[tor-talk] Legal problems: TOR relay & Torrents in .de

[Joe Btfsplk]

On 2/16/2013 6:44 AM, Nick Sheppard wrote:
> On 04/02/13 12:33, Hendrik Neumann wrote:
>>
>> I've been running an exit node from my home network for ca. a year or
>> so. Now I've receviced mail from 21st Century Fox's lawyers in Germany
>> accusing me of torrenting a movie. Since all I offer via Torrent are
>> some old PC-BSD-ISOs and "House on Haunted Hill", I'm pretty sure it
>> must have been a user from the TOR network.
>>
>
> Hi Hendrik,
> ....
> Second, this immediate demand for money.  In my experience, real 
> lawyers work much more slowly than this (after all, they can charge 
> for every letter they write).  First one or two demands that you stop 
> what you're doing, then a threat of eventual legal action, and so on.  
> If they want to build a case against you that will stand up in court, 
> they would usually have to show that you were given fair warning, and 
> then wilfully and knowingly persisted in your evil-doing for a 
> substantial time.
Nick, you could be right about a scam - at least warrants some 
consideration.  But in many countries, if one breaks an actual LAW, 
there's no *requirement* for anyone to give the accused any "warning" or 
Cease & Desist Letter, before filing civil or criminal charges.  In 
civil law issues, they MIGHT give a warning (like to take down 
copyrighted material from a website), but they certainly wouldn't be 
required to, if they can prove you broke laws & if the damages allowed 
by local law / courts for a given offense, make it worthwhile to file a 
law suit.  If it's legit, they either have enough evidence or they don't.