Innocent people are being accused of
illegal file-sharing and threatened with high court fines by
games manufacturers seeking to protect copyright.
The reports surfaced following a Which? Computing magazine
investigation.
Gill and Ken Murdoch from Inverness were pursued by games firm
Atari for allegedly sharing the game Race 07 on their computer.
The couple, aged 54 and 66, have never played a computer game in
their lives but were "caught" by Atari's solicitors, London law
firm Davenport Lyons, who identified the Murdochs' computer's
address as illegally file-sharing.
They were given the chance to pay £500 compensation and £25
costs, with the threat that costs would be much higher if legal
proceedings were started.
Since Which? Computing's intervention, Davenport Lyons has
decided not to take the matter any further, said the magazine.
Some 6m people are thought to
illegally share files each year, a trend the entertainment
industries say costs millions in lost revenue.
Lawyers are stepping up the hunt for Britons who illegally share
games and films over the internet, and say thousands of people will
receive letters demanding payment for infringement of
copyright.
Which? estimates hundreds are innocent victims who have failed
to secure their computer against file-sharing, and may have had
their IP address used illegally by a third party.
Sarah Kidner, editor at Which? Computing, said: "It's outrageous
that lawyers are falsely accusing people of illegally file-sharing,
and we think they should cut out the heavy-handed tactics.
"But consumers need to be aware of the dangers of having their
computer address piggy-backed and take some basic steps to protect
themselves."
Which? Computing gives the following tips for ensuring users are
not one of those wrongly accused of breaking copyright laws:
Wireless network: Many routers come with weak passwords like
'admin' as default, and can have security functions turned off.
Enable Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) passwords. This is the easiest
step to guard against "piggy-backing" or having your IP address
used illegally by a third party.
Parental controls: Set parental control software to block
children accessing P2P sites. Some ISPs, such as BT and AOL,
include this. Or install software such as Net Nanny. Make sure you
are the administrator.
Broadband use: Most ISPs offer tools for monitoring downloads.
Check regularly to make sure there are no sudden hikes in usage
that might suggest someone is using your connection.
Think security: A firewall and anti-virus software are a must,
but these are no guarantee as you won't be able to rely on the
failure of security software as a defence to copyright
infringement.
Disable file sharing: If you use P2P software for legal
downloads, disable file sharing. To date, only uploaders - people
who make games available - have faced court action.