SCOOTERTECHNO.COM

Maybe it is not only by Scooter, maybe it happen by other artists too.

For the full story on Scooter's involvement with Digiprotect and ACS:Law see:
http://beingthreatened.com/press-index.php

Quoted

Two law firms have been sending out letters claiming that the recipients have illegally made available, on filesharing networks, certain computer games, music and even pornographic films. An estimated 25,000+ letters have been sent with many more sure to follow. .... A brief outline of the affair follows.

Letters were first sent in early 2007 and typically threaten the recipients that, if they do not pay a sum of money (in the region of £500-£600), they may be taken to court. In fact, not one case has been contested by both sides in a court of law...The big problem with this is that a significant proportion of the recipients never downloaded the works, and in some cases were not aware of the technology they are accused of using. Even pensioners have been targeted .

and the stories of some of the innocent victims are difficult reading:
http://beingthreatened.com/your-stories.php

There is also a facebook group formed by innocent letter recipients
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115797408652

We do not know to what degree Scooter are aware of this, but this dragnet and the bad publicity around it cannot be good for their reputation

Thanks for your interest

WTF ??????? Now that's really bad news :cry: :? :roll: Someone wants to destroy Scooter. :cry:

But from what I read it's not only Scooter they are sending letters about. :?

I'm going to be honest here, I think this is blown way out of proportion here.

After reading:

Quoted

http://beingthreatened.com/your-stories.php

Only 1 of them stroies is about Scooter! Most of the others are about games, or whatever. I'm for spreadng the awareness, but at the end of the day, how the hell will not buying Scooter make it better? Maybe it could make things worse, as more people would download them illegally. And most of them stories are about games, and there is nowhere saying stop buying games! I emailed AATW about this yesterday, asking if they were aware of this. Hopefully I will be able to tell you about the reply when I get sent one...

Hello. First of all, the website beingthreatened has been setup to help innocent people who have received these very scary and unwarranted letters. This is our primary purpose. Please read the factsheet for the full details of the scheme.
http://beingthreatened.com/press-index.php

It is fair to say that lots of people have been accused in the past over second rate games and even gay pornography. However, the bad publicity caused the largest company involved, Atari to withdraw last year.

Recently we have seen batch after batch of people accused of downloading Scooter's music. The accusation comes from ACS Law acting as solicitor for Digiprotect, who appear to have peer-to-peer distribution rights. It seems there will be a deal between the record company and Digiprotect, but the band may be completely unaware.

So far Scooter are the only major music artist involved. We have seen two letters for another Kontor records artist, Ian Oliver. The rest are all Scooter.

This article http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7766000/7766448.stm from back in December 2008 about accusations regarding hardcore pornography (when Digiprotect where using another solicitor Davenport Lyons) talks about Digiprotect also representing Scooter. The BBC followed this story by featuring the scheme on Watchdog. Googling "Scooter ACS Law" or "Scooter Digiprotect" provides plenty of reading such as http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/1.273795

Scooter have by far the biggest reputation to lose and our impression is that ultimately they may well be as much victims of this scheme as the unfortunate letter recipients

We are not trying to attack you guys. Quite the opposite, we need everyone's support. I know if my favourite band were doing this I would be concerned. Our motivation here is that we started receiving traffic from your site, saw your Admin Sandra requesting more info on the story and hoped that someone here may be able to help.

Damn, I searched a bit on the internet, and there are lots of sites etc. about the ACS letter's........ even on youtube clips are comments which are attacking Scooter and the law firms letter's.....this is looking really extremely bad for Scooter.

But indeed the ACS firm seems to exist, but I can't believe Scooter is the only band who would use that firm if such possibilities would exist to stop piraccy a bit, so it looks like Scooter might indeed not know anything about it. ...........but annyhow it's very bad for Scooter's reputation, if this goes on we can forget about a UK tour etc..... :cry: :cry: :? :?


The only people who could stop this mess are Scooter themeselves by threatening the law firm to stop this all........ :?

EDIT:
It looks to me like some huge criminal action, because also people who never download get the letter, it looks like fraud by ACS to me, because otherwise only young people who frequently donwload illegaly would get such letters!

I've been looking into it a bit, and it definately seems that Scooter's name is being used, without their permission. (Could they start a lawsuit against ACS, perhaps? ) They are getting alot of hatered even when they are not to blame? :?

I've had no response from AATW as of yet. ACS Law seem to have a rather negative image...

Edit:

They seem to be scammers...

Quoted from ""Will""

I've been looking into it a bit, and it definately seems that Scooter's name is being used, without their permission. (Could they start a lawsuit against ACS, perhaps? ) They are getting alot of hatered even when they are not to blame? :?
Edit: They seem to be scammers...

