By Leigh Phillips -
Brein, the Dutch entertainment industry’s anti-piracy foundation, is coming down harder on persistent internet uploaders who offer free films, games and music through peer-to-peer (p2p) services such as Kazaa.
Brein has sent around 300,000 warning e-mails to internet uploaders since last August. This week, it escalated its anti-piracy campaign with sterner messages to those it views as persistent offenders and is prepared to back its words with compensation claims and legal action, if necessary.
'In countries such as Germany, France, Great Britain, Denmark and Italy, warnings have been followed by legal action,' said the foundation.
However, on its own, Brein can only uncover the IP address (a unique number identifying a computer connected to the internet) of an uploader.
To complete its evidence, Brein also needs the co-operation of the internet service provider (ISP) to divulge subscriber name-and-address information in order to link the IP address to the uploader in question - something many ISPs are not willing to do without a fight, making a court battle with Brein inevitable.
Brein’s e-mail campaign also raises the issue of spam, something Tim Kuik, Brein’s director, denied his organisation is involved in. “These messages are neither commercial nor ideological in character,” he said, bearing in mind the anti-spam regulations under the Telecommunication Act.
He also argued away the ‘unsolicited’ nature of Brein’s e-mails: 'A person receiving one of these messages has in fact asked for it by infringing the copyright, surely? [In a similar way], you cannot complain of police harassment if you ignore a red traffic light.'
Source: Digital Media Europe
Leave a comment