Canadian File Sharing Plaintiff Admits To Copyright Trolling 87
An anonymous reader writes "Canipre, a
Montreal-based intellectual property rights enforcement firm, has
admitted
that it is behind the Voltage file sharing lawsuits involving
TekSavvy in what is described as a 'speculative invoicing' scheme.
Often referred to as copyright trolling, speculative invoicing
involves sending hundreds or thousands of demand letters alleging
copyright infringement and seeking thousands of dollars in
compensation. Those cases rarely — if ever — go to court as the
intent is simply to scare enough people into settling in order to
generate a profit. The Canipre
admission is important because it is consistent with
arguments that the case involves copyright trolling and that the
Canadian Federal Court should not support the scheme by ordering
the disclosure of subscriber contact information."
A Sad Day for Canada (Score:4)
Re: A Sad Day for Canada (Score:5, Informative)
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The blame goes to unregulated and unrestrained capitalism. It is the wingnuts that have taught everyone else that unregulated and unrestrained is the one true capitalism, and so made it the target for blame.
Imagine a world where you could rob the liquor store just by telling the first cop you see that the money in the till is actually yours. The store owner is, of course, welcome to file a protest but the filing fee amounts to double the amount in the till.
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The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America
http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Robber-Barons-Business-America/dp/0963020315 [amazon.com]
That period of the 19th century you lament so much saw the largest rise in wages and standards of living that workers had ever seen, increase in safety (as technology allowed), and the effective elimination of the 10,000 year history of chi
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But I guess in today's union-busting America, it's politically correct to revise history to put a kinder gentler face on the robber barons. Handy little hint for you, they weren't called 'robber barons' be
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They had nothing to do with the 40 hour week either. That was part of the natural progression of rising wages and people cho
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I don't know what
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Of course they weren't against the 40 hour week, but they didn't have anything meaningful to do with it, as evidenced by the much more heavily unionized European workers getting the 8 hour day long after American workers did. It was rising productivity made possible by the capitalists that enabled wages to rise to the point where workers had the option to accept more free time instead of higher wages. Workers were willing to accept slightly lower wages in exchange for an
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> Blaming capitolism for crime is like blaming highways for road deaths.
well, when the highway collapses from lack of investment because it wasn't profitable, then yes, you can blame the highway for the road deaths
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Cash only, no checks. Void where prohibited, local restrictions may apply...
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They mail it to a different address.
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For cable in most cases the wire is already rolled. All they actually need from you is the MAC address of your cable modem and, of course, payment.
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In some places.
In the analog days they did that so you couldn't just plug in a cable ready TV and go. If they wanted to stop the analog signal from going to your house, they had to disconnect the wire. If you later wanted premium services, they had to roll a truck to physically change the filters connected to your line to permit those channels to pass. It wasn't all that unusual to just hook up a TV and find that some sort of cable service was already available for free. This was not generosity, they just d
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This was not generosity, they just didn't bother to roll a truck when the previous resident cancelled
Or they rolled a truck and the installer went for coffee and did a "pencil-whip disconnect", as they called it back then.
I lived in a college town and the cable co had an issue with people who were getting cable for free by just plugging in. They couldn't prosecute anyone for cable theft because of the known issue of pencil-whips. So, they did a complete system audit. Every pole, every box. Everyone who was connected but wasn't paying got offered a deal on signing up for service. Anyone who refused got cu
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As with virtually every grey area in Canadian law, the answer is: unless you intend to deceive or defraud. In this case you would definitely be intending to deceive when the process server arrived.
Re:A Sad Day for Canada (Score:4, Informative)
There are no lack of European countries with proportional voting systems who are taking hard lines on copyright issues. It seems to matter little how elected representatives are chosen, what seems to matter is that mainline political parties in most countries are sucking at the teat of Big Media.
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The problem is the First-Past-The-Post election system. If you say that General B'weto received less than 40% of the votes in the Republic of Masuto, but rules with absolute power, this person will be called a dictator. Now look at Canada's latest election results. Yes. The Ruler received just under 40% of the votes. Less than 4-in-10 voters gave their support. But the rule with absolute majority.
1) First-Past-The-Post favours different parties at different times - it all works out in the end, provided you think about time scales larger than one meal to the next. One thing it *does* do, is give a party chance to form a stable government and actually govern. In most proportional systems, you wind up with an almost permanent gridlock system, where the tail winds up wagging the dog. YMMV
2) The Prime Minister does not have absolute power - nothing even close to it.
3) General B'weto will remain in powe
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Really? When was the last time you heard of a copyright troll admitting to wrongdoing in the US?
