I’m not spending any money on copymonopolists’ content so long as they keep their antics up.  I’ve had a gutsful of their crap and I will go without rather than put more money in their pockets.  If that lost anyone their job, then they can blame the industry insiders who have driven me to boycott the industry.  It sure as heck was not the file sharers who annoyed me to the point where I decided that I cannot support the industry with my dollars and still feel good about myself.

The Law is the same for everybody.

That’s not true. They might not be behind this specific scam, but they’re the one that gave the idea of it. Blackmailing people into settling so-called legal issues outside of court, that’s a great business. But then, is that any wonder that someone thought about taking up the idea? Threatening people and NOT going to court, anyone can try it.

And seeing how some of the “official blackmailers” went after people on totally false charges, is that also any wonder that someone thought he could do the same? Menacing people without any right to? Anyone can try it too.

Those lobby and “lawyer” groups made it usual to receive such threat letters. It’s so common (at least in some countries) that there’s no way now to distinguish “official blackmail” from “illegal blackmail”. Only option today is to ignore them until you actually get sued. (Then again, even then you don’t need to pay up front since the file being brought to court doesn’t even need it’s valid.)

Good luck hunting down people trading hard disk drives.