Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/11/05/canadians-are-getting-blackm.html
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yeah, we just ignore them along with all those letters from HBO
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I’m shocked we haven’t outsourced litigation yet.
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peter thiel is working on that , and Trump placing him on the supreme court would help him with that
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I think that cases like this shite thats being threatened would never fly in canadian courts, as even our small claims court is subject to the “de minimis” law.
That is to say, shit that’s too small to be worth the court’s time gets turfed.
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I wonder what percent of the legally extorted money goes to the actual rights-holders? Based on past examples, I’m guessing “zero.” Which means there’s no reason why this should be allowed - it’s not providing any benefit for the content creators supposedly being harmed by the downloads. Given the scattershot nature of the threats that often hit the wrong target, one can’t even argue that it creates a fear effect that cuts down on illegal downloading - after all, whether or not you download has little bearing on the odds of getting such a threat. (In fact, one could probably argue that those who do illegally download are savvy enough to know they can safely just ignore these threats.)
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A friend who handles the internet billing for a few households, which also because they are rural just leave their wifi open, so maybe a few more households help themselves, got a notice of something like that.
He let everyone know that HBO had detected someone trying to illegally download game of thrones or something and notified him through the ISP, and followed that with the addition of “if you weren’t successful maybe try popcorn time or something”
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But… I could have sworn Tony Clement (or was it James Moore?) said this specific thing would definitely never happen after the Harper Gov’t changed the copyright laws!
Of course, the real issue it that more educated citizens will know that the dire threats have no teeth, thanks to said copyright law (capped damages mean the blackmailers wouldn’t get back their legal fees) and while ISPs have to pass on the notices, they don’t have to pass on the names of subscribers. So if you don’t respond, the blackmailer just shrugs and moves on. If you make the mistake of responding, you expose yourself to more risk, since they get your name and can then threaten you some more.
So the law protects people with knowledge and power, and exposes the weak and uneducated to exploitation.
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