If you actually read TFA, Canpire actually admits that acting civilly and reasonably with infringers is better and more effective than being total dicks. Though only time will tell whether this is a ruse to build goodwill, and it does demonstrate that they are, in fact, behaving like dicks with their bullshit litigious actions.
(fun sidebar: the word "Canpire" autocorrects to "Vampire" on my phone)
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Does the company's correct name, Canipre, also autocorrect to Vampire?
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(fun sidebar: the word "Canpire" autocorrects to "Vampire" on my phone)
Even more fun sidebar: 'Canpire' is wrong, too. This is Montreal, ergo, french.
'Canipre'....it would be pronounced something like...'Can-ee-pray'...
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More like Can-ee-prey.
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Actually, it's probably halfway between that and Can-ee-pruh.
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(fun sidebar: the word "Canpire" autocorrects to "Vampire" on my phone)
Even more fun sidebar: 'Canpire' is wrong, too. This is Montreal, ergo, french.
'Canipre'....it would be pronounced something like...'Can-ee-pray'...
I prefer Can-ee-prey
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Really? When was the last time you heard of a copyright troll admitting to wrongdoing in the US?
If you actually read TFA, Canpire actually admits that acting civilly and reasonably with infringers is better and more effective than being total dicks. Though only time will tell whether this is a ruse to build goodwill, and it does demonstrate that they are, in fact, behaving like dicks with their bullshit litigious actions.
(fun sidebar: the word "Canpire" autocorrects to "Vampire" on my phone)
They call it a smartphone.
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Really? When was the last time you heard of a copyright troll admitting to wrongdoing in the US?
When was the last time you heard one admitting to wrongdoing in Canada? The "admission" the summary talks about isn't actually there, it's the claim of Michael Geist (from whom the summary "written" by "anonymous" was copied almost verbatim. Can you spell "plagiarism"? ).
Canipre didn't admit to being a copyright troll, nor did they admit to wrongdoing.
If you actually read TFA, Canpire actually admits that acting civilly and reasonably with infringers is better and more effective than being total dicks.
And TFA also says that some infringers need more, and that Canipre knows the most effective way to get a takedown is by using the legal methods and not ju
So it has come to this (Score:1)
Even in Canada some corporations are trying to make profit off of scaring people. I see this kind of corporate behaviour even more damaging for society than copyright infringement!
In Other Words (Score:1)
Simple blackmail.
Re:In Other Words (Score:5, Informative)
You mean extortion. Blackmail involves extortion by keeping a secret/returning information/etc.
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Extortion sounds like robbery except the threat is in memespace rather than meatspace.
I like to define things using the latest, most accurate scientific understanding. :)
Now they infest Canada. (Score:5, Informative)
Voltage Films is a well known copyright trolling firm in the United States. Unfortunately for our neighbors to the north, it appears that these cockroaches are now infesting them as well.
Here's a sample of the RECENT cases they've filed in the U.S.:
Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-12
Copyright Infringement – Ohio Southern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013
Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-24
Copyright Infringement – Ohio Northern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013
Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-11
Copyright Infringement – Ohio Northern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013
Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-43
Copyright Infringement – Ohio Northern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013
Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-22
Copyright Infringement – Ohio Southern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013
Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-26
Copyright Infringement – Ohio Southern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013
Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-19
Copyright Infringement – Ohio Southern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013
Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-72
Copyright Infringement – Ohio Southern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013
Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-13
Copyright Infringement – Ohio Southern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013
Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1 - 198
Copyright Infringement – Oregon District Court Filed: 2/19/2013
Voltage has many other ongoing lawsuits in the states. They've been filing them since at least early 2011.
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Fine, you take Voltage Pictures back, and we'll take Celine back.
the appropriate response (Score:5, Interesting)
Turn over all the subscriber info to Canpire immediately. Let them send out demand letters. Then send out letters to all those subscribers explaining the exact nature of Canpire's business, on the theory that there's a least a handful of those subscribers with money, good lawyers, and short tempers ;-)
Re:the appropriate response (Score:4, Insightful)
Absolutely not.
I'm not worried about receiving a letter from them, but I absolutely do not want them to have my contact information at all. Who's to say what they're going to do with that information besides launch a bullshit lawsuit? They may still be able to make money off it, even if not a single suit gets filed.
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Exactly... That and what's to limit the scope of their claims? Canipre has already said it has, discredited, data (software they use was thrown out of a German court due to it's failings) on over a million IPs in Canada.
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Given their nature, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they followed up with letters from a Nigerian prince who wants to transact business proposition.
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Not "who", but "what" : Canada's PIPEDA law [justice.gc.ca] explicitly prohibits Personal Information collected for one purpose from being used for a different purpose (without consent).
