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Nearly 100,000 P2P Users Sued In the Past Year

Posted by Soulskill on from the cholesterol-for-the-courts dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The avalanche of copyright infringement lawsuits in the United States, mainly against BitTorrent users, are about to hit a dubious milestone. In total 99,924 defendants have been sued in the last 12 months, and new cases are being filed at a rapid rate. Adult companies in particular have embraced the profitable pay-up-or-else scheme where tens of millions of dollars are at stake." Though, as other readers point out, both judges and cable companies are getting tired of the endless subpoenas in P2P porn cases.

10 of 254 comments (clear)

  1. problem solved by thehodapp · · Score: 3, Interesting

    don't be a victim. Use a proxy.

  2. So what's a "victim" to do? by Ritz_Just_Ritz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So you get an extortion note. Then what? Do you settle? If not, do you hire a lawyer? Do you do nothing and wait to see if an actual trial happens?

    Who's to say that someone isn't being naughty and spoofing your address? Or perhaps someone has sniffed enough of your wireless AP traffic to divine the password and go to town downloading crap?

    1. Re:So what's a "victim" to do? by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Seriously, if you want the content then pay for it

      Mod parent up.

      It's time to face facts - Torrenting copywritten videos and audio files is eventually going to get you bitten - And you can make all the academic arguements you want about 'data wanting to be free' and blah blah blah but the fact remains that as things sit today the law isn't on your side. Do I rip my DVDs and put them on my iPod? Absolutely. Do I share those rips online? No damn way.

    2. Re:So what's a "victim" to do? by nurb432 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It just doesn't matter. You are expected to secure your wifi and not doing so isn't a blanket excuse. If it were then everyone would leave their wifi open and there would be no suits.

      Of course it matters, as it inserts 'reasonable doubt' into the equation. There are also viruses, etc that factor into this.

      Just beacuse they THINK i did something wrong does not make it true, and they need to prove it was *me*. I am speaking from expirence to the extent that years ago my Linux based router ( back in the dialup days, not recently ) was hacked into and was turned into a Russian porn IRC bot for a day ( it was quickly discovered and remedied, and I notified the next guy in the chain as a good citizen ). But who knows what could have happens for those 8 hours or so. Major corporations are hit to, it really can happen to the best of us.

      The only thing i'm guilty of if i get hacked is violating my AUP with my ISP. Its not much different than if someone steals my locked car and uses it in a crime. I didn't commit a crime.

      --
      ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  3. What if all 100,000 turned on the companies? by NicknamesAreStupid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I know that most cannot afford to even spend the time. But if they did, they would bankrupt these guys under a sea of legal expenses. They would be forced to respond in thousands of jurisdictions. It would be like getting devoured by fire ants. Just a thought.

  4. Re:I2P by sakdoctor · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Great. Clog up the exit nodes of I2P and TOR so that users with a real political need can't access the web.

    At least get a VPN that terminates in Scandinavia.

  5. Re:400 million to go by nurb432 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Rapists and murders don't effect the media giant's revenue stream. In fact they enhance it due to 'made for TV movies' and pseudo 'news commentatry' shows that come out of the drawn out court cases.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  6. Re:How about the rest of the relevant statistics? by lee1026 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We do have a system like that here in California. It is not working extremely well as the people just keep voting in spending increases while voting down tax increases.

  7. No free lunch. by westlake · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So, if I decide a TV program is out of the question for some reason (either because I can't receive it at all, or because I won't be there at broadcast time), then it is still a genuine crime that should be punishable by destroying my life with insane charges?

    At no point does it become a criminal charge

    In the US it can become a federal criminal charge - and it can escalate to a felony charge.

    That has been the law since the NET (No Electronic Theft) Act of 1997.

    P2P is all about "file sharing." The unlicensed wholesale re-distribution of protected works through P2P networks.

    That is why statutory damages apply - and it is why the geek would be the first to scream bloody murder if his uploaded shares could be successfully watermarked and traced back to him.

    Even though I am one of those who doesn't respond to commercials?

    The geek is the gift of god in cross-examination.

    His self-regard, and boundless sense of entitlement to a free media fix is the one message you want the jury to take away from his testimony.

    It really doesn't get any better than this.

  8. Re:How about the rest of the relevant statistics? by zippthorne · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It could be worse. They could be voting for both spending increases and tax increases.

    Taxes never balance the budget in a situation like you've apparently got, because when an "acceptable deficit level" is found, all that increasing taxes does is mask the cost of the spending and make it appear that even even more increases are possible...

    --
    Can you be Even More Awesome?!