Innocent people are being accused of illegal file-sharing and threatened with high fines and court action by games manufacturers seeking to protect copyright, according to a Which? Computing investigation.
The consumer champions looked into the case of Gill and Ken Murdoch from Inverness, who were pursued by Atari for allegedly sharing the game Race 07 on their computer. The couple have never played a computer game in their lives but were “caught” by Atari’s solicitors, London law firm Davenport Lyons who identified the Murdochs’ computer’s IP (internet protocol) address as illegally file-sharing.
Atari followed up its unfounded accusations by insisting the elderly couple pay 500 compensation and 25 costs, threatening costs would be much higher if legal proceedings took place.
Since Which? Computing’s intervention, Atari's legal firm, Davenport Lyons have decided not to pursue the matter.
The entertainment industry claims file-sharing costs millions in lost revenue, with lawyers are stepping up the hunt for Britons who illegally share games and films over the internet.
However, while many pursued cases are valid examples of file-sharing, the policing technology used is by no means foolproof, with many hundreds of those pursued being innocent victims who have failed to secure their computer against file-sharing, and may have had their IP address used illegally by a third party.
Continued... 1 | 2 | NEXT >
New industry group takes aim at ‘net pollution,’ piracy
Busta Rhymes wins UK legal bid to perform
(Reuters)
