GoldenEye international - nice little scam going!

[rl4engc]

If I remember correctly, correct response IF you get a letter is to respond denying it all and asking them to provide proof - which they don't have of course.

Is that correct though? i.e. by replying you're opening a dialogue so they know you're active, worried etc. A bit like replying "STOP" to a spam text message, don't do it!

There's an article on TorrentFreak about this, although surprisingly it ends by saying this

Michael Coyle, a Southampton-based solicitor with huge experience of these cases, says he’s also been receiving calls from worried Sky customers. Previously he’s handled such cases in return for a charitable donation but we understand that he’s now offering to help people for a fraction of the £400 to £600 usually demanded by GEIL.

.. which I'd be wary of. I don't think you need to pay someone to defend you, either ignore the money grabbing tulips or send a scrawled "GTFO" written in your own excrement.

[rl4engc]

Being technically illiterate, how do they know which of their titles people have supposedly viewed and how?

Say someone uploads a torrent to a site "Lesbian Couch Crashers XXX 720P WEBRIP", lots of people (leechers) start to download that torrent, and part of the protocol of BitTorrent is you have to upload to be able to download.

Now, "Brown Eye International" who lets say own the copyright to that title, are running some software that harvests all the IP addresses of all the seeders and leechers of that torrent. A few of them will come up as e.g. Sky UK so they just cut and paste a list of those IP addresses to Sky and say "These IPs were sharing our stuff". That's it in a nutshell.

How they can prove willful copyright violation is another thing e.g.

1) User does not equate to a person
2) Someone using that IP address may have had a magnet link launched which opened automatically, starting the download etc.

From memory the solicitor trying this on the first time in the UK was an Andrew Crossley of ACS:Law who was subsequently suspended by the SRA.

[FatLazyContractor]

Say someone uploads a torrent to a site "Lesbian Couch Crashers XXX 720P WEBRIP", lots of people (leechers) start to download that torrent, and part of the protocol of BitTorrent is you have to upload to be able to download.
.

Link ?

[MicrosoftBob]

Say someone uploads a torrent to a site "Lesbian Couch Crashers XXX 720P WEBRIP", lots of people (leechers) start to download that torrent, and part of the protocol of BitTorrent is you have to upload to be able to download.

Now, "Brown Eye International" who lets say own the copyright to that title, are running some software that harvests all the IP addresses of all the seeders and leechers of that torrent. A few of them will come up as e.g. Sky UK so they just cut and paste a list of those IP addresses to Sky and say "These IPs were sharing our stuff". That's it in a nutshell.

How they can prove willful copyright violation is another thing e.g.

1) User does not equate to a person
2) Someone using that IP address may have had a magnet link launched which opened automatically, starting the download etc.

From memory the solicitor trying this on the first time in the UK was an Andrew Crossley of ACS:Law who was subsequently suspended by the SRA.

3) Someone may have spoofed their IP address and accidentally used your real ip address

[TheFaQQer]

I would start with a response similar to that given in the case of Arkell v Pressdram and proceed from there.

[rl4engc]

Some interesting stuff here on these scammers, I'll look through it in more detail tomorrow.

https://acsbore.wordpress.com/

Crux of it is, "Don't Worry, Be Happy".

[JayJay]

Hey MrMan,

Your IP alone is not proof - simple as that. The only way you'll be forced to pay is if you admit your guilt. It is 1000000% down to them to prove your guilt, which they cant.

IPs can be; duplicated, hacked, all sorts.

Do you have people round your house? I assume you do. Whose to say they didn't sneakily use your internet to download a film when they popped round for dinner one evening...

My mother (would you believe ) received the same letter. She has absolutely not downloaded any films of any kind.

JayJay

[SlipTheJab]

Hey MrMan,

Your IP alone is not proof - simple as that. The only way you'll be forced to pay is if you admit your guilt. It is 1000000% down to them to prove your guilt, which they cant.

IPs can be; duplicated, hacked, all sorts.

Do you have people round your house? I assume you do. Whose to say they didn't sneakily use your internet to download a film when they popped round for dinner one evening...

My mother (would you believe ) received the same letter. She has absolutely not downloaded any films of any kind.

JayJay

+1 They have to PROVE you did the dirty deed, if they can't they lose (and they won't try since once precedent has been set their business case goes out of the window), As others have said write back asking for proof and state that you'll be taking legal advice, end of scam.

[NickFitz]

Story about this on the BBC News site: Sky warning over 'cash for porn' letter - BBC News

Best advice seems to be: admit nothing, pay nothing, demand proof, and tell them to take you to court if they think they can prove anything.

[MrMan]

Hi,

Thank you all for the advice, it does make me feel a bit better and a bit less scared.
The consensus seems to be write back and deny it, tell them I'm taking legal advice and if they have any actual (hard) proof it was me, then to take me to court? This all sounds very sensible in the cold light of day (as opposed to waking up in the middle of the night and worrying what might happen).

Thanks again, I will post back, if and when, I recieve a letter from Golden Eye International.

Cheers,