After the galactic embarrassment suffered by ACS:Law last week, a second law firm has had its website attacked by irate file sharers.
London firm Gallant Macmillan plies the same greasy trade as ACS:Law - firing out countless letters demanding cash from individuals who may or may not have shared files illegally. It acts for the Ministry of Sound, and over the weekend the websites of both the firm and its client crashed after suffering distributed denial of service attacks.
However, this isn't Gallant Macmillan's only problem - it is also engaged in a fight with BT, which is resisting the firm's attempt to recover details of its customers. BT has just been granted an adjournment, and a spokesman said that "the incident involving the ACS:Law data leak has further damaged people's confidