan with this charge. Most likely, the BPI would have had no grounds to involve the police and shut down OiNK.

The monetary angle also worsens the case, but that’s a whole new story…

UTUBE SHOULD BE CLOSED DOWN before they pick on private individuals. utube lets more copyright material thro its pages than any file sharer

because the majority of these supposed pirates are not geek squad employees but your every day joe schmoe. WHy don’t you take a look at the current lawsuits out there. These suits don’t discriminate.

Oh and piss off a$s-clown.

@33 and Enigmax

perhaps because best buy would have a shortfall of geek squad employees?

you guys are idiots.

What is this pre-release music legislation in the UK? I’d love to know more about this since my understanding is that there isn’t any.

But if you can correct me and add to my knowledge of this issue i’d be very happy about that!

cheers :)

then when all the people are in jail we can have the economy really go poof

and you artists think its bad now, when absolutely no one is left to buy anyhting and your label takes it all
your going to get tossed into jail to for not making htem antoher mountain of cash

and to those that wish i spell better fuck you, want to make sure that someone else can read it perfect do ya , if you cant figure out what i say then you are not supposed ot be here are you , damn spies.

heres what we all should do
save cash and sue these bastards for mispreresentation

sue them for slander

sue them for harrassment
sue them for hacking/break and enter

sue artists for aiding and abetting the above.

wonder if a million lawsuits and coutner actions would tell the fuckheads to bugger off

oh boo hoo! need a tissue to dry those tears? why should anyone care about a pirate’s future lack of a good job when they’ve worked so hard to ruin other people’s careers?

A conviction in a criminal case would also leave a record making it difficult to ever find a well-paid job again.

you can’t stop us,
there will always be sharing

Also bigger fine for downloading to hard drive than burning and selling on the streets? WTF

/// Yankee

Your right there. Also I’m pretty sure if someone is found not guilty in a criminal case they can still be sued in a civil trial and have a different outcome.

Well, as far as I know, the one album the six OiNK uploaders shared was a pre-release CD. THAT is punishable under criminal law in the UK, whereas sharing something that is already available is not.

If OiNK had disallowed the sharing of pre-release music, then the BPI would have not been able to involve the police and there would not have been any problem.

If it can be established, with certainty, who committed the ‘offence’, an appropriate fine can then be imposed. If Miss Barwinska did indeed share Dream Pinball, and it wasn’t someone else using her computer or an open wireless connection on her broadband router, she could have been fined, say, £100. If she is, as was reported, an unemployed single mother, she could then have been allowed to pay it at £5 per week. The punishment would fit the offence. Miss Barwinska would be financially affected to the extent that she would be likely to consider not sharing files in future, without literally bankrupting her.

There is one flaw in both my idea and yours. Bringing something into the criminal domain doesn’t automatically stop it also being a civil matter. It’s not uncommon for shops to have signs that state that, as well as insuring shoplifters are prosecuted, the shop will also sue them. There’s nothing to stop rights holders suing Mr Guiness.

ohhhhhh canada we stand on guard for thee.

p.s. bet them riaa/mpaa types is goin ape shite they could not get the bill they wanted here so they punish the usa

Keep up these high quality comment type articles please – but just remember to label them as blog entries or comment pieces so as to keep them separate from TFs usual relatively impartial articles, thus avoiding potential attempts to discredit the site’s journalism.

Honestly, a great article.

No new news there.