Earlier today we already wrote about the lawsuit that The Hurt Locker makers filed against 24,583 alleged BitTorrent users.
As it turns out they sued a dead person, which could be an indication that the defendant didn’t download anything at all.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg really.
Since the lawyers have started sending out subpoenas many defendants have written to the court claiming their innocence.
Ironically, many of them give away their personal details themselves, something a defendant should never do. By doing so they are basically turning themselves in, as the lawyers don’t really care whether they downloaded anything or not. They want your money either way.
It wouldn’t surprise us if these people who signed their full name under the letter to the court , will be the first to receive a settlement offer.
Below is a collection of a few of the responses the court received from Hurt locker defendants recently, collected by ARS.
The Pinestead Reef Resort in Traverse City, Michigan:
We object to the suit given the fact that we operate a Timeshare resort named Pinstead Brief Resort that is 46 units all of which have a Wi-Fi connection using our IP address. We have numerous users at various times and are unable to monitor or control what they are doing on the computer in their room… I can assure you that the movie was not downloaded from any of the 5 computers that we use in our office on a daily basis.
Michelle from Farmington, Minnesota:
I did not download this movie. I had a wireless router on my computer at the time the Plaintiff alleges that their movie was downloaded by my IP address. Charter had notified me at that time that the download may have been done from my IP address and I removed the wireless router to avoid any further activity.
Steven from Cleveland, Tennessee:
I have no idea why my account info/IP address is associated with this action. I have not downloaded nor certainly have not [sic] distributed any copyrighted material such as “Hurt Locker,” named in this action.
MidAtlanticBroadband Hospitality Services of Baltimore, Maryland:
MidAtlanticBroadband Hospitality Services is filing an objection to provide information as our information is irrelevant, as we are not the end-user nor do we have any information related to the actual usage of this IP address.
Ryan from Waunakee, Wisconsin:
I have no knowledge of the alleged movie download. I had a problem with my network security settings in the past which has recently been upgraded and password-protected. I am sorry for any damages or misfortune the Plaintiff has incurred.
A woman named Sarah, no address given:
I am objecting to the disclosure and release of my identifying information by Charter Communications Inc. on the grounds that I’m not the owner nor have I ever owned the computer with the MAC IP address [sic] that they are claiming illegally downloaded the copyrighted work. When this download took place I was living in a college apartment with roommates and we all shared the wireless network. I had opened the account and my roommates each paid me a portion of the monthly bill since we all shared the same wireless network. When I contacted Charter Communications Inc. regarding the subpoena to inform them they had the wrong person named for the download they said it could have been anyone in the apartment complex and that I was named as a potential defendant due to my being the one that set up the account.
Ann from St. Louis, Missouri:
As a soon to be 70-year-old woman, I can assure the court that I have neither downloaded or distributed ANY copyrighted work as alleged in this lawsuit. Thank you for your consideration.
Rick from St. Louis, Missouri:
I did not download this movie. From a telephone conversation with Charter Communications’ technical customer service I learned it is possible someone outside my home may have compromised the IP address and downloaded the movie without my knowledge.
Charter further advised me to place a lock on the wireless router to help prevent people from hacking into the system and using my IP address. This has now been done.
Take pay cuts over the past years, having a disabled wife and struggling to support a family, I do not have the money to hire an attorney to protect myself especially in this case where I did nothing wrong.
Ed from Sauk Rapids, Minnesota:
Up until currently my wireless router had only the default security set and no encryption enabled. I live in a large neighborhood where many people could have purposely or inadvertently connected to this access point. My children are 11 and 7 and are not computer savvy to be able to do this. I have also spoken to them about piracy of media since. I do apologize to the complainant that connection [sic] was involved in this activity.
Gabriel from San Gabriel, California:
All of the equipments [sic] in our home have been provided and connected by Charter Communications, Inc. I do not own any wireless equipment. I do not download movies or music from any computer or any equipment. I do not engage in copying music or movies. I am not in the business of selling any form of media. I have not had any guests that engage in any illegal activities. I strongly oppose all illegal copying of any copyrighted materials.
Arcadiana Cable Advertising from Opelousas, Louisiana:
We’re a small company with 6 employees, and do not have any sort of IT personnel, therefore, our wireless router is not a password-protected router. We have seen several individuals in the parking lot obviously using our unprotected service. Furthermore, the time of infringement was 7:40 AM. Our business opens daily at 8:30 AM, thereby making that time highly suspect.
Richard from Peru, New York:[Explaining a problem with his Vonage setup that Routinely required a router reset.]
This process would open up our wireless network to anyone since it removed the encryption to our wireless network. Our wireless router could be open to the public for days before I would notice that it was not protected areas would normally caught my attention, that are wireless network was open, was how slow it was during typical web browsing…
I truly believe that no person that is part of my family downloaded the copyrighted work known as Hurt Locker. I have searched all the computers within my residence and have not found a file or folder with that name. I also know that is NOT a typical movie that my family members would watch. Being a Gulf War Veteran, I have no desire to watch such a movie. Just like the movie Blackhawk Down, I heard it was a good movie but I will never watch it, another movie that is too close to home.
Currently we have purchased just over 500 DVD and Blue Ray [sic] movies which in itself should indicate that we support the movie industry. We also have a current Netflix account and a Charter account.
