True, I wouldn’t pay either, but what you are missing is, either you pay or you can defend yourself in court explaining to a judge why you knowingly downloaded software illegally. Someone said in a comment.. “vaguely legal blackmail”..

Protect yourselves, never use bit torrents or p2p software, you CAN NOT HIDE YOUR IP.. it’s still traceable.. and for those that honestly think you’re not… I feel for your stupidity..

At work, we track tottent ports all the time to catch people. so many ways to get what you want without putting yourself on the line ;)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/nyregion/22shoplift.html?ref=nyregion

Everyone involved in film making are getting paid upfront (a buyout) for uploading their films to the internet/or through the cable system in the first place.

I guess all books taken out of the library screw all writers and publishers because the content is shared. Did you never check a book out of the library, I doubt that, so stop your whining and complaining, you’re probably as unethical as the next guy.

Everyone involved in film making are getting paid upfront (a buyout) for uploading their films to the internet/or through the cable system in the first place.

I guess all books taken out of the library screw all writers and publishers because the content is shared. Did you never check a book out of the library, I doubt that, so stop your whining and complaining, you’re probably as unethical as the next guy.

Another invective from Gregory A. Roach? I stand amazed. Give it up old boy. You’ve been unmasked.

I am writing to you about an issue that concerns me greatly.

U.S. Copyright Group is a Washington, D.C. based entity that investigates copyright infringement. Despite the patriotic name, it seems that they are a privately owned German company also known as GuardaLey IT. Their latest venture has been tracking the internet IP addresses of individuals they suspect to be illegally downloading movies, and then abusing the U.S. legal system in order to extort money from the accused.

To date, USCG has already filed seven different suits, and implicated over 14,000 U.S. citizens.

On Friday, June 11, law firm Dunlap, Grubb, & Weaver submitted a list of 700 IP addresses to the Washington D.C. District Court on USCG’s behalf. These addresses were submitted en masse rather than individually, as normal legal protocol would dictate. They are requesting that the court require Internet Service Providers to hand over the names and home addresses of their customers. Not wanting to face legal trouble, most ISPs have already complied.

By filing the petition to have the identities of hundreds of ISP customers identified at the same time, USCG is depriving defandants of their right to defend themselves. If taken to trial, these cases would be heard in D.C., regardless of which part of the country each defendant may live. USCG is unquestionably violating the Constitutional rights of the accused. As the senior staff attorney of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org) said in a press release, “The First Amendment mandates that each defendant be given notice and opportunity to quash a subpoena and that the plaintiff offer sufficient evidence of infringement about each defendant individually.”

The international conglomerate Time Warner, an owner of several movie companies, could stand to profit from such lawsuits if they were to hire USCG. But instead of trying to make an easy buck, Time Warner, also an Internet Service Provider, has recognized USCG’s shady practices and is the only ISP to have filed motions to quash three separate subponaes requesting customer information, rightfully claiming that USCG is abusing the discovery process.

It also seems that the tactics employed by USCG for identifying targets are faulty at best. CCS Labs, a digital forensics company, (http://www.ccs-labs.com) reports that they have already found errors with the first 10 IP addresses provided by USCG – mistakes that they say they were able to correct after only 6 minutes of research. This alone should prove that USCG has done little to no background work on the IP addresses that they have collected, and is a strong indicator that they are largely ignorant of the technology they are working with. CCS Labs also claims that GuardaLey’s “state of the art” methods have been obsolete for nearly a decade, and some are no longer even permitted by the NSA.

It is clear that GuardaLey’s evidence would never meet the burden of proof required at trial. Instead, it seems that USCG’s strategy is to harass individuals with letters threatening lawsuits and fines of up to $150,000 per movie downloaded. But the individual could avoid a trial and exorbitant fines if they simple accept a simple settlement offer of $2,500. In this manner, USCG is looking to bilk tens of millions of dollars from the American people.

With the unreliable means with which USCG identifies their targets, and with the sheer number of people they are tracking, tens of thousands of Americans are at risk of being falsely accused.

This is an issue that has gone almost completely unreported by the mainstream media and I feel it is imperative to spread awareness of USCG’s actions. I find their behavior to be an affront to civil decency, and dangerously hazardous to the welfare of the American people. I would appreciate your support of this position, and would be interested in hearing your views on this issue

movie producers are not guaranteed any return on their investment.

without statutory damages all these copyright infringement cases cannot prove any damages because there are no damages.

all these copyright infringement cases are going to be thrown out because they subvert the rule of law and the justice system for the infinite greed of lawyers.

hopefully the extortion cases against the mass litigation extortion methods by the riaa and these greedy lawyers will soon be adjudicated.

if movie producers are so bothered by having their hard work being shared then they should find another business to exploit.

there will come a time when movie producers are desperate for their work to be shared and noone will listen to them begging for their junk to be spread around.

you sound like one of these talentless movie producers who cannot make a decent movie and rely upon false advertisement to trick people into paying to see your junk.