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Following recent news of a mass litigation attempt by a group known as the US Copyright Group, other firms are setting up with the goal to "monetize" piracy.
Following similar firms in Europe, and the UK, these firms collect IP addresses of those that download pirated content, get ISPs to cooperate (either willingly, or via court orders) by releasing subscriber information, and then send out mass mailings threatening to sue if users do not pay a "settlement fee".
The firm usually has no intention to sue, and certainly does not have the resources to sue all the people it threatens to sue, and the intention is not even about stopping piracy, but rather, making money while copyright laws are biased towards content owners.
A favored tactic used is to focus on pirated porn, as people are much more willing to pay up if they were caught downloading something embarrassing, like porn, or in the US Copyright Group's case, Uwe Boll movies. In fact, many pay up even though they do not think they downloaded anything illegal, for fear of being taken to court. Some have argued this is essentially legal blackmail, and legal authorities in the UK seems to agree, having launched proceedings against law firms taking part in these activities.
But with civil litigations much more popular in the US, perhaps this new monetization method will have found its rightful home.
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Following similar firms in Europe, and the UK, these firms collect IP addresses of those that download pirated content, get ISPs to cooperate (either willingly, or via court orders) by releasing subscriber information, and then send out mass mailings threatening to sue if users do not pay a "settlement fee".
The firm usually has no intention to sue, and certainly does not have the resources to sue all the people it threatens to sue, and the intention is not even about stopping piracy, but rather, making money while copyright laws are biased towards content owners.
A favored tactic used is to focus on pirated porn, as people are much more willing to pay up if they were caught downloading something embarrassing, like porn, or in the US Copyright Group's case, Uwe Boll movies. In fact, many pay up even though they do not think they downloaded anything illegal, for fear of being taken to court. Some have argued this is essentially legal blackmail, and legal authorities in the UK seems to agree, having launched proceedings against law firms taking part in these activities.
But with civil litigations much more popular in the US, perhaps this new monetization method will have found its rightful home.
More:
