Finnish Anti-Piracy Group Demands Payment, Silence

[Rydian]

A 9-year-old Scandinavian girl [...] tried to install a program to read the torrent files she downloaded, but the downloads all mysteriously failed. Upset, she complained to her father, who took her to the store to purchase the Chisu album -- legally.

But it turns out that the downloads didn't fail. Instead they were malicious trackers, which flagged her home internet protocol (IP) address as an infringer. Working with her ISP, the local Copyright Information AND Anti-Piracy Centre (a sister organization to the Recording Industry Association of America) sent her father a suspicious letter, demanding a payment of 600€ and to sign a legally binding letter promising not to tell anyone about the payment or the threat.

Source

Well it's not just the US that goes batshit crazy over IP I suppose? There's a lot more info in the source, such as her winnie-the-pooh laptop being confiscated and junk.

 

[Gahars]

This sounds like an internet policy as designed by the Mafia strongmen. I'm just surprised it didn't include "broken kneecaps" as a potential penalty.

 

[Zetta_x]

I was talking to a lawyer yesterday and it turns out the best defense for this is to leave your network open. Apparently a number of cases get thrown out because of that.

 

[MelodieOctavia]

And the last thing she'll ever hear is "You should have taken the deal"

 

[OrGoN3]

I was talking to a lawyer yesterday and it turns out the best defense for this is to leave your network open. Apparently a number of cases get thrown out because of that.

A very well known loophole. Your case is not guaranteed to be dismissed though.

 

[Minox]

As far as I know the 9-year old girl as well as her parents were Finnish, which also makes them ineligible to be Scandinavians ;)

As for the case itself, it's nothing new, the only reason it's really gotten attention in the media is because the girl is 9-year old.


Also, better source:
http://torrentfreak.com/police-raid...irl-confiscate-winnie-the-pooh-laptop-121122/

 

[KingVamp]

This sounds like an internet policy as designed by the Mafia strongmen. I'm just surprised it didn't include "broken kneecaps" as a potential penalty.

Why are these conditions need?

 

[shakirmoledina]

Option 1 - You don't allow me to download the torrent
Option 2 - You allow me to download the torrent
Option 3 - I make you allow me

Everything has become commercial. Now ppl wont become friends on facebook unless you pay them.

 

[Izen]

The messed up part here is that no copyright infringement even occurred. The files downloaded were not music, they were just blocks of data being used to hunt down infringers. The intent is there, but the action is not, and furthermore, the music was legally bought afterward. No harm is done to the industry, no harm is done to the artist, no harm is done to the ISPs, and no harm is done to any consumer anywhere. This family is being pressured and fined because the 9-year-old daughter wanted to download music.

This is thought policing at its finest. Hard to believe we're in the 21st century.

 

[Rydian]

As far as I know the 9-year old girl as well as her parents were Finnish, which also makes them ineligible to be Scandinavians ;)

As for the case itself, it's nothing new, the only reason it's really gotten attention in the media is because the girl is 9-year old.


Also, better source:
http://torrentfreak.com/police-raid...irl-confiscate-winnie-the-pooh-laptop-121122/

My concern is that the file was not actually downloaded, yet there was (that I think to be) blackmail involved.

 

[FAST6191]

I was talking to a lawyer yesterday and it turns out the best defense for this is to leave your network open. Apparently a number of cases get thrown out because of that.

People have discussing this for as long as p2p has made uploaders of us all (aided by most early wifi networks being open by default) but I had not heard of it being truly tested in court (they usually went for something a bit more esoteric like prove who it was in the house and as internal IP addresses and macs tend not to be broadcast....).

 

[Qtis]

A Finnish girl was indeed in question as Minox mentioned. The media is having a field day with this case and TTVK (the anti-piracy group in question) has had quite a bit of negative rep. Just gotta love it, since TTVK hasn't given the name of the company doing the research or even how they managed to get the IP data

This is something quite interesting in terms of legal options of a registered association here in Finland (basically anyone can make one, no legal possibilities of doing house inspections). If you want to get a police to make a house call, you have to be able to charge the person with very probable evidence that the person will get at least 6 months of jail time. As there are two types of copyright infringement in Finland (Criminal = very profitable piracy business and "non-criminal" = made by someone with just a CD or something, not profitable), only the first one makes the requirements for a police warrant. In this case, I see no possibility of the person getting 6 months for one CD. In other words, AFAIK the case never met the requirements by Finnish law.

Interestingly enough, the person had bought the CD (has a receipt) and been to concerts of the artist in question (Chisu). The artist understands the father/daughter and tries to support the family, but there are others (another Finnish artist called Maija Vilkkumaa) that are bashing the father for his outburst on Facebook. Funny thing is that the other artist shared stuff (part of the UK series The Office (IIRC)) on her Facebook page and the Youtube link wasn't from the official channel of the series, which can be seen as copyright infringement by Finnish law. " : D "

ps. Finland is great with the 3 strikes policy. They actually closed an Åland (Ahvenanmaa in Finnish) government connection as a whole because of a possible uploading

 

[Satangel]

Fuck. Off. If I want to download torrents, on internet and PC I pay for, my deal. Fuck. Off

 

[Taleweaver]

I'm personally most concerned with the confiscation of the laptop. Yes, in this case it's a cute little nine year old child who ha no idea it was somehow bad (heck...with everyone and their mom doing it, it's not like a speech is going to make impact). But what if someone uses a laptop from work to download music? Small businesses not always have decent backup plans, which means a confiscation could lead to the loss of important corporate data. For very large businesses, the data on the PC may itself be very valuable.

This could create some "fun" situations for tech nitwits who use their work laptop for daily use. Not only are they charged for a whole lot of money, their employers won't be happy when they figure out the situation.*



*not sure how other companies do it, but if the laptop is broken, it has to be returned. If it's stolen, a police report have to be given.

 

[aalokishere]

I thought you could download something provided that you own it and looks like the girl now owns it so isn't she not free from paying now?

 

[Depravo]

I thought you could download something provided that you own it

Common misconception #4827

 

[aalokishere]

Common misconception #4827

Isn't what I said true? It says so on many ROM sites at least. Might not be true for movies or music though...I don't know

 

[Coconuts 500]

I thought you could download something provided that you own it and looks like the girl now owns it so isn't she not free from paying now?

No, that's not it.

You can download anything you want, ever, and it's fine. People are obliged to ignore laws that are irrelevant, such as copyright. This is how the world moves forward, and becomes right. Do not tolerate that which you do not accept. You will do what you please, as long as it doesn't physically or mentally hurt other beings. Breaking copyrights do not.

 

[porkiewpyne]

No, that's not it.

You can download anything you want, ever, and it's fine. People are obliged to ignore laws that are irrelevant, such as copyright. This is how the world moves forward, and becomes right. Do not tolerate that which you do not accept. You will do what you please, as long as it doesn't physically or mentally hurt other beings. Breaking copyrights do not.

And this is why we can never have good things....

 

[Arras]

I wonder what would've happened if she tried to download a legal torrent instead. (although Linux distros and Humble Bundles are the only ones I can think of at the moment)