Copyright Law

Have You Been Falsely Accused of Copyright Infringement?

By Drew Wilson

With a push by the content industry to put in place a global three strikes law or worse, ZeroPaid wants to know, have you been falsely accused of copyright infringement?

DMCA notices are notorious for relying on what has been widely accepted as flimsy evidence at best. Still, saying that an IP address, a file name and a time stamp has been a staple for evidence against a vast majority of alleged file-sharers.

Currently in the United States, the entertainment industry is meeting with the White House while shutting out dissenting voices in secret meetings. Most countries around the world have been eyeing the secret ACTA negotiations, understandably, with great concern thanks to its utter lack of transparency and debate. While ACTA is known to allow bringing in a global three strikes law and DMCA, Canad faces a second secret trade agreement known as CETA which would bring in similar laws.

The major concern with the three strikes law is that it’s either three accusations and a disconnection or the first two strikes would be simply accusations. It all boils down to extremely flimsy evidence. How does one know that the IP address wasn’t a hijacked number or someone using an open or hacked into WIFI point? Ultimately, there’s plenty of places where a false accusation can happen.

We here at ZeroPaid are interested in hearing your stories. As part of a new series we hope to start, we’ll be posting up these stories to let all decide for themselves if the status quo of such an accusation holds water. If you or someone you know has been falsely accused of infringing copyright on P2P, you can get in contact with us by either posting a reply below or sending an e-mail to either Jared or myself with “False Accusation” as part of the header at the following e-mail addressed:

Jared Moya – jared@zeropaid.com
Drew Wilson – drew@zeropaid.com

We will not be able to help you legally and we won’t be able to provide any legal assistance, we are just looking for stories to repost so others can hear your story. You don’t have to reveal your names and we will not repost e-mail addresses for privacy reasons.

Have a tip? Want to contact the author? You can do so by sending a PM via the forums or via e-mail at drew@zeropaid.com.

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on December 23, 2009 (boomark / email).