File sharers vs porn actor Ben Dover

Acting on behalf of pornographic film producer and actor Ben Dover, Golden Eye International is preparing to send out copyright infringement notices to just under 3,000 individuals in the UK, alleging that they illegally downloaded copies of Mr Dover's movies. The purpose of the letters is to solicit cash from the file sharers, with the threat of court action hanging over them.

However those citizens won't be acting alone, they'll be backed by legal advice from both Consumer Focus – a group designed to help protect consumers in these sorts of cases – and the Citizen's Advice service.

“We intervened in this case to make sure that consumers are treated fairly. People will not have ready access to the sort of specialised legal advice necessary to respond to allegations of copyright infringement,” Consumer Focus Chief Executive Mike O’Connor said in a statement (via TorrentFreak). “That is why we are working with the Citizens Advice service to provide clear advice to consumers about what to do if they are accused of copyright infringement.”

Still, those worried that they might be one of the couple thousand O2 ISP account holders that are set to be targeted by Mr Dover and his representatives, should be alright even without the help of Consumer focus. The letters that are planned to be sent out amount to little more than assumptions. The assume the account holder was the downloader, assume that no one else has access to the internet account and assume that the local WiFi is password secured.

If it turns out any of those situations mitigate your guilt, the letter then asks that the recipient provide details on who did share the original files. As if most people openly discuss their pornography downloading habits.

“A failure to make such disclosure may lead to a claim being made against you with the court being asked to conclude, on the balance of probabilities, that you were the user of the computer,” the letter reads. They can of course try, but it is at the discretion of the Judge whether to accept this conclusion.

KitGuru Says: Ultimately, unless you openly admit to your guilt in response to this letter and pay the settlement fee, there is very little that Ben Dover, or Golden Eye International can do. Still, if you do receive a letter, it might not be a bad plan to give the Citizens Advice Consumer Service a call on: 08454 04 05 06.

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