Warning with the lawyer and Robert Diggs about downloading Django Unchained?

SecondAndSebring wrote:So I got this huge ass problem. I got a warning in the mail,  that I need to pay 600 bucks to Robert Diggs, who owns something in django unchained,  because I downloaded the movie last year in October and just got a warning today.  
Now I'm really anxious that I will get many others for having my Sims Downloads from Pirate Bay (that I downloaded from you guys) and some other music content from pirate Bay too.  I never had problems with that until now with that Robert Diggs django unchained guy!  Does anyone have any ideas???

//MOVED

Hello,

My experience with copyright law is pretty limited, but the usual "case" is that you might get trouble if you UPLOAD (or seed) stuff. Merely downloading stuff is, by many legal scholars, considered the "same" (yes) as making a personal backup copy of that thing, even if you don't own it. However, in .torrent clients, you usually download AND upload at the same time, so...

It also depends on the country you're from: things like that seem to happen quite often in Germany or the UK, but for example, are not so common in Austria; although the legal situation is pretty uniform, at least in Western Europe and North America.

I definitely recommend you consult a qualified attorney for that; and you might be able to get away with some sort of out-of-court "settlement", and end up paying a small(er) fine. Seeing that you are from Germany, you might want to do some googling, for now, for example, look for "Abmahnung Robert Diggs" or something.


As for the games and music you downloaded, I'm not sure. Of course, theoretically it can happen too, unfortunately.   



In this case, you might want to give the following "guidelines" a try, for the future ( I do NOT assume any responsibility or liability for that, though !)

- please, DO NOT download newly released MOVIES immediately, once they are released on Piratebay or somewhere else. If you are in such a country that seems to be very sharp on these things, then please try being patient.

- read up on the comments section on Piratebay. Torrent trackers that are "monitored" are very often commented at in the comments section. You should definitely read up on them, too.

- as for seeding stuff, try seeding not "too much".



It's not much what I can give you, but I hope I helped you shed a bit of light on this, and I wish you all the best, whatever you might be facing.

//EDIT

Prosecuting every kid/adult who pirates something is neither feasible nor, in my opinion, even recommended for a company, in terms of its "company image". And that's the reason why authorities *normally* go after those who upload the stuff on the internet or who SEED a lot, in the first place.

And after some googling I found out that the "charges" are - most likely - based not on the download of the movie itself, but rather on a song by this Robert Diggs guy, which appears in this movie. In that sense, this might increase your chances of getting away with a small(er) fine.

SecondAndSebring wrote:My serious problem is really just the fact, that they might now scan my entire connection in the past and all of my torrent downloads I've ever done in the past and that might add up to 50K bucks!!

I'm not sure how this works in your country (Germany), but where I am from, each copyright holder will have to file a separate complaint. Meaning, that the "state" doesn't really have any say in that - only the copyright holders themselves can file these complaints.


If the same applies to your country, this means that EA (for the Sims games) and each artist you pirated music from, will have to contact you...of course it could happen, but whether that's likely (see my first reply) is another question. In any case, just because you are getting trouble from that Robert Diggs guy, it doesn't necessarily mean that you will be getting trouble from someone else, but then again, I don't know how this works in your country.


By the way, formatting or hiding your computer wouldn't help (of course), since the ISP has all records of your internet transactions.

If the same applies to your country, this means that EA (for the Sims games) and each artist you pirated music from, will have to contact you...of course it could happen, but whether that's likely (see my first reply) is another question. In any case, just because you are getting trouble from that Robert Diggs guy, it doesn't necessarily mean that you will be getting trouble from someone else, but then again, I don't know how this works in your country.

SecondAndSebring wrote:Hmm..  I really don't know. I'm just really worried. I don't even know what to Google to find that out.  

Wikipedia wrote:Außerhalb des deutschen Strafgesetzbuchs ausgewiesene Delikte, die auf Antrag, aber auch bei Vorliegen eines besonderen öffentlichen Interesses verfolgt werden können

Admin wrote:Hello there,

If you're paranoid, just use a (paid) VPN service for downloading/uploading. It'll encrypt all your internet activities, so your ISP can't see what you're downloading/uploading at all. It'll also hide your online identity, because the server you're downloading from/uploading to, will think that you come from another country.

This might be worth a try: https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-dmca-response.html.en

And I don't know much about this problem either, since we don't have that kind of stuff here; ISPs complaining about downloaded stuff. Nobody really cares, so to speak.

Not all VPN services can be trusted though.      I don't know about this "torproject.org" thingy.

In any way, research will have to be done in advance, before "trusting" such a service.

Admin wrote:Hello there,

If you're paranoid, just use a (paid) VPN service for downloading/uploading. It'll encrypt all your internet activities, so your ISP can't see what you're downloading/uploading at all. It'll also hide your online identity, because the server you're downloading from/uploading to, will think that you come from another country.

This might be worth a try: https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-dmca-response.html.en

And I don't know much about this problem either, since we don't have that kind of stuff here; ISPs complaining about downloaded stuff. Nobody really cares, so to speak.

Carlos wrote:

Admin wrote:Hello there,

If you're paranoid, just use a (paid) VPN service for downloading/uploading. It'll encrypt all your internet activities, so your ISP can't see what you're downloading/uploading at all. It'll also hide your online identity, because the server you're downloading from/uploading to, will think that you come from another country.

This might be worth a try: https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-dmca-response.html.en

And I don't know much about this problem either, since we don't have that kind of stuff here; ISPs complaining about downloaded stuff. Nobody really cares, so to speak.

Not all VPN services can be trusted though.      I don't know about this "torproject.org" thingy.

In any way, research will have to be done in advance, before "trusting" such a service.

SecondAndSebring wrote:Alright  so my  dad knows this lawyer and he actually contacted him just to find out that the letter was fake.  The download happened,  but the dudes that keep controlling everything you do on the Internet thought it would be funny to get some extra money.

You got trolled pretty well then. Or they just did not expect a lawyer to call. (Most clients probably won't bother getting a lawyer, because it's expensive and stuff)

So good job on that one! Next step is suing them and getting millions of dollars to cover the pain. (And sharing a bit with us, because it's funny to get some extra money )