Let’s hope you don’t live in Germany and, if you do, let’s hope you don’t download illegally. In a new report released by internet industry association ECO (in it’s natural Germanic tongue here and explained here), it seems that German ISPs are giving away data about their subscribers and what they use the internet for, with at least 300,000 people affected each month (3.2 million a year). The report goes on to say that content-owners and rights-holders, who are, of course, getting their products illegally downloaded, are requesting the information from the ISPs so that they can turn around and use that info to find, contact, and send threatening letters to subscribers who illegally download media.
The threatening letters, which sound like a much meaner and more Teutonic version of “Give us the money for your download or you’re dead,” also demand cash payments ranging from $430 to $1720 USD that must be paid for the legal issues to end. As you might imagine, most people end up paying the demand for cash as opposed to going to court or being reprimanded goons (which is why the Mafia works) and, as some people have pointed out, the letters have started bringing in a veritable buttload for share-holders and content-owners. However, because people are generally nice, a litany of people have begun speaking out against the letters, such as ECO’s boardmember Oliver Sume who had this to say: “A stern warning letter would be enough in most cases, you don’t always have to demand several hundred Euros.”
The big story here, though, is — drum-roll please — US companies are starting to do it too! Yay! That’s right, two US content-owners and rights-holders, Voltage Pictures and Nu Images (who content-own The Hurt Locker and The Expendables, respectively) have had mass lawsuits filed on their behalf by the US Copyright Group; the lawsuits affect a combined total of 47,905 defendants. Good luck, illegal downloaders!
