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Warner Bros. Copyright Trolling Customers Of Non-Six Strikes ISPs
from the but-of-course dept
One point that people have pointed out concerning the US's "six strikes" agreement between ISPs and Hollywood, is the fact that it only covers a group of the largest ISPs, but there are a fair number of other, smaller, independent ISPs. Apparently, however, Hollywood has decided that it will go after users on those ISPs as well, and will go after them more aggressively -- by demanding cash from them. Basically, Warner Bros. has teamed up with a company called Digital Rights Corp., which is sort of a "slightly more legit" form of copyright trolling -- demanding licenses from people they accuse of infringement.
As TorrentFreak notes, it's not clear that Warner Bros. can or would actually do anything if you don't pay such a demand. But, if you do pay, it appears they go back to you seeking more:
“Yes. Warner Bros. is working with Digital Rights Corp on a test ISP/subscriber notification program to many ISPs that are not participating in the Copyright Alert System,” a Warner spokesman told TorrentFreak.This is nefarious on multiple levels, because it actually treats the consumers of alternative ISPs worse than customers of ISPs who agreed to sell out those customers to Hollywood.
[....] “The notices give consumers an opportunity to settle the identified infringement for a very nominal sum of $20 per title infringed–not as a measure of damage, but as a concrete reminder that our content has value and as a discouragement of future unauthorized activity.”
As TorrentFreak notes, it's not clear that Warner Bros. can or would actually do anything if you don't pay such a demand. But, if you do pay, it appears they go back to you seeking more:
After the initial payment, Rights Corp matched the notified (and settled) infringement with two others already on file. Since the guy had filled in his phone number, the company then called him up and asked for another $40.00 to clear his file.This certainly sounds like copyright trolling, along the lines of Prenda, but at a slightly cheaper level.
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This is easy to beat
On the back in extremely tiny fine print:
"Cashing, deposit and\or acceptance of this check constitutes your legal agreement to the following in lue of any aforementioned letters agreements or legal actions instituted in behalf of who you are representing or any other entity involved in relation to this action. You shall remove any and all references to this issue from my credit files, court records and internal data bases associated with this action and all debts shall be considered paid in full and settled now and henceforth into the future. If you do not fully purge this issue you agree to being held liable in all aspects of this issue legally and financially in lue of any legal statute. By accepting this payment you are giving up all your rights to future defense of any type and accept full responsibility for your actions. This is a legal binding contract."
This is fully legal and binds them to a non negotiable contract. In addition theses checks they collect are generally automated deposit so they may not even know what's on the back. This check MUST be sent certified mail...You should pick a font that is very tiny and set op your laser printer to print on the back of the check in a light gray print..... ;)
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