If you have downloaded pirated content, you can receive this letter demanding money

If you have downloaded pirated content, you can receive this letter demanding money

If you've ever downloaded pirated content using torrent platforms, you may soon find yourself in trouble. We don't want to be ominous, but you know what the popular saying goes: when you see your neighbor's beard cut, put yours to soak .

It all started in April 2019, just a few months ago, when hundreds of households received letters to their mailboxes signed by a Spanish law firm, through which different content producers demanded that users pay about 100 euros per Chapter of those series that had been downloaded illegally through Torrent. Those who had downloaded movies, would have to download about 150 euros.

At that time, the letters were sent to clients of the Euskaltel company, so that they only affected people located in the Basque Country. What has happened now, and this is how El Confidencial reports it, is that these letters have also begun to reach people throughout the Spanish territory . They ask for the same amounts and in some cases, the invoices requested can reach 1,300 euros per person.

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On the hunt for pirates

We are facing a campaign that some production companies have launched and whose delay (with respect to the letters sent in the month of April) has to do with the times set by Spanish justice , which are much slower - due to saturation - in communities like Madrid or Catalonia.

The fact is that, according to El Confidencial, users from Alicante, Barcelona, ​​Cádiz, Madrid, Valladolid, Badajoz or Seville have begun to receive letters in which the German production company Crystalis Entertainment demands the payment of up to 100 euros per episode downloaded from the Ash Vs. Evil Dead series . To these amounts must be added, in addition, management costs of up to 300 euros.

In the letter they indicate to the users that if they do not pay these amounts within a month, they will be sued . They also indicate in the document an IP address that would function as proof that, indeed, they downloaded content illegally through that same user.

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The data that the operators have of the users are claimed

In order to make these shipments and request users to pay certain amounts, the law firms that work for these production companies have had to file claims with the Commercial Courts to force the companies to put this information on the table.

First, they got the information about Euskaltel's clients. And now the information from the rest of the operators is beginning to arrive. Hence, the letters are already beginning to reach users. The next operator to be approached is Movistar, which is located in Madrid and, therefore, has data on people who live around the country . Hence, letters are reaching users throughout the territory.

Experts in this field agree that the action of the producers is being carried out with very little evidence. But unfortunately, and despite that, they have the approval of a judge. In fact, this request for information has only been carried out by presenting a document in Excel format in which the IP addresses of all those who, in theory, have ever shared content illegally are collected. There is nothing else to support their accusations and therein lies, precisely the danger.

Now the producers know that they can request this data from the producers and that they will provide it with the blessing of a judge. However, there is a judgment of the Supreme Court (2012) in which it is clear that owning an IP address from which a crime has been committed does not make you, at all, its author.