Coming after bit torrent porn users?
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Hi, came across this article online…do i have to worry about using gaytorrent.ru?
Bits Torrents users are in for a little extortion. You've been warned!
Chicago lawyer leads fight against porn piracy
More than a dozen pornography studios are using a Chicago attorney to launch an attempted crackdown on the illegal online sharing of their movies, borrowing a page from the controversial campaign launched this year by the Hollywood makers of "The Hurt Locker" to go after thousands of alleged copyright violators.
John Steele, 39, dubbed a "pirate slayer" recently by an adult-video trade publication, has filed the first seven of what he expects will be 10 lawsuits this year, each potentially targeting thousands of people. It's the first time that type of lawsuit has been filed here, copyright attorneys said. Federal judges here have so far ordered Internet service providers to turn over the names of around 3,000 customers.
The legal technique of filing " John Doe" lawsuits naming thousands of defendants from across the country has come under fire from privacy groups. They question what they call the heavy-handed tactic of going after BitTorrent users who typically lack an attorney, often live in a different state than where the lawsuit is filed and fear the embarrassment of being named in a court file as having downloaded pornography.
Such lawsuits drew headlines last spring when the producers of "The Hurt Locker," this year's best-picture Oscar winner, went after thousands of BitTorrent users in a case filed in Washington.
"It's a fundamentally unfair process," said Corynne McSherry, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which intervened in the "The Hurt Locker" case. "And there is the added reason that they're going to be named as a person who downloaded porn. Some of it is gay and lesbian porn, and not everybody is out about their preferences."
Steele said judges have upheld the technique, which he said is the only feasible way to go after so many defendants.
hXXp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-porn-attorney-20101115,0,6593930.storyDisabled live link ~ please no live links allowed
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I do not believe you should have anything to worry about with GT.ru being as there is a strict policy. There is a forum thread regarding banned content from the tracker for this very reason. As well, because of the nature of GT.ru being located in Europe where it falls under European law, the nature of BitTorrent is very different. As well, with the tracker server being located in Europe (particularly Germany), it puts a whole other spin on things and being able to trace what the P2P connections are actually being used for.
The short answer is, I wouldn't be too worried about GT.ru, but in the event that you are, my suggestion would be to seek the use of a VPN to be able to hide your identity from both your ISP as well as from "big brother".
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Mr Mazda's right. US law has to struggle way to much to cross the ocean. We Europeans survived the Dark Plague, two world wars and socialism, some American attorney won't frighten us ;D
And another thing. I, personally, doubt this "campaign" will succeed much. Panic is all that this done for.
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This is indeed a scare tactic that works for the industry…..... think of the #'s of users scared away from such a news article let actually charging John Does with piracy.
PHFFFFTTTTTTTTtttttttt!!!!!! I say.
Unless drastically mistaken our tracker is in Russia hence the .ru ?
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mmm no, it's not in Russia, in only holds the domain .ru
If I recall correctly, the server is located in Netherlands. I could be mistaken though.
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ok thanks for your reassurance!
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He's using a well worn legal tactic that has been used in the UK and other parts of Europe for several years now. It's a form of extortion.
Google " Davenport Lyons " and " ACS: Law " {same people, they set up a new company to do piracy cases} to see what they are doing. I think DL getting banned from practicing law in several EU countries for dirty tactics is why they started ASC: Law.
Their "proof" is extremely weak and they have sent letters threatening to sue to printers, dead people and countless variety of other non sense.
They don't take people to court, despite their claim to have successfully won a case and awarded £16,000, they rely on your fear of court to get people to pay. No one can find any evidence of the supposed case where they won the $16,000.
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See also this thread on the antics of ACS:Law http://forum.gaytorrent.ru/index.php?topic=12631.0
As raphjd says, it's pure extortion, other law practises will no doubt do the same
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