GoldenEye International has begun sending out letters to O2 and Be Broadband customers accused of sharing copyrighted adult content.
The letters accuse subscribers of downloading and uploading copyrighted pornography, and demand payment for compensation on behalf of Ben Dover Productions. GoldenEye claims it has evidence linking subscribers’ IP addresses to criminal activity.
A section of one of the letters reveals a wealth of technical information on subscribers that GoldenEye claims to have harvested, from details on what P2P networks are used to share movies along with the titles of what movies have been shared.
Read Recombu Digital’s guide to Internet Piracy ProsecutionsAccording to ACS Bore, which has obtained copies of the letters, the information presented is little more than a list of technical terms set out to bamboozle and bully people into paying up.
In an article posted on adult industry news site Xbiz Newswire, Julian Becker of GoldenEye said:
“The software we use [when detecting infringement] is capable of identifying the correct IP Address but this is not the case every time, I have to listen to my technical advisors who assure me that in the vast majority of the time, the software will identify the correct IP address that has infringed our copyright.”
In a separate but related case, Judge Birss QC decided that IP addresses were not proof that a user of the address or account subscriber was the illegal downloader. As well as this, Becker even admits that the software used by his company isn’t accurate all of the time.
Since 2012, GoldenEye has pursued internet users who have shared content to the detriment of Ben Dover Productions. After winning an appeal earlier this year, GoldenEye was given the go-ahead to get the names and addresses of O2 and Be subscribers suspected of sharing Ben Dover films. GoldenEye is now also free to offer its services to any company which suspects people of sharing its content.
The Court of Appeal also ruled that any letters sent out would need to follow a strict formula and not embarrass people into paying.
ACS Bore, a site that’s been set up by someone claiming to have been falsely accused of illegally sharing content, argues that this is exactly what’s happening here.
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