Landwell, the legal arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers says it will
prosecute 4,000 peer-to-peer file-traders in Spain that have been identified as
"serious" unauthorized downloaders of copyrighted songs, films and software. The
action will be the largest crackdown on P2P users in Europe to
date.
Landwell, issued a threat for their unnamed clients early this month to spare them the heat from a backlash by consumers. The have gathered IP addresses, on 95,000 file-traders by monitoring P2P systems with older, less sophisticated versions of P2P clients.
with Spain's Technological Investigation Brigade (BIT) on the prosecutions and expects the case to appear in court next month. The action mimics a large-scale assault on alleged file-swappers in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which is in the process of filing several hundred lawsuits against them. However, civil liberties and Internet user groups say they doubt Article 270 of the Spanish penal code specifically allows people to share files as long as there is no profit involved. Carlos Sanchez Almeida, a lawyer specializing in Internet issues, pointed out that this provision has led to several previous cases related to P2P networks and entertainment-related files being thrown out of court. |
Spain's Association of
Internet Users (Asociacion de Internautas) said Landwell will have a hard time
identifying individuals. "It is just their IP address, and it's up to a
judge to issue an order to disclose the user identity and check if some illegal
activity has been taking place", he said.
The Association of Internet
Users has decided to join the protest in Spain against the legal threats.
They have even gone so far as to offer the group's lawyers to anyone who is
targeted by suits.
Source: news.com.com
