In the last 12 months, copyright infringement lawsuits in the United States, mainly against torrent users (and a few hundred ed2k users), have targeted 99,924 defendants. The profitable pay-up-or-else scheme has been embraced by many. Of the 80 cases that were filed originally, 68 are still active, with 70,914 defendants still being targeted.
The data was put together by an unknown party that spent months compiling a complete overview of all the mass P2P lawsuits filed in the US since the beginning of 2010. "I am hoping that having the data available will stimulate discussion and that it could be of value to people actively resisting/fighting the suits," the anonymous person told TorrentFreak. "Even if that is overly optimistic, public access to the information that shows the scope of this bullshit is, in and of itself, a good thing."
If you want to check out the data, which includes all the relevant case documents and people involved between January 8, 2010 and January 21, 2011, head over to this public Google Docs link. The information regarding these mass P2P cases will be regularly updated.
Mass P2P lawsuits are a new revenue stream for the adult entertainment and movie studio industries. Copyright holders try to obtain the personal details of users who are allegedly sharing their material online, and once they do, they offer the defendant the opportunity to settle the case for somewhere between a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars. The victims are told this will allow them to avoid a full trial and potentially even bigger financial penalties.