[pp.int.general] Companies that trap and sue P2P users in Germany

[Rok Andrée]

This practice was pretty popular a while back in england and torrent freak
reported on it a lot.

I thought it was all done with? They are still doing this?

Lp
Rok Andrée
Piratska stranka Slovenije - Slovenian Pirate Party



On 9 March 2012 22:49, Markus Drenger <
markus.drenger at piratenpartei-hessen.de> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> in short: yes, they do.
>
> long version:
> rights holders pay lawyers or "warning companies" to sue people. they
> have a secret software that watches p2p traffic. if they see an
> infrigement they can go to your isp and ask for your name and adress by
> providing IP and timestamp.
> Then they send you a warning letter "don't do it again and here is your
> bill". Courts ruled that a warning letter for a first noncommercial
> "small" infrigement may be up to 100€.
> Please note: this entire process is extrajudicial. Their business case
> is "pay a little fine or we take this to court" and many people pay.
>
> There is misuse of this concept:
> companies, specialised in writing warning letters, send the same letter
> to tenthousands of people, we even have a word for that "Abmahnwelle" -
> "wave of warnings".
> There are stories of those companys which put their clients' content on
> the internet. Of course, downloading content put on the internet by the
> rightsholder is legal, but if they take you to court, you have to proof,
> that they uploaded it. And this modi operandi is not widely known, so an
> average lawyer or judge will not consider this.
> Afair there was even a company, which put content without the
> rightsholders consent on the internet and tried to sue people for
> downloading it.
>
> if people don't pay, only a very little number of cases go to court. but
> in a court case those companies problably win, by providing "evidence"
> recorded by their secret p2p-observer software.
>
> Greetings,
> Markus Drenger
>
>
> right holders can send you a warning letter for infriging their copyright.
>
> Am 09.03.12 22:09, schrieb Richard Stallman:
> > I'm told there are companies that set traps for P2P sharers in Germany,
> > and then send threatening letters saying they will sue if the victims
> > don't immediately pay 1000 euros.
> >
> > Does anyone here know anything about this?  For instance, can
> > those companies really win if they sue?
> >
> > --
> > Dr Richard Stallman
> > President, Free Software Foundation
> > 51 Franklin St
> > Boston MA 02110
> > USA
> > www.fsf.org  www.gnu.org
> > Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software.
> >   Use free telephony http://directory.fsf.org/category/tel/
> >
> > ____________________________________________________
> > Pirate Parties International - General Talk
> > pp.international.general at lists.pirateweb.net
> > http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general
> >
>
> ____________________________________________________
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