By IULIA FILIP
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“LOUISVILLE, Ky. (CN) – Pornography distributors have “a new business model”: threatening to sue Internet users for illegally downloading – whether they have or not – using the threat of embarrassment to shake them down for thousands of dollars, a class action claims in Federal Court…”
“[T]he complaint states: “The pornography purveyors utilize a technique known as trolling, whereby individuals hired by the various pornography purveyors search for Internet protocol (IP) addresses associated with the use of file sharing software such as BitTorrent…”
“In effect, the pornography purveyors have developed a new business model using the court system to extort money from individuals who are merely identified by IP address and with no proof whatsoever that they downloaded copyrighted materials from the Internet. By extorting settlements of $1,000-$5,000 the pornography purveyors have developed a model whereby they can unlawfully gain more money than they can by selling access to their pornographic videos.” Read the rest of the article here.