Question concerning copyright group lawsuits

[rago88]

I open this scenario to the Administrator as I'm sure you stay on top of the latest news concerning this latest money maker of suing torrent sharers.

ok....
How long before other "Lawfirms" decide that they want to get in on the action of suing torrent users..
It's like shooting fish in the barrel right now for copyright group and the enticement to copy that procedure could open up an "Open season" for users.

Get some movie companies to sign on,
join any torrent site that has "your clients movie being shared,
snapshot/copy the IP's, go to court and get injunction to supeona IPS's for the IP addreses and file the lawsuit..
Like I said, shooting fish in a barrel [for now] is quite an inticement to do legal blackmail and the more that jump on the bandwagon, the more things could get corrupted like shady law firms "seeding a movie on there own, then notifying a movie company " Hey.. we have a snapshot of 2,000 torrent users sharing your latest movie over a few week period.
How would you like to sign on with us for some big bucks!! We got the goods. All ya gotta do is sign up. 70-30 split.."
See where I am going here?
Not saying that copyright group is the savior of cinema, there in it for the money and make no bones about it but I think it is going to be like the Wild West here soon as others jump into the fray and at some point it all may backfire in the fact that it is blackmail of sorts and possibly will catch the eye of political or Judicial folk who may or may not put a halt to lot of innocent people [ and there are many who's IP get's highjacked or Grannies little angels download movies on her PC etc...getting sued for few thousand at a time.
what is your [or anyone here's take on this.
anyone also think that this can go on forever in it's current state?

[doctorhardware]

That is similar to what DirectTV did when they tried to sue people that bought smart card reader/programmers. Some people paid a fine, in order to not have to go to court. So I see that it is very possible for the Studios to do some thing like DirectTV did. That proved to be a very good revenue stream. But some people never accepted the register letter that they sent in the mail that demanded payment, or wind up in court.

[admin]

It will continue until someone actually steps up and takes the matter to court. These "law firms" don't really want to go to trial, because they risk losing and setting a precedent. And there's less profit in winning in court, compared to "pre-trial settlements".

But it looks like the EFF wants to step up and take this matter further, and I think it will be interesting, especially if they can find someone who has been wrongfully accused of downloading pirated content - win it in court, and then the US Copyright Group and others will find it much more difficult to continue with their business.

And big business it is, just look at this breakdown by Ars technica. For the US Copyright Group, it could mean millions and millions of dollars every year, so expect others to follow in their footsteps.

And of course they will get bad publicity, along with the studios that use their services. But this "outrage" is actually helpful to the studio's long term goals, since this then "forces" the government to take action and introduce things like three-strikes laws which they say will make the whole process a lot more transparent, run by governmental/independent groups, open to appeal, etc ... and you get three chances to correct your actions, instead of just the one if you get caught by the US Copyright Group, and you may only face disconnection, instead of a $1,500 "fine". But all that will happens is that instead of the US Copyright Group monitoring a few torrents, the government will start monitoring every torrent, and more people will get caught, many of them wrongfully accused, and more lawsuits or disconnections than ever before. This is what happened in the UK, basically, where "pre-trial settlements" were criticized in parliament, and then quickly after that, the "three-strikes" law were passed.

[admin]

Here's a FAQ on Cnet for those worried about getting "sued" by the US Copyright Group:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20006528-261.html

[Budreaux]

That is similar to what DirectTV did when they tried to sue people that bought smart card reader/programmers. Some people paid a fine, in order to not have to go to court. So I see that it is very possible for the Studios to do some thing like DirectTV did. That proved to be a very good revenue stream. But some people never accepted the register letter that they sent in the mail that demanded payment, or wind up in court.

That's why you never bought from US suppliers.. it was always best to buy from Canada or my fav, teh Bahamas. DTV signal hit these areas, ut they didn;t offer service, so it was legal to carry the hardware to hack DTV there. Also, the smart sellers never sold a unit with a flashed epromm..... I never traveled with a loaded chip..I'd always flash the unit once I was where I was going...it isn;t illegal to own the device, it becomes illegal once the hardware is flashed with the code for unlocking/unlooping.