Law firm criticised for tactics in sending thousands of letters to alleged copyright infringers

A law firm which is sending letters to thousands of alleged illegal peer-to-peer file-sharers has been accused of scattergun tactics which affect many innocent Internet users. Which?, the consumer group, claims that many people wrongfully accused of sharing pornographic material have settled the cases for hundreds of pounds rather than risk losing for thousands in court and face the humiliation of their good names being affected. AC: Law, the law firm behind the legal actions, denies being aware of any innocent people who are involved. The letters from the law firm were sent on behalf of its clients, DigiProtect and MediaCat, which are licensees acting on behalf of computer games and porn film companies to collect royalties for them. According to the lawyer who represents some of the accused, many of them have never even heard of peer-to-peer file-sharing, and some of the people accused of downloading computer games say they have never played a video game in their life. One possible explanation for people’s computer connections being targeted is that many computers running on wi-fi connections do not password protect their connections.