4 ms·

Wow because on both sides if you had half a brain a) the lawyers wouldn't have been caught and b) it would be effortless to defend against because there is no p

by edoo 7y ago

Wow because on both sides if you had half a brain a) the lawyers wouldn't have been caught and b) it would be effortless to defend against because there is no proof it was you on your broadband IP unless you flat out admitted it instead of just taking the 5th if it comes to it. Lawyers could do this all day above board by identifying almost abandonware/media already being shared and buying the rights legitimately and going after sharers without secretly running the sharing themselves.

CPLX 7y ago
> it would be effortless to defend against The premise here was that defending it was a loss for the people in question as it was niche/embarrassing porn stuff. Lawsuits are a matter of public record. The goal was to make people settle quietly. It worked. This scheme was an extortion strategy under cover of legal work. That’s something the legal profession was extremely unhappy with and the reason they came down so hard on these people.
- jaclaz 7y ago
  The approach seems a variation (in modern times) of the one in Roald Dahl's story "The Bookseller": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bookseller_(short_story) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bookseller_(short_story) which was very likely inspired by a 1935 story by James Gould Cozzens, "Clerical Error". Though the stories above made leverage on the desire by widows to protect the memory of their recently departed husband, essentially it is the same.
- edoo 7y ago
  The only reason they got in trouble is they themselves were offering up the files for sharing. Otherwise it is still a valid business plan.
lozenge 7y ago
They used John Doe (unnamed party) lawsuits to get the ISPs to release names. The lawyers were caught because they were greedy - they went after enough people that some of them started unravelling the thread. Some kept at it even when the lawyers offered to drop the cases.

by edoo 7y ago

CPLX 7y ago

> it would be effortless to defend against The premise here was that defending it was a loss for the people in question as it was niche/embarrassing porn stuff. Lawsuits are a matter of public record. The goal was to make people settle quietly. It worked. This scheme was an extortion strategy under cover of legal work. That’s something the legal profession was extremely unhappy with and the reason they came down so hard on these people.

jaclaz 7y ago
The approach seems a variation (in modern times) of the one in Roald Dahl's story "The Bookseller": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bookseller_(short_story) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bookseller_(short_story) which was very likely inspired by a 1935 story by James Gould Cozzens, "Clerical Error". Though the stories above made leverage on the desire by widows to protect the memory of their recently departed husband, essentially it is the same.
edoo 7y ago
The only reason they got in trouble is they themselves were offering up the files for sharing. Otherwise it is still a valid business plan.

lozenge 7y ago

They used John Doe (unnamed party) lawsuits to get the ISPs to release names. The lawyers were caught because they were greedy - they went after enough people that some of them started unravelling the thread. Some kept at it even when the lawyers offered to drop the cases.