If you live in Denmark, and have lots of files on your hard drive that you share on P2P programs like KaZaA or eDonkey, the Danish Anti Pirat Gruppen (Anti Piracy Group) has started sending invoices of up to $14,000 apiece to approximately 150 users of KaZaA and eDonkey for illegally downloading copyright material.
APG monitored the file sharing networks for available files with Danish IP addresses and went to court to get the users' personal details from their ISPs.
Armed with screen shots of, for example, the KaZaA window showing the files on the user's hard-drive, the APG managed to convince the court, who obliged, ordering the Danish ISPs to deliver the personal details of the incriminated users.
So far, the bills are in the post and should be landing on the mats of the unfortunate downloaders over the last few days and beyond.
The users are being charged about $16 per CD and about $60 per full length movie. If they pay now - and delete the illegal content from their hard drives - then the amount is cut in half and they avoid going to court. Those who don't pay up are to be sued.
A few questions crop up :-
- If the APG has only the file names from KaZaA or eDonkey - how can it make sure that they really are illegal files and not only "similar named files" or hoax files?
- Can APG prove that is the work of a certain user in a household - or will it go for the entire family?
News source: The Register
View: 
-1 Comments - Add comment