Mass US copyright lawsuits to reach 100,000 mark

By | January 31, 2011, 4:54am PST

Summary: With a total of 99,924 lawsuits already presented to alleged file sharers, the total number of piracy cases are set to reach the 100,000 mark in a matter of weeks.

In the coming weeks, it is expected that the US mass lawsuits against file sharers will reach the 100,000 mark.

According to some reports, a total of 99,924 lawsuits have been initiated by copyright holders against infringers, alleged to have downloaded or shared files, particularly adult content.

Google recently started plugging the copyright holes by censoring auto-complete results for keywords relating to infringement. However, this has a wider effect on the nature of peer-to-peer itself as a legitimate means of sharing large files, with even results relating to Ubuntu being blocked.

When search engines and websites receive a DMCA notice, they are required to remove or omit certain results or pages which link to copyrighted material.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation estimates 75,000 people are being sued for downloading porn through peer-to-peer networks. In response to this, the EFF submitted documents to “protect the rights of each and every defendant” by attempting to quash the subpoenas, calling out the predatory nature of the ”copyright trolls who game the system”.

As younger users are prolific file sharers, one has to wonder how many of these are students, at university or at least under the age of 25. But the nature of these bandwagon-type lawsuits act indiscriminately against alleged file sharers shows a dangerous precedent, especially against younger people without the finance to settle cases presented before them.

Are copyright holders acting in a predatory fashion? Or are they simply claiming compensation for their work? It’s the age old question like ‘which came first, the chicken or the egg?’. The egg, actually.

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Topics

Zack Whittaker, a criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, Canterbury, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

Disclosure

Zack Whittaker

I worked briefly with Microsoft UK in 2006 but no longer have any connection with the company. Regardless, I remain impartial and unbiased in my views.

I don't hold any stock or shares, investments or industrial secrets in any company, but have signed confidentiality agreements with a number of UK and U.S. organisations, whose names I am not at liberty to disclose.

I was involved with Kent Union, the University of Kent's student union, undertaking voluntary, non-salaried, elected positions between early 2009 and mid-2010.

No other company, body, government department, non-governmental organisation or third sector organisation employs me or pays me a salary in any capacity whatsoever.

As a freelance journalist, whenever expenses are given and taken by a company that is not CBS Interactive, these will be disclosed in each relevant post to ensure transparency.

I currently work with a UK law enforcement unit, but this is an entirely separate position which bears no connection to other work.

(Updated: 23rd October 2011)

Biography

Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, UK, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

After studying criminology at university, though still in his early-20's, he has already had a series unconventional work and voluntary positions. He has worked with researchers studying neurological illnesses like Tourette's syndrome (which he suffers from), has given lectures on the nature of disabilities in the public community, and occasionally ends up speaking on television and radio discussing the events of the day.

He first had academic work published at the age of 22, then still an undergraduate, and has been cited by a wide range of publications: from the Huffington Post, Business Insider, AllThingsDigital, The Atlantic Wire and CBS News.

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RE: Sony's data breach costs likely to scream higher
drumandyou 9th Mar
My son was mortified by the possibility of being accused of an illegal act. He had no idea at all that an http://france-pharma.com | http://bluepillsau.com | http://edproblemsolver.com innocent seemingly free download offered to him could not be free. Again, we suffered and are suffering with the accusation, it was disturbing, we feel our privacy was invaded and we did nothing wrong
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No, the chicken actually
Economister 31st Jan 2011
God created the chicken which laid the egg wink
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Contributr
RE: Mass US copyright lawsuits to reach 100,000 mark
zwhittaker Updated - 31st Jan 2011
@Economister Only if God exists. God is relative, just is space and time. And as an abstract notion, it's quite feasible that neither the chicken, the egg or God even exist.
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Troubling thoughts
Economister 31st Jan 2011
@zwhittaker

In that case, do we exist? And how about the law suits? Maybe they do not exist either.
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Well I'm God
search & destroy 31st Jan 2011
And I exist.

wink
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And make sure you tell him that...
naibeeru 22nd Feb 2011
@zwhittaker ... when you shuffle off this mortal coil and find yourself standing before Him. Better yet, get to know Him now before you get the rude shock. The evidence for Him is all around you, but if you don't want to see it, it will elude you until you are willing to conscience the fact that God exists. Here's 3 things you can look up to start rocking your world: our universe is digital, not analog; irreducible complexity; information in DNA. Any one of those things, looked at honestly and carefully, will demonstrate the fallacy of the darwinian-style secular world view.

