UK Piracy Laws ?

I don't know how many British people come here, but filesharingtalk.com is at least the best board I know for File Sharing Talk.

Firstly, I have never been caught by anyone for any file sharing activities. I just would like to know how a commercially interested party would take action against me, in the UK.

Also: I can't look up what I need to know, because the law is not applied to filesharers the way it's written. If it were, thousands would be sued every day, and they are not being sued in those numbers. I mean not in the UK!

I have talked to 2 British people people on other boards who've been caught by record companies - they said they received a letter from their ISP (a type of cease and desist letter) and they were required to sign something which said they would not share copyrighted files again. Hardly scary.

Would this happen to me if a record company caught me sharing their songs via BitTorrent? (All I use is torrent)

Is this type of approach interested parties will always use in the UK, i.e. to catch someone's IP address, take it up with the ISP, then tell the ISP to send a letter?

As soon as the record company tell my ISP what they caught me doing, will my ISP cut me off and then not connect me again until I've signed something and posted it back to them?

Do different UK ISPs take a different approach?

Would it be possible for me to get a writ in the post directly from a record company?

Could I avoid signing a cease and desist letter from my ISP by simply changing my ISP?

My ISP is Orange; they're regarded to be pirate-friendly in comparison to British Telecom, but only inasmuch as BT are under greater pressure from the interested parties because they have so many users.

Orange's Terms & Conditions tell me nothing I need to know. Just covers their arses, like all ISP's Terms & Conditions do.

I can't find anything out! :( And it's something that I should know.

BTW no need to bother posting anything about US law etc. here: it doesn't apply.

Here is one british example on this board - http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/f-lou...etter-277983/?
(The law terminology can be confusing)


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UK Law is strange viz a viz copyright. You cannot share the copyrighted material, but there is nothing stopping you downloading it. It is also illegal to make a copy of any copyrighted material you have, so strictly speaking you dont break any law by downloading and then watching a movie.. its only when you make a copy/burn/upload anything that you break any regs.

It's also upto them to prove you've broken the law.

That's pretty hard to do, considering the number of unsecured wireless routers.. thats why the Government dropped their 3 strikes and your out idea.

I think the UK is a pretty safe place for filesharing, well at least compared to the US

Thanks for the replies...
Here is one british example on this board - http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/f-lou...etter-277983/?
So, it's letters direct from solicitors I should expect, if I get caught. I found this thread interesting:
http://www.slyck.com/forums/viewtopi...7825c&p=454945

Anyone got links to live threads like these? The Slyck one is locked of course.

Also: I never download games - it seems British people are mostly getting done for sharing games these days. Anyone got a thread of British people getting sued for something other than games?

I also use Newsgroups and as far as I know no-one in the UK has had a letter as a result of downloading from alt.binaries.anything ?

In several instances, it appears the solicitors Davenport Lyons did nothing when asked to prove their findings. It is always better not to start a legal fight against solicitors in such situations, just to ask them nicely to come up with the goods.

Despite it being an old chestnut, I think the hacked wireless network defence could be good if I ever needed it. How can they prove I'm lying about that? I've got a wireless network, who knows if it got hacked? If I'm a victim of a hacker I can't be held responsible for what the hacker did. BTW: yes, I hear this is different in the US.

I notice "chalice" and a few others on those two threads were BT internet users. I never will be. I only d/l from private torrent trackers, it seems that reduces my chances.