BPI criticises mass mailout to file sharers

File-sharing letters under criticism
File-sharing letters under criticism

The BPI has come out and criticised a law firm for its mass mailout of letters to alleged illegal file-sharers, citing that this is not the "favoured approach".

This week it was found by Which? magazine that law firm ACS:Law has been mailing out letters to some people who have no claimed they have no idea they are partaking in illegal file-sharing.

Matt Bath, Technology Editor at Which?, said: "Innocent consumers are being threatened with legal action for copyright infringements they not only haven't committed, but wouldn't know how to commit."

Most persistent

The BPI isn't happy with the letters and has said about the situation: "We don't favour the approach taken by ACS:Law to tackle illegal file-sharing.

"Our view is that legal action is best reserved for the most persistent or serious offenders - rather than widely used as a first response."

ACS:Law offers those it has sent letters to an out-of-court settlement fee of £500, but speaking to the BBC, Andrew Crossley from the firm said: "It has been said that we have no intention of going to court but we have no fear of it."

The law surrounding just what action to take on illegal file-sharers is somewhat cloudy at the moment.

Not until the government's Digital Economy Bill actually goes through parliament, will we know just how to treat file-sharing in the UK.

Via the BBC (thanks to Ripsnorter)

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.