Help wanted on O2 porn piracy cases

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A digital rights group is seeking financial help to stop an adult film-maker contacting Britons suspected of pirating pornographic movies.

The Digital Rights Group has applied to intervene in a legal battle between O2 and Golden Eye International.

In 2011, Golden Eye started legal action to make O2 reveal the names of about 9,000 suspected porn pirates.

A successful court challenge meant it only got details on 2,845 people and now it wants to pursue the others.

The UK's Consumer Focus group intervened in the original case saying the adult film-maker had no grounds to pursue 6,155 of them as they were suspected of pirating films for which Golden Eye did not hold the copyright.

The Consumer Focus intervention also changed the wording of letters sent out to suspected pirates to make it clear what penalties people faced. In the letters sent to suspected pirates, Golden Eye said payment of a settlement fee would head off a potential court case.

Golden Eye has now gone to court to get personal details of the 6,155 people released by O2. The Open Rights Group (ORG) has applied to intervene to stop this.

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