It's ok to believe in God - He most certainly believes in you! happy Ignore the stupid attempts by humans over the last 6000 years to reach God by dead religion: God's not into religion, He's into relationship (hence why He's referred to as a person, not a thing). And He says that anyone - anyone at all - who seriously looks for Him will find Him. The question is: are you willing to find Him? It's a game-changer, guaranteed. And the change is not boring and stuffy like the religionists make it out to be: God's more radical and "out there" than most people realise. And He's not a grumpy old fart with a long beard and bunny-slippers, shuffling about heaven, occasionally whacking the "smite" button on His keyboard, either (contrary to popular myth)... wink
@zwhittaker
God is relative? This is just foggy thinking. He either is or he isn't.
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@Economister

So True. Can't have an egg with the chicken being created first.
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Incorrect.
Zorched Updated - 31st Jan 2011
@Joe Dufflebag : Most mutations (evolution for those not abhorrent to the concept) happen in the egg state. So, the egg that is hatched would be genetically different from the parent. Therefore, the egg of a particular species always comes first. The parent of the chickens were actually small raptors (dinosaurs). They've even been able to stimulate the latent genes of the ovum in the eggs to grow their tails back. But, the Rabid Creationists forcefully tuned out after I said the Evil Word 'Evolution', so I guess laying out the truth is pointless.
But, this is not about eggs or chicken, this is about the mass lawsuits. If consumers were smart, which I have to claim the opposite based on their buying behavior, they would decide, "Hey, let's not buy any music or movies for 3-4 months as a protest and let the studios starve." The musicians would find labels that aren't so dictatorial and the megagiants would suffocate from the weight of their overpaid execs. Problem solved. Unfortunately, the studios know Americans are addicted to buying that crap so the chances of an actual movement mobilizing are about as high as all of congress getting along as friends.
@Zorched That's my opinion. Ferienhaus Mallorca
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@Joe Dufflebag Here's 3 things you can look up to start rocking your world: our universe is digital, not analog; irreducible complexity; information in DNA. Any one of those things, looked at honestly and carefully, will demonstrate the fallacy of the darwinian-style secular world view. Here's 3 things you can look up to start rocking your world: our universe is digital, not analog; irreducible complexity; information in DNA. Any one of those things, looked at honestly and carefully, will demonstrate the fallacy of the darwinian-style secular world view. bay area fishing
Houston plumber
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ACS Law Emails
Alan Smithie 31st Jan 2011
Just read through those and the truth is known, it's a shakedown using speculative invoicing.
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Some Predatory tactics
sboverie 31st Jan 2011
The link to the article regarding EFF's action talks about a few in the porn industry filing suits against hundreds for copyright infringement. The article did not state what content is being infringed other than porn. The tactics used seemed to be a large fishing expedition to get money from people who may or may not be guilty of infringing; the court is very far away and using the stigma of porn to shame people into settling out of court. That does sound predatory.
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This is totally off. There is no chicken-or-egg situation here. Copyright holders are legally entitled to protect their assets, and if that means going after kids, so be it. It is the unsupervised activity of younger people by adults that fuels this controversy. Go after the parents.
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And that is a sure remedy!
excited_electron 1st Feb 2011
@bionicbub:

