Mac have you parked your faculties ?
Fines don't just come through the post as you know.
I have been following this propaganda for months on Slycks and so I,m more than familiar with the facts in this and other similar demands this company are trying to scare folks into.
Lets get to the facts here, a Swiss company illegally watch torrent swarms and pick out European IP's, this is illegal under UK law (data protection act) and European law, something that would have made the case void if the case had been contested, in the UK this info is purchased by a firm of solicitors called Davenport Lyons who obtain the illegal info and then ask a court for an order to find out who has breached the copyright of their "clients" in this case a company called "topware interactive", armed with this info they send out the usual type of threatening demands based on misleading claims and outright lies, they seem to think a court will agree with them that a few parts of a torrent file constitutes a breach of their copyright , something that's unlikely to be the case, in fact many folks have found that its impossible for them to have committed any infringement as they where technically unable to upload/download the files claimed during their ISP throttling period , and worse in one case the line was out of service so its unlikely their "data collection system" looks likely to pass even the slightest scrutiny.
The facts to be aware of are these : open wireless router defences are being dropped by this company and thus far all the cases they have brought have been undefended, as you know under the law I can claim any amount of money and you will have to pay up what I demand if you don't turn up in court, silly system buts that's how it works.
Using bit-torrent you have by the way that system works aided in "uploading" the file and thus there is a chance you could be found liable if you went to court, P2p down loaders still have nothing to fear as the law states quite clearly you must have uploaded the file and thus breached the "right of creating a copy", or copyright infringement in plain terms.
My advice is to have nothing to do with this company or their software, if you receive a demand write off to them demanding particulars of the alleged infringement and proceed from their, admit nothing and seek legal advice if the letters become threatening or offensive, many have stood their ground and heard nothing, but dont fall into the trap of not writing to them to resolve the matter, its always helpful to show good will efforts have been tried when you get to court and present your wireless router defence.
