EFF Launches New Webpage to Help Mass Lawsuit Targets
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EFF Launches New Webpage to Help Mass Lawsuit Targets
EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) launched a new webpage titled “US Copyright Group vs. The People” which is aimed to help people understand the claims made against them more clearly and view possible ways out. The major intention of the source is to help the targets find legal counsel to help them.
The EFF has always represented public interest groups willing to help thousands of BitTorrent users who have appeared to be targets of a mass P2P lawsuit filed by the US Copyright Group.
To remind you, the USCG, a DC-based law firm, targeted initially over twenty thousand users, accusing them of illegally uploading the indie films “Far Cry,” “Gray Man,” “Uncross the Stars,” or “Call of the Wild 3D,” with adding the Academy Award-winning picture “The Hurt Locker” later, after convincing its producers to join the mass litigation. The law firm offered the targets quick $2500 settlements if they wanted to avoid trial.
Right after the start of the litigation, the EFF issued a call for arms looking for the lawyers willing to help people defend themselves. It later teamed up with Public Citizen and the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) in order to file briefs with DC court, asking the judges to quash subpoenas sent by the USCG. Their main argument was that the US Copyright Group had yet to prove that DC court had jurisdiction over the unidentified defendants.
Now the Electronic Frontier Foundation takes another step in its effort to help those accused by setting up a resource page intended to help people understand what they are being accused of and explore possible ways out. The page “USCG vs. the People” answers many questions asked by the users supposing they are listed in the USCG’s lawsuit or receiving the warning letters from the law firm. The list of lawyers interested in assisting is also posted on the page.
The EFF insists that the law firm is abusing copyright legislation trying to get quick paydays from users with scanty financial resources. The outfit has been concerned about this mass P2P lawsuit since it first emerged this spring, noticing at once that the USCG prefers to ignore or sidestep the fundamental legal protections all the defendants are supposed to be granted. As the copyright legislation is intended to be used largely against commercial infringers, it’s clearly not fair to shake out settlements from common users having few resources to defend themselves.
