I have heard of more then a few people recieving letters in the last few days about alledged downloading of CDs/DVDs etc. These come from a company and threaten legal action with claims around £500 against the account holder of the Karoo service. Karoo have been required to give the downlaod information to this company and in no way are they behind it.

I can imagine quite a few people getting one of these letters and having a blue funk .......................... Don''t panic



Go tho this site [urlhttp://beingthreatened.yolasite.com[/urland download the letter and return it to the company ASAP.

This company sends out letters from information recieved and this is not a scam, doing nothing is not an option. The law is very clear and the downloading of certain files is not illegal the allowing of uploading from your computer is the problem.

I know of at least one person who has paid out several hundred pounds after ringing the company up and arranging a fee to remove the threat of a large litigation.

Tis a good move if you ask me it keeps the posties busy

FO!

Are karoo allowed to give out this info???

Yup. Thanks to the erosion of civil liberties undertaken by our wonderful Government.

Still, if you've nothing to hide...

First thing people need to note is that the first letter you will get will be from Karoo/KC and this letter does not need responding to it is just to inform you that they have passed your information onto ACS.

Wait until you get a letter from ACS then go to the site IAN mentioned and read through the info fully and DONT PANIC



When you do send the letter make sure it is sent by recorded delivery this way you have a record of the letter being sent. (do not ignore the letter) Do not admit to anything and do not add information that is not on the letter from them.
Remember they have to prove in a court that you shared this file/cd/film whatever, they cannot do this unless they sieze your computer and get the information directly from that.
Finally stand your ground this company have yet to take anybody to court because so many people panic and pay.

How to avoid the letters... Stop using peer to peer software (Torrents/file sharing programs etc) as IANP says the problem is not the downloading but the uploading(sharing) of the copyrighted file/s

Slightly off topic but if you need to download stuff look into newsgroups.

This company have actually taken two people to court..............

They lost both times

Not seen those cases and according to this www.neowin.net/news/150-wrongly- ... ownloading Quote None of the 10,000 actions sent by the firm have yet to go to court, according to Crossley, but the firm apparently has "no fear of it," with some already going to court. He admitted that the majority of people settle out of court.'" The other company who these have taken over from davenport (something like that) did try a couple of cases

Not seen those cases and according to this www.neowin.net/news/150-wrongly- ... ownloading Quote None of the 10,000 actions sent by the firm have yet to go to court, according to Crossley, but the firm apparently has "no fear of it," with some already going to court. He admitted that the majority of people settle out of court.'" The other company who these have taken over from davenport (something like that) did try a couple of cases

thank god i dont illegally upload stuff

or you could operate through a portal in say ..........Poland of course

I thought this was an EU directive?

Or just not use such an unsecure method as PSP. Use newsgroups with SSL.

Hmmm...

According to the site posted;

We got a letter at the start of last year, they said they had some proof and we asked for it. They have yet to reply to it.

So, if my friend had downloaded files and never allowed uploading, would you say this put them in a better position?

Karoo suspended my account for using P2P for doing exactly that. As I say, using torrent or such like is a fools game these days. Your just asking for trouble, there are more secure and private methods.

What about tv progs. We do not do films or music for that reason only. Films are that cheap at the moment why would you want to download them.

Anything you download via p2p puts you at risk. It is not the fact you are downloading it but when you use torrents you are also uploading it to many other people and this is the part they are getting you for.

Someone I know, a friend, wants to ask - is it just music and the like or does downloading other stuff, possibly with an adult theme get you into the same pickle

If the company who produce the stuff is on ASC's list of companies you are at risk.

update www.pcpro.co.uk/news/355099/bpi- ... ng-lawyers

update www.pcpro.co.uk/news/355099/bpi- ... ng-lawyers

I know someone who I better send this info to...his nickname is Jack Sparrow he does that much downloading....he is in the BT area though...are they targetting them too?????

How many years would they go back or are they only allowed 12 months?

I know of someone who recieved a letter this week for an offence in April 09 so i think the 12 months is a good indicator of how far back they will go.

Most isp's will give details to ACS when asked to do so BT definately do. Tiscali were removed from the last list provided and with their owner going on record against the 'Digital economy bill' it could be one of the better providers to be with in the future.

i know most ISPs are not really happy about this as its extra work for them - their main job is to keep decent bandwidth for their customers, and also its not in their best interests to investigate their customers.
To the person who asked about 'other' files then the answer is if it is owned by someone then unless they give permission then you are most likely breaking copyright law if you download. i think the company concerned catches people by searching for files owned by their clients, and seeing who is offering them for download (ie. uploading). they can do this legally as they will have been given permission by the files owners