A (bit) torrent of lawsuits descending on Canadians

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A (bit) torrent of lawsuits descending on Canadians

Post by tvroadmin » Fri Apr 19, 2019 12:29 am

Film, TV studios filing lawsuits against Canadian BitTorrent users
Anjuli Patil · CBC News · Posted: Apr 17, 2019 6:00 AM AT


Production companies can get names, addresses of IP holders and sue individuals for illegal downloads

If you received a piece of registered mail from a movie studio looking to sue you for illegally downloading a TV show such as Game of Thrones, a Canadian privacy lawyer in Nova Scotia says you need to take it seriously.

If ignored, there could be a high price to pay.

"They can get a default judgment and they can go for the maximum, which is $5,000," David Fraser told CBC Radio's Mainstreet on Tuesday.

"And that could become a lien on your house, that could become garnishment of your salary and it's not something you can just hope will go away."

For years, studios have been cracking down on people illegally downloading shows and movies by targeting suspects through sending notices to their internet providers, which are forwarded to customers.

Under Canada's Copyright Modernization Act, internet service providers have to track the IP addresses of users who are illegally downloading.

How names, addresses are revealed

Now, studios are identifying an IP address, suing the unknown person associated with that address and then getting a Norwich order through the Federal Court of Canada against the internet service provider to obtain the customer's name and address.

Fraser said his firm has been contacted by a number of individuals who have received a letter. He said the letters can appear to be "a little bit sketchy," but they are legitimate.

They're being sent to the homes of the IP address holders, but are addressed to "John Doe" from the movie studio. The statement of claim says "John Doe," but the letter accompanying it is to the intended defendant.

"And so you're thinking, I'm not John Doe. But when you go through it, it's obviously full of a whole lot of legalese and comes with a cover letter from a law firm in Toronto saying that you are, in fact, being sued," Fraser said.

From there, Fraser said the IP address holder is told in the letter that he or she has 30 days from the date of receiving the letter and statement of claim to file a defence.

If the IP address holder doesn't file a defence, Fraser said the studio could get a default judgment against them and then collect their damages.
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Re: A torrent of lawsuits descending on Canadians

Post by tvroadmin » Fri Apr 19, 2019 1:02 am

So if you download and watch 50 movies and TV shows, they take your house away with the lien trick and use the garnish trick to take your wages away for eternity. Ohhhhh Canada! :toofunny

All by DESIGN (because nothing happens by chance).

How they did it:

1. Release the bit torrent protocol and tell the masses they can download/upload movies anonymously. :rotflmao:

2. Get their lackey politicians to quietly change copyright laws behind the scenes and require internet service providers to provide the legal names and addresses of their customers upon request. Put in place other legalese tricks (e.g. lien, garnish remedies, etc) to make the scam bullet proof.

3. Start operating VPNs and buy up those they don't own and further tell the masses to protect themselves with VPNs. :hehehe:

4. Brainwash the masses into believing that streaming and downloading video content is the future of entertainment. :laughfloor:

5. Start uploading the movies and streaming the content. Collect millions of IP addresses.

Presto. Sit back and send out those lawsuits for $5000 per infringement. :contract Canada is likely just a test case. If the cash starts rolling in :bananna: and the pitch forks don't come out :underchair , they will begin their scheme in the land of 'milk and honey', aka USA.

Thanks but no thanks. C-band satellite works just fine for me. If you download or stream, I sure hope this news hasn't ruined your holiday.

Happy Easter everyone.
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Re: A (bit) torrent of lawsuits descending on Canadians

Post by fatso » Sat Apr 20, 2019 11:21 pm

Canadians should be absolutely furious at these movie studios. :reddevil:

If you read the comments at the CBC...you'll see people are mad as hell. :reallyangry
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