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Infamous antipiracy lawyer gives up, abandons P2P cases
UKMikey
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Perhaps it's time for reciprocative action from those who Crossley legally (or, as it turns out, not quite so legally) harrassed.arstechnica wrote:Under scrutiny from a judge, pressure from regulators, and bomb threats from the public, notorious UK antipiracy lawyer Andrew Crossley is getting out of the business. In the UK's special intellectual property court today, Crossley presented a statement saying that he was done sending out "speculative invoicing" letters demanding around £500 from accused peer-to-peer file-swappers, many of whom have totally denied the charges.
[...]
His scheme to profit from settlement letters brought some short-term rewards; the e-mails show him purchasing a Jeep Compass 2.4CVT, and a Bentley Arnage, and indicated that he "may buy a Ferrari F430 spider in a couple of months, but for cash." But it's also brought plenty of hassles, and may prove far less profitable when the venture is finally rolled up completely.
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Fantastic news.
Now lets hope that he is sued into bankruptcy by his victims.
(BBC)
Serves him right for sending thousands of vexatious letters, threatening and harassing people, and attempting to litigate for profit instead of redress. Scumbag.
I remember going through all the emails. I wonder if the two who were flirting have banged yet!!
Yes, in the article I quoted (but forgot to link to, sorry).
Birss knows about GCB and is going after them too.
The public link to them. Wasn't Crossley seeing his ex as well? Trying to help her get into the music biz
There was an interesting point raised in the case that an IP address is not necessarily legally watertight evidence though.
*Notes down to use a proxy server next when downloading Tron*
It's an intresting point. In most other circumstances they have to prove it's the person doing it. If your car is involved in a crime don't they have to prove you were behind the wheel? Yet IP addresses seem to be enough.
I hope that's not Terence Tsang?! :eek:
Oh man, he has gone down in my estimations if he is involved in this, he was my favourite bumbling comic character in the whole sorry story.
In certain cases, no they don't - the registered keeper is prosecuted unless they shop another driver.
Bear in mind these are civil actions, so the proof only needs to be on the balance of probabilities, not beyond reasonable doubt (i.e. 51% rather than 99%). And if your ISP can confirm that you were the subscriber allocated a particular IP address at the time of the download, that's pretty good evidence that it was going via your modem. What it doesn't prove is who was actually doing it though i.e. was it you, another member of your household, or somebody else using your wifi?
Exactly. It doesn't prove who was doing it. Unless they are going to say that the person who subscribes is fully responsible for what is downloaded through their connection.