Vigilante Group Threatens P2P Lawsuit Lawyer
Written by enigmax on May 02, 2007In a bizarre twist, victims of the recent lawsuits against alleged P2P pirates appear to have formed a vigilante group and have their first target in their sights, a partner in the law firm Davenport Lyons. They don’t appear to have any demands but they do seem to want to cause lots of trouble for a certain Mr Miller - by using the internet to expose intimate details of his private life.
At the end of March we reported on the German company Zuxxez (Topware in the UK), who had employed UK lawyers Davenport Lyons to go after alleged uploaders of the company’s Dream Pinballl game. We revealed how a Swiss company was hired to track file-sharers and the methods they used, including information to limit the chances of that happening again in the future.
There have been revelations before in this story but nothing quite as bizarre as this. Brian Miller is listed on the Davenport Lyons website as “a commercial lawyer specialising in interactive entertainment, music copyright, intellectual property, information technology, e-commerce and commercial contracts.” When he took on 500 alleged Pinball pirates, it seems that he may have got more than he bargained for.
According to an anonymous source, a vigilante group has been formed, possibly by angry file-sharers, who are engaged in a campaign to reveal intimate details of Mr and Mrs Miller’s life, on the internet. Apparantly he has received threats to reveal his wife’s private details including her place of work and contact numbers, their home addresses and private information regarding their parents. And it seems they aren’t going to stop there. In addition there are threats to reveal Mr Miller’s financial dealings at past employers and to have his directorships put under scrutiny. The threats were made by the previously unknown ‘Davenport Cats’ action group.
Perhaps as part of the first attack, a user with the name ‘davenport cats’ made a single post on Slyck Forums declaring;
SCRATCHMABACK LIMITED
Just have a look at the directors !!
The website relating to the business appears to be down but a quick search reveals that the company does ‘Online bartering for goods & services, traders and business’. The significance of this is unclear.
It’s understood that the threats are being taken seriously and that legal action is likely but of course, thats no surprise in this pinball saga.
Miller, was until recently Head of Legal Affairs for Virgin Interactive (previously NTL:Telewest). On the 26th March, Telewest issued a bill to Davenport Lyons totalling £18,473 for “compensation for costs incurred in providing information to Topware Interactive” - in simple terms, that’s what the ISPs charge the lawyers to hand over their customer’s personal information so that they can be threatened.
People who have received a threatening letter but have refused to pay up have as yet, heard nothing from Davenport Lyons. Stay tuned.
Update: We have received a copy of some of the personal details that ‘Davenport Cats’ are threatening to leak and we can confirm that our report above on the nature of the information appears to be correct. In addition, it appears there will be some sort of legitimate protest against Davenport Lyons and we will report on this in due course
Update2:Slyck Forums has removed the post by Davenport Cats. Administrator of Slyck, SlyckRay posted “this discussion is welcome to continue without efforts to expose personal information of people. All attempts to divulge such things have no place on Slyck and will be removed.”
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12 Responses
-_- Bunch of idiots, going after him (And especially his wife) wont make him back down. It would just make him try even harder to put the bastards behind bars -_- I mean really, who the hell goes after the wife juse because he is doing his job “Note to self: Shifty eyes, cut off text”
I agree,
it is totally stupid and in appropriate to go after this guys wife or even publish personal details about him.
if you dont like the company or its tactics its one thing and there are legitimate ways of protest, but this feels and sounds like bullying.
I am a proud P2P user and these cowards dont represent me.
just my 2p
It was just a matter of time before something like that happened.
If you harass masses of people with extortion lawsuits for normal human behavior, you have to expect some sort of equally bullying counter reaction.
I always said, sooner or later those lawyers you will target the wrong people.
And threatening to expose personal details of members and employees of those law firms is a legitimate deterrence to anyone considering working for them.
I say, good luck and don’t get caught.
This will do DL no harm in fact they will use this as ammo against all of the 500.
I don’t like the idea of going after the guy’s family. Their battle is with him, no one else.
What about the ISPs? Isn’t revealing customer information wrong? Isn’t SELLING IT wrong? I like that even less…
just my 2.39 yen-worth
Calling us a vigilant group is a little harsh.
We are a collection of Davenport Lyons victims just like the many hundreds of other people wrongly accused of sharing the Zuxxez pinball game that have been put under terrible pressure by Mr Miller’s letters.
We have pooled our resources and have obtained the opinion of a leading intellectual property Barrister and on that basis we now look forward to our days in Court.
As a group we compiled a profile of Mr Miller from public records contained in births, Marriages & Deaths register, The Land Registry, 192.com & Companies House, this included the name and occupation of his wife. This is merely due diligence into his background and has not been published.
For the record unlike Mr Miller’s letters which are full of threats and demands none have been made by us as some forum posts are suggesting.
Mr Miller is an experienced lawyer and we are in no doubt that he is fully acquainted with the Harassment Act should he ever feel the need to use it.
As a matter of fact Mr Miller had a copy of this document for checking some two weeks ago. This is because we intend to rely upon this information in Court.
We believe it is important that the actions of Davenport Lyons and the issues raised in Zuxxez claim are discussed openly and to this end we are glad this story is back in the public eye once again.
Scratchmaback Ltd is the name of a Limited Company that Mr Miller incorporated and is the sole Director. We just though it was a funny name for a lawyer to call his company.
Davenport Cats
Did anyone notice that AOL is missing from the list of ISP’s targeted by Davenport Lyons? There’s a reason for that………..
Anyone receiving one of davenport lyons threatening letters demanding money with menaces is in effect having their property and family threatened, most ordinary people could not survive a huge legal bill if they lost, that is a big threat to THEIR FAMILY AND PROPERTY.
That alone more than justifies ANY action ANYONE threatened wishes to take against these predatory bullying lawyers.
I’m absolutely bloody positive that not one the the DL scumbags gives a shit about the stress their intimidation is causing these people, in fact they’re probably having a good laugh and enjoying all the torment they are causing, not to mention all the money that they made from the idiots that paid up.
well my friend had one,and she,s got a severe dissabled child,only use,s the pc for ebay,and a special need,s school,she had all her service,s removed from ntl with whom she,s been with over ten year,s needless to say the stress is amass,she thought she had the pinball game,but it turned out it was the ms version that come,s with xp,might sound funny,but believe me it,s changed her whole life style
Can someone clarify what action is occuring on saturday.
I represent my friend who is one of the unfortunate to recieve the DL letters.
He did not upload/download the game and had never heard of it until the letter arrived. Several people seem to be in the same situation.
I am interested in what action is going to occur, and will possibly lend my support. I can be in London at the time, but I need to know what I am signing up for, before I give it my approval.
Myself and my friend are going to deny and fight this all the way as he is innocent.
OOPS
I meant “what action is going to occur on Wednesday.
The riaa and media companies employ mafia and organized crime like tactics against innocent people.
(If you believe downloading anything is a crime, you are an absolute moron.)
In my honest opinion they should deserve the exact same treatment as the people they harass, and since the system is setup in a way that benefits corporations and those with money, these tactics are justified. Go after em’ where it hurts.
I Think,Ä°t is very nice information…
Hitchhiker Nation
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