So put yourself straight under arrest when your kid starts using an ipod and the internet! Lol!
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@excited_electron : Parents ARE responsible. They give their kids these things. I've shown parents the porn, the emails from adults to their 14 year old daughters, the thousands of illegal downloads, the viruses, etc. Why do people think a computer is some harmless little fluff of a toy? Are adults this stupid? Are they all morons who think a computer can't be used to commit crimes, so little Timmy should be giving all the toys he wants, unsupervised, while Mommy & Daddy are too uneducated to know what the toys are capable of? Do you give babies balloons to eat and plastic bags to suffocate on? There is no difference. Claiming the gadgets are too confusing is not an excuse for parents. Children and teenagers can live without unfettered use of computers and $300 cell phones. Oddly, they lived without them a few hundred years.
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How to get rich:
backroads2001@... 31st Jan 2011
Step 1 - get the rights to some Porn - it doesn't even have to be particularly good Porn
Step 2 - Get it out on some file sharing networks with comments about how awesome it is.
Step 3 - Send a notice to everyone who downloads it to pay or else.
Step 4 - Since most people don't want to be publicly linked to Porn, just watch the money roll in.
I'm not sure what the difference is between this and extortion, except maybe that this is legal and some people will defend your right to do it.
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OK, I'll make a deal with you
Economister 31st Jan 2011
@backroads2001@...

I operate the camera, you bring the partner(s) and "act". We split the proceeds 50/50. OK? happy
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Message has been deleted.
mrdelurk@... Updated - 2nd Feb 2011
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Does the 100k recipient get a "dream team" of crack lawyers to fight for the oppressed "common man"? How about a "get out of jail, free card"?
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Gee. Talk about everybody missing the point. When something no longer serves its purpose, what happens to it?

The recording companies once served the purpose of reproducing and distributing the product of musical performers.

Nowadays the physical media is no longer needed, so the recording companies no longer serve their purpose. Those that have future vision will transition from factories that burn media to servers that offer the content up for download, but if the cost to the consumer isn't commensurate with the cost to reproduce the content, then people will feel ripped off and steal the material via peer to peer.

In other words, charging nearly as much for a download as the tangible hard media clearly means windfall profits for the content providers, and the market will not stand for it.

Eventually, artists will all realize that (as some already have) they can cut out the middle guy and stream their content direct to the consumer. Historically, the artists have been ripped off by the music business even more than the consumer, and modern technology promises to put an end to this.

To an up and coming pop star, the web designer/promoter will supplant the agent/manager in the future!
The egg, actually.
Dinosaurs laid eggs and chicken eggs are not specified.
My son was mortified by the possibility of being accused of an illegal act. He had no idea at all that an http://france-pharma.com | http://bluepillsau.com | http://edproblemsolver.com innocent seemingly free download offered to him could not be free. Again, we suffered and are suffering with the accusation, it was disturbing, we feel our privacy was invaded and we did nothing wrong
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This is an absurd situation. Talk about predatory tactics... All media push kids to play games, cable companies advertise fast Internet connection and offer protection suites that are supposed to warn when illegal or dangerous stuff comes up, kids socialize more through games than by any other means, and then a website seemingly legal offering free games puts a copyrighted one as a free download, my 13-year-old that had never seen the name torrent before downloads it and I'm threatened with a lawsuit? Am I the one to blame? I don't think so. My son never downloads illegal stuff, never used file swapping sites. I think we are the victims. Who can tell if this pop-up (that's how my son said the process began) wasn't planted by the alleged copyrighted file author, trying to catch "criminals" in the act? My son was mortified by the possibility of being accused of an illegal act. He had no idea at all that an innocent seemingly free download offered to him could not be free. Again, we suffered and are suffering with the accusation, it was disturbing, we feel our privacy was invaded and we did nothing wrong -- we are honest people, we have no pirated software on any of our computers. I feel that my cable company, instead of protecting my family, is siding with people that use these predatory tactics. I shouldn't have to be checking if files are copyrighted if they pop-up in my face using the cable connection as if they were free. And it doesn't make sense to expect that anyone will be personally overseeing everything that goes on on a home network -- even if nobody in that home does anything wrong, malware and bad people have all sorts of ways to get users to do things unknowingly with awful effects. That happens everyday all over the world to adults, how can a child be expected to recognize those threats, and even worse, to know the copyright laws? I totally feel we are the victims.
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