Thank you for looking into this

However I cannot let this point go uncorrected: It is not a scam, and it is not fraud. It is perfectly legal to accuse people under civil law. However the operation has run into legal problems in various other European countries

Scooter's work is clearly being 'protected' by digiprotect after a contract has been signed. ACS Law are simply the solicitors acting for digiprotect

The operation could have been misrepresented to the record company and the band themselves may be completely unaware. Neither party may know how the 'protection' would operate. However Scooter's name is not being used without their permission. And it is their reputation which will suffer long after the other parties are forgotten. Everyone still remembers Metallica's stance.

The problem is that innocent people are being accused due to the way the scheme operates. I will leave you to read all about it at beingthreatened.com. It contains all the information collected on the matter.

Again, thank you for your time and any assistance you can offer

Quoted from ""interested""

However I cannot let this point go uncorrected: It is not a scam, and it is not fraud. It is perfectly legal to accuse people under civil law. operate.

How can it be not fraud to accuse people of illegal download if they don't download at all and never heared of the band because they are pensioners, I don't understand that? :? It looks like fraud to me.....

Thanks for taking the time to reply

Are people genuinley being taken into court over this, or are they only using this threat to encourage people to pay up? It seems to me that they are just gathering a random bunch of Ip adresses, and sending a letter telling them they have infringed copyright... And let's face it, I highly doubt that an OAP would download porn...
I understand that this is not a scam, and I understand that it is legal to accuse someone, but is it legal accusing someone, and then telling them to pay a fine, because the beleive they done something? The only 'proof' they have is an IP adress, and let's face it, that isn't going to win them a court case :lol:

Quoted from ""Vandusk""

I bet, this is a another strategy from unserious firms, who want make money from old people.

I think the same! It happened also a few times in Germany in a similar way, also older people got letter's from a genuine law firm that they had to pay a certain amount for something, but it was all fraud in the end.

Thanks guys, you have impressed me by taking this seriously.

The three posts above are not far wrong. Firstly you can accuse people and ask them to pay to settle. It may not be fair but short of a court case there is little they can do but deny it. All on the strength of an IP address. The IP addresses are likely not 'picked at random', but there are sure to be many problems with the evidence collection.

Again, the real reason for posting here is to draw attention to the damage that this is going to do to Scooter if left unchecked. The BBC, Which?, CAB, the ICO and the SRA as well as MPs and ministers are receiving complaints with Scooter's name in them. As you have noted it is all over the internet. I believe the first post on this subject here was from a regular who had spotted the problem.

Go back and read the stories (even the ones about games and pornography, the effects are all the same) at http://beingthreatened.com/your-stories.php

You will find us helpful and approachable if you want to know more.

Thanks again

It's interesting... and we really need Scooter's official statement about all this. It's really bad, when people receive such bad letters even if they are not fault! Let's hope we will know more about this situation soon and it will be solved.

Obviously, I am an outsider here and do not know your community. So again, thanks for listening to me.

Is anyone here in a position to get in contact with the band, or someone closer to them? We would be happy to assist with any information to make sure such communications are clear and correct

I've heard of a games company who knew they had a contract with Digiprotect but had no idea what the end result would be. Let's hope it is the same with Scooter and they they might be willing to speak out on this!

So people get mails because of their IP adress.

But he company can have the IP adress only if they was downloading something, but from which page?

It seems that no fan from our forum have got such mail.

Quoted from ""Britt""

But he company can have the IP adress only if they was downloading something, but from which page?

It is all explained here: http://beingthreatened.yolasite.com/press-index.php

See the section titled 'Flawed evidence'

I do know that someone went to jail last year for filesharing Scooter's work in the UK. Maybe it has something to do with this.

Advice given to my friend (who has had this letter) by a solicitor is to not reply til the second letter. Then send one back saying you will not pay and give the evidence as to why you are not guilty.

Scooter's lawyers should get onto this quickly I think because it's not good and will harm their building reputation overseas.

Quoted from ""Nic""

I do know that someone went to jail last year for filesharing Scooter's work in the UK. Maybe it has something to do with this.

Do you have further details on this? In any case this is a civil, not a criminal matter. Some people involved in running filesharing operations have been prosecuted. Here we are talking about families getting threatening letters

Quoted from ""Nic""

Advice given to my friend (who has had this letter) by a solicitor is to not reply til the second letter. Then send one back saying you will not pay and give the evidence as to why you are not guilty.

He should certainly reply and deny, and I recommend he do it straight away. Of course I cannot offer legal advice

Quoted from ""Nic""

I think because it's not good and will harm their building reputation overseas.

Precisely

i saw it on a news webiste ages ago. i just google it but couldn't find it. I know he had a 2 month sentence though.

i think at this moment we just have to wait for news from the band. i don't think we can do any more but all of us here, back you, providing that all of you are innocent. I'm sure you are.