Following a recent U.K. court order for illegally sharing software over peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, some 145 software pirates have been targeted. An anti-piracy initiative, launched today by the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), will contact the individuals concerned and demand that they settle in full and pledge not to undertake such illegal activities again.
Many file sharers used false names and email addresses, however ISPs involved handed over full personal details, including names, addresses and dates of birth. Now wasn't that nice?
Julian Heathcote Hobbins, senior legal counsel at FAST commented: "Traditionally most software owners have relied on notice and take-down procedures and have failed to bring civil or criminal proceedings against the infringers. This is the second strand of an ongoing strategy, bringing these actions to a head when we see software being misused."
John Lovelock, director general at FAST, added: "We are making an example of the perpetrators to stop them from stealing and passing on the intellectual property of our members for good, and to send a very strong message to end users that they can be found at any time during activities of this nature and we will continue to monitor and search for our member products being illegally shared. This is not a one-off-wonder."