Anti-Piracy Lawyers 'Knew Letters Hit Innocents'

nk497 writes "A UK legal watchdog has claimed lawyers who sent out letters demanding settlement payments from alleged file-sharers knew they would end up hitting innocent people. The Solicitors Regulators Authority said the two Davenport Lyons lawyers 'knew that in conducting generic campaigns against those identified as IP holders whose IP numeric had been used for downloading or uploading of material that they might in such generic campaigns be targeting people innocent of any copyright breach.' The SRA also said the two lawyers lost their independence because they convinced right holders to allow them to act on their behalf by waiving hourly fees and instead taking a cut of the settlements. The pair earned £150,000 of the £370,000 collected from alleged file-sharers. Because they were looking to recoup their own costs, the lawyers ignored clients' concerns about the negative publicity the letter campaign could — and eventually did — cause, the SRA claimed."

Comments

I see

[Pojut]

Can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs?

"Screw the omlette. Can't go skeet shooting without breaking a few lawyers." -My wife's uncle

Re:I think Shakespear had it right

[AnonymousClown]

Famous qoute, "First Kill all the lawyers" seems apropos. And I know it probably wasn't what was intended within the context of the play, but it sure does seem correct now.

No, no,no. That's like hitting all your dogs on the nose when one pisses on the rug.

Just shoot the assholes like these and let the other animals learn from that. And if Britain is creating lawyers half as fast as the US is, there will plenty of lawyers to fill in the gap.

I have a cat

[AnonymousClown]

And I didn't use a cat analogy on purpose because....

the cat will shit on the rug, piss on the couch and when you discipline it, it looks at you with a look of "What the fuck is your problem?!" and goes off and does it again.

Re:I have a cat

[Anonymous Coward]

After which it looks at you contemptuously and commands: "Now bring the food tribute due to me, slave."

Re:I have a cat

[mwvdlee]

My cat is looking at me with disdain for reading your post. I'm sure by the end of this reply he'll claw me away from the keybo

Re:I have a cat

[Wolvey]

On the plus side your cat was kind enough to submit that post for you.

Re:I think Shakespear had it right

[Anonymous Coward]

of course, whenever you need a lawyer don't you want to have the meanest bastard you can find to drag the other guy through the coals and then spit on him to add insult?

its about winning, not justice.

"The Economist" and "Viz" view of the UK

[PolygamousRanchKid]

I read these two UK periodicals to get a full spectrum of folks in the UK. From these two, one can conclude that UK citizens (née, subjects) are a highly intelligent, diplomatic and genteel folk, who will punch your fucking teeth out, if you spill their pint. "A pint and a fight, a great British night!"

So it boggles me a bit that UK folks would just pay up on this scam without resistance. It's a good thing that Darl Charles McBride doesn't know about this. Everyone in the UK would be sent a bill for $699 for running Linux on their refrigerators. "Oi! Are yee linuxing up oor lass?"

Re:This is nothing

[Chowderbags]

Nah, someone will post a torrent.

Re:The death penalty is designed to prevent

[Anonymous Coward]

If you believe in evolution, regularly killing psychopaths and sociopaths will either reduce the percentage in future generations, or make them harder to detect (which might not be so bad if it means they behave better).

Of course this is probably the way some psychopaths/sociopaths think. Hence that's why it's better to post this anonymously :).