Zombies are no excuse ….
p2pnet.net news:- Lawyers trying to nail 500 file sharers for supposedly distributing illegal copies of Dream Pinball 3D have apparently accepted the ‘guilty’ computers may have been under zombie control.
But, says The Register, it won’t make any difference. The “alleged perpetrators will still be charged £300 on the assumption they were guilty of sharing the game over peer-to-peer networks,” says the story.
German games software distributor Zuxxez is behind the action and, “using a firm called Davenport Lyons, it’s mimicking a ploy much favoured by entertainment cartel enforcers, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) in particular, even offering victims a ’settlement’ option with threats of huge fines if they don’t agree to the extortion,” said p2pnet.
Now the company has sent a letter to alleged online distributors on behalf of games publisher Zuxxez saying, “Please note that it is possible that your IP address may have been used by a third party if you have an unsecured wireless connection or your computer security has been compromised, or if other people or children have access to the computer connected to the internet service provided by your ISP,” says The Register.
However, “The security of your computer and internet connection is your responsibility and you need to ensure that both are protected at all times with the most up to date anti-virus and firewall software, and ensure that any wireless router is properly encrypted, in order to be certain that your computer is not being used for unlawful purposes and without your knowledge or consent,” says Davenport, according to the story.
Will the RIAA now return the favour and use the Davenport ploy against sue ‘em all victims?
Also See:
The Register - P2P pinball lawyers say ignorance is no defence, April 17, 2007
p2pnet - Zuxxez goes after file sharers, March 29, 2007
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at thIs the endSurvey: How Did Copyright Infringement Become Equated with Robbery? (of the Net) nigh?zze University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
April 17th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
If you steal my car in the middle of the night, rob a bank, then come put the car back in the morning without me knowing it, guess what, I am not responsible for the bank robbery
April 17th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
exactamont
April 17th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Yes, but we are talking about copyright infringment not bank robbery or some other lower crime like murder etc. It’s copyright infringment and it’s the worse crime there is just ask the RIAA, MPAA and the American Gov’t
April 17th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Hack their systems, do DDOS attacks on major financial institutions, cripple some buisinesses, and when they get sued they’ll squirm as they say “it wasn’t our fault, we were hacked!”
Double standards.. I hate them.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
If it’s an acceptable argument that the end user is responsible for their own security - then if the end user is sued and loses, they should be able to sue M$oft, the maker of their router/cable modem/etc. If M$oft cant make a ’secure’ operating system and a router/cable modem doesnt protect you then sue em all..bog down our legal system for decades….. wait.
Step back now.
Do we expect all grandmothers that buy a computer to know as much as a certified computer engineer in regard to computer/net security? Really? I mean damn, my parents use the net all the time and I’m constantly removing virii/trojans etc and all they do is basic web browsing - who’s to say they wont get 0wn3d by an irc botnet at some point and have this happen to them… and THEY are the ones that would lose the case?
Moronic, broken logic.
All of this for a petty violation of copyright? We all understand that this is not even a felony right? At what point did our pursuit of p2p users outweigh the efforts in the “war on drugs”? Laughable yet depressing statement.
Just my 10 cents, _-Jile-_
December 1st, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Just shows what idiots these ambulance chasers are…
what the hell has updated anti virus & firewall software got to do with a router high jack?
“What’s the difference between a porcupine and an ambulance chasing
BMW carrying three lawyers”?
“– A porcupine has the pricks on the outside”