Company collects data on millions of illegal downloaders in first step to crack down on piracy in Canada

[aGENT]

Case marks beginning of crackdown on Internet piracy in Canada

If you’re watching an illegally downloaded movie, someone could be watching you.

A forensic software company has collected files on a million Canadians who it says have downloaded pirated content.

And the company, which works for the motion picture and recording industries, says a recent court decision forcing Internet providers to release subscriber names and details is only the first step in a bid to crack down on illegal downloads.

“The door is closing. People should think twice about downloading content they know isn’t proper,” said Barry Logan, managing director of Canipre, the Montreal-based forensic software company.

Logan said while last week’s court case involved only 50 IP addresses, his company is involved in another case that will see thousands of Canadians targeted in a sweep aimed at deterring Internet users from illegally downloading movies and other digital content.

Logan said his company has files on one million Canadians who are involved in peer-to-peer file sharing and have downloaded movies from BitTorrent sites, identifying them through Internet Protocol addresses collected over the past five months.

Logan said the court decision means Canadians must realize they could be held liable for illegal downloading and statutory damages of up to $5,000.

He said many people ignore the warnings from their ISPs that they are engaged in illegal downloading. Now, he said, they may receive litigation letters about possible court action.

Last week’s court decision involved a Burnaby movie production company that went to court to force Internet service providers to provide names and addresses of subscribers who had illegally downloaded one of its movies.

The Federal Court, sitting in Montreal, ordered several Internet providers to disclose to the Burnaby company the names and addresses of their subscribers whose IP addresses were linked to illegal downloads.

The court case dealt with 50 IP addresses (unique identifiers assigned to computers and other devices on a network) who allegedly illegally downloaded NGN Prima Production’s movie Recoil.

“Canada is a very significant country in terms of peer-to-peer file sharing and illegal downloading of copyright works,” Logan said. “We have quite a significant evidence collection program that has been in place in Canada for a number of months, it doesn’t discriminate between ISPs.”

If ISPs hand over the subscriber data sought through court action, Logan said the copyright holders can seek statutory damages that are capped at $5,000 for non-commercial infringement.

Mira Sundara Rajan, formerly the Canada Research chair in intellectual property law at the University of B.C., said the movie industry in Canada appears to be following the lead of the United States. There, the recording and motion picture lobby was instrumental in the recent creation of a “Six Strikes” initiative, targeting Internet users who download pirated content. The graduated system starts with a notice phase and can lead to repeated offenders being blocked from certain sites. In addition to the six strike initiative, offenders can still be sued by rights holders.

“I think the end game actually is to try and make a dent in the downloading activity,” said Sundara Rajan. “What we are doing is following in the footsteps of an American approach here which has been to try to target individual users and set them as examples of what can go wrong if your illegal downloading activity is discovered.

“I think that it is much more than an issue of trying to get fines in place. I think it is a question of creating an idea of deterrence in the mind of the public.”

Logan said his company is looking for repeat or habitual illegal downloaders. He said they will only be identified by Internet Protocol addresses initially but if a legal action is launched, names will be released in statements of claim.

“I don’t think we have to limit this to just teenagers downloading Justin Bieber’s last record,” he said. “We represent a lot of mature titles that would be of interest to the 30/40/50 crowd.”

Logan said his clients in the industry are turning to the courts for rulings on the implementation of Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, which was passed in June, and took effect earlier this month. Under the act, rights holders can send copyright infringement notices to Internet providers who in turn notify subscribers who are linked to the IP address.

Read more: http://www.vancouver...l#ixzz2DT9fakJS

[pibroch]

Controlling the internet will only it and its potential. Yes, things like child pornography should policed if possible, but illegal downloaders and stuff, don't bother. A lot of people only download illegally because they can't access it via an alternately (involving payment) method. So, it is really the people who distribute the materials fault it gets pirated in a lot of cases.

[MC Fatigue]

So now I have to look into getting cable and may have to BUY the next Bieber album??

[Caboose]

I downloaded over 100 gigabytes of tv shows yesterday.

****

[Nas19]

Crap

[Guest Gumballthechewy]

I use a proxy server at all times, not that I'm doing anything illegal, but if I was I'd be safe.

At least I think I'm safe...

There are those helicopters again...

[TOMapleLaughs]

Empty threat unless they plan on taking millions of illegal downloaders to court.

[aGENT]

Empty threat unless they plan on taking millions of illegal downloaders to court.

They'll probably just start with the worst offenders....

[TOMapleLaughs]

The tried that in the States and all it did was bring them bad press as they targeted 11yr old girls.

Shouldn't they be targeting mass-uploaders? imo Those people are far more guilty or copyright infringement.

The last step in cracking down on piracy is giving up. Maybe they should just skip to that step.

[aGENT]

The tried that in the States and all it did was bring them bad press as they targeted 11yr old girls.

Shouldn't they be targeting mass-uploaders? imo Those people are far more guilty or copyright infringement.

The last step in cracking down on piracy is giving up. Maybe they should just skip to that step.

Most of the troublesome uploaders are over seas I'm guessing.

I don't think they should "give up" per se... I do think they need to realize that there is a dollar value where people will not bother pirating at AND they can still make money by volume. They need to quit trying to prop up a 60+ year old business model not remotely designed for the digital age.

[PlayStation]

I thought there was no law here in Canada for downloading?

[aGENT]

I thought there was no law here in Canada for downloading?

You can thank the Conservatives and the morons who elected them...

Logan said his clients in the industry are turning to the courts for rulings on the implementation of Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, which was passed in June, and took effect earlier this month. Under the act, rights holders can send copyright infringement notices to Internet providers who in turn notify subscribers who are linked to the IP address.

[Armada]

I'm probably on there.

[unknown33429]

I usually only download porn....only because I don't want to rent it or give my credit card info to a website....

I wonder if that will fly as a defense...

[Tortorella's Rant]

Good luck prosecuting even a fraction of them.

[Jai604]

Hrm..... exceeded my bandwidth for the month a week ago and had to call to get that rectified.

[Tom-The-Great]

so if i download TV shows that aired the night before, is that illegal too?

[Sanford]

It's 1 company against millions. Let's pick up our pitchforks and raze their building.

[Kamero89]

Impossible to prove it was you (unless they take your computer) if you have wifi connection. Good luck with this, idiotic Canadian CONservative government

[Dral]

I imagine anyone who gets sued will never spend a dime on anything that production company does, ever again. I download stuff all the time, if I like it, I'll go see it in theaters, or buy the dvd.. if not, I just delete it.