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Turn over all the subscriber info to Canpire immediately. Let them send out demand letters. Then send out letters to all those subscribers explaining the exact nature of Canpire's business, on the theory that there's a least a handful of those subscribers with money, good lawyers, and short tempers ;-)
Even better response that might ultimately be cheaper for the ISP than getting incessant requests:
Send out a letter to all subscribers describing the troll and their methods, then "if you receive demands of this nature, and are willing to fight them in court, contact us for legal assistance." Then either pay for lawyers or use the company ones.
At minimum, you might have to argue one case, but if the trolls find out you're making this offer, they might just move on to an easier target.
Yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
'speculative invoicing' I think the correct term would be blackmail.
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Speculative = Abusive use of legal process
Invoicing = Extortion
But somehow "Extortion via abuse of legal process" doesn't sound as fluffy as "Speculative invoicing".
Also, I react differently to an invoice in the mailbox vs. a court summons in the mailbox - one of these is a little more threatening and imposing than the other, can you guess which?
Fraud? (Score:5, Insightful)
IANAL, but why isn't this simply considered fraud, and prosecuted as such?
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Because law-suits are, fundamentally speaking, a necessary tool to hold people accountable, and creating a precedent(Canada is common law, right?) that suggests you can be punished to raising the possibility of a lawsuit can be dangerous. In this case, I don't think it is, because maliciousness is inherent in the planning, but think what unsavory corporate lawyers might do with such a ruling.
Re:Fraud? (Score:4, Insightful)
Because, theoretically, there actually has been a crime committed in which they are actually the victims. As such, they have a right to defend their properties.
Whether they actually intend to prosecute it is irrelevant, when considering whether they have an entitlement to do so.
sucks, don't it?
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IIANAL but I don't think that's true. If they want to sue someone go ahead - in court. But to send a notice making unfounded claims and seeking payment is probably mail fraud - at least in the US.
Re:Fraud? (Score:4, Informative)
send a notice making unfounded claims
that's the point... the claims aren't unfounded, at least not to the best of their knowledge. They have evidence (which has yet to be accepted/proven in court) which links the IP address in question to an infringement that is illegal under Canadian law. They're seeking to have the information which links the IP address to a real person so that they can sue.
Whether they actually intend to sue, or simply send threatening letters, has nothing to do with it. The whole point of the case is that the validity of IP address evidence itself needs to be tested in court before the subscriber information is released, not after.
The CIPPIC briefs in this case are particularly interesting/important reading... you can find them, along with all of the other court documents, here: http://www.teksavvy.com/en/why-teksavvy/in-the-news/teksavvy-customer-notices/legal-documents-for-request-for-customer-information [teksavvy.com]
Re:Fraud? (Score:4, Interesting)
In addition, their actions have been found to be a fraud upon the courts in some cases.
Applying to the courts for an order to identify people on the grounds you will sue them, and then extorting payments instead, makes the initial application fraudulent.
In the U.S. and the U.K., this has led to legal or law-society actions against the fraudulent plaintiffs. In Canada, as we just passed a law to limit such suits, it may lead to stronger measures.
--dave
Interesting business model (Score:5, Interesting)
1) Send out threatening letters
2) ???
3) Profit!
I call that a Racket as in Racketerring... [wikipedia.org]
Traditionally, the word racket is used to describe a business (or syndicate) that is based on the example of the protection racket and indicates a belief that it is engaged in the sale of a solution to a problem that the institution itself creates or perpetuates, with the specific intent to engender continual patronage.
So you have companies asking people to pay for protection or immunity from further civil or criminal prosecution. All they have to do is just pay up.
I don't know if Canada has Racket laws, but in the US we do have the RICO law [wikipedia.org] which has been effective in going after organized crime, especially around Rackets such as this.
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When the mob knocks on your door and says that you need to pay up or bad things might happen, that's racketeering. The bad thing that might happen is not of the individual or business's doing, rather it's the mob ransacking the place, torching it, scaring away customers, etc.
While they may have no intentions of actually going after file traders if they don't "settle", they have the option to legally do so. This isn't getting into the debate of whether IP addresses are sufficient evidence to sustain a case
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The article even states that they want to go after those that don't settle. They want to take it all the way, which means getting the scared to pay up a small, but not insignificant, amount and the pompous you can't touch me a huge destroying amount, both to them and the defence legal team.
Basically, you bankrupt a few high profile piraters the others will cave, either by paying a settlement, or by not pirating anymore.
Still a losing game these days.
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luckily the law in Canada caps the maximum penalty for all past offences of private copyright infringement at $5000 total. so "bankrupt" is unlikely.
