The RIAA abandoned its plans to sue file sharers into a coma after it was found not to deter people and it was hard to identify who was stealing the content. That has not stopped the porn industry doing the same thing with similarly disastrous results and there is evidence that it is already backfiring.
A US grandmother whose 14-year-old grandson set up her Wi-Fi system has been named and shamed in a in a lawsuit filed by a porn film studio. In another case the secretary of a condo association that offered free wireless internet access to its members has been slapped with a letter demanding $3,000 after someone downloaded a film. The problem is that anyone with access to the computer, even a neighbour tapping into another home's Internet service, could have downloaded the movie, not just the person on the receiving end of the lawsuit.
In the US there is a bunch of lawyers gathering together to fight what has been dubbed a “perfectly designed extortion scheme." The idea is that the victims will be so shamed about being accused of downloading porn they will not have the courage to go to court.
Some defendants in the Florida cases have received harassing phone calls, even threats of criminal prosecution if they don't pay up.
Discovers why it didn't work
Nick Farell
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