Well, it looks like Davenport Lyons has decided that going after alleged sharers of computer games isn’t lucrative enough. To keep the cheques rolling in now it’s approaching Xmas time they’ve come up with a whole new method of making money: porn.
More specifically, accusing people of downloading pornographic movies from peer-to-peer networks. If you think about it, it would be the perfect scam for an company operating illegitimately – not that anyone could accuse Davenport Lyons of such a thing – : it’s one thing to stand up in court and defend yourself from accusations you downloaded Sid Meier’s Alpha Centurai but quite another to publicly associated yourself with Army Fuckers.
According to the BBC, the letters follow the usual Davenport Lyons theme of “you’ve been naughty, give us £500.” Again, Davenport Lyons is ignoring the very real possibility that their ‘monitoring’ company, DigiProtect GmBH, is acting on poisoned data. They’re still laying it on thick and threatening extremely expensive court action too.
The good news is that none of this is worth a damn. As I’ve said before, make yourself a nuisance and they’ll go away. So far, not a single person who followed my advice and replied to the demands with a Subject Access Request has been taken to court or made to pay a single penny.
If you’re curious as to what the Davenport Lyons letters look like, a very kind individual has sent me a scan of one he received after being accused of sharing a video file. Unfortunately, I have been advised that Davenport Lyons doesn’t like the thought of people being able to prepare themselves and collaborate on a defence and is actually threatening anyone who publishes the letter online with legal action. As a result – and because I don’t want to give them any ammunition that could take this site down – I’m unable to publish it.
As always, keep making a nuisance of yourselves and take heart from the fact that not a single person that has put up even the most basic of defences has been successfully sued by Davenport Lyons.