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In Quebec, Canada we have law which is called "Act respecting the Collection of Certain Debts", which states that:
[...]
Prohibited practices.
3. No person may, for the collection of a debt,
(1) represent that, failing payment, the debtor is liable to arrest or penal proceedings;
(2) communicate with the debtor when the latter has notified him or her in writing to communicate with his or her legal adviser;
(2.1) communicate verbally with the debtor before legal action is taken, if the debt
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It's nitpicking, but in the case of these letters, I don't believe the defendant/victim/alleged downloader can be considered a debtor. At the time of the letter, there is no legal obligation to pay a "debt". They haven't entered into a contract or agreement for exchange of goods or services.
It's in essence not that different then magazine or other services that send an "invoice" for their service in an attempt to get you to subscribe to them. This presume that the letter they send does not misrepresent t
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Humm, well let's see.
1) RIAA and the MPAA spend lots of money lobbying congress. The MPAA for example has a former US Senator as it's current leader, Chris Dodd. [wikipedia.org] Because of lobbying and influence in terms of campaign contributions we have such wonderful legislation like the DMCA.
2) Patent Trolling in the US is a legitimate business, there are examples of this going back nearly 200 years. My favorite example of patent thickets and trolling involves the Sewing Machine wars which started in the 1850s. [ipwatchdog.com] It's
Canipre Corporate, DNS, & Contact Info (Score:2)
See these posts to a previous story on Canipre for important details about their existence: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/11/27/230215/canada-prepares-for-crackdown-on-bittorrent-movie-pirates [slashdot.org]
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3278403&cid=42113267 [slashdot.org]
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3278403&cid=42115201 [slashdot.org]
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3278403&cid=42113147 [slashdot.org]
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3278403&cid=42115037 [slashdot.org]
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3278403&cid=42112 [slashdot.org]
Remember bittorrent $30? (Score:1)
If you remember the sites that sold bittorrent for $30. Or rather they sold 'unlimited copyright free downloads' for $30, and the small print mentioned that the bittorrent app doesn't itself infringe copyright, its the *use* you put it to that may infringe.
People want to pay for the stuff they get, it may not be the price the copyright holder would like, but there's a deal to be made there.
This is the same thing, people feel guilty about getting so much stuff for free, that a troll can extract money from th
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People want to pay for the stuff they get
People want to pay for the privilege to not face retribution. They're taught that certain things are illegal, immoral, or somehow wrong; and that being a bad boy will get you in trouble. Thus they pay the camel through the needle's eye to stay out of hell.
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"Your sentiments do you honor, but if you will allow me to say it, metaphor is not your best hold."
-- Mark Twain, "The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm", 1882
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So, you're blending a reference to the sale of indulgences and the Protestant Reformation with a reference to Jesus' advice to the rich man who wanted to know how to get into heaven?
Quite a mix for one metaphor. I'm awed.
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More like doing a backtrace. The indulgences could be considered shoving enough money to buy a camel through the eye of a needle. Also there is a pattern of people amending metaphor when someone does something--in this case it is said that a rich person making it to heaven is as a camel through a needle's eye, and so a rich man entering heaven has put his camel through the needle's eye. Or, has put himself through the needle's eye. Or, as I said, the money for the camel. The money or the camel itself c
Depends on the motivation the Judge believes (Score:3)
The judge is going to have to interpret what the motivation behind the practice is. Based on my limited knowledge of precedent in this area, if the judge feels the motivation is profit driven (i.e. Day to day Business as usual) then he could throw it out. Canada is not known for tolerating overly litigious business practices. However if the Judge believes this is to collect lost revenue due to infringement, then this could go right through.
Goon is more believable that it's going after lost revenue then Hurt Locker.
And this is where movie studios get it wrong (Score:2)
From the first linked article in the summary:
In recent years, American distributors have experimented with what’s known as premium VOD (video on demand), a scheme by which a newly released film is made available simultaneously on pay-per-view television for a high price. (This tactic is virtually unheard of in Canada.) Goon’s U.S. distributor, Magnolia Pictures, made the film available via U.S. cable providers for $30.
$30?? This shows exactly what is wrong with the movie studios and why they'l
Kudos to TekSavvy (Score:1)
Big kudos to TekSavvy for fighting copyright trolls and actually protecting their customers' private information. Just for that I will gladly keep giving them my money.
Misleading title (Score:2)
To be "behind" the lawsuit, Canpire must have some form of ownership over the works. The court materials show that Voltage claims ownership. So Voltage is and remains "behind" the lawsuit. Canpire are Voltage's "experts" on the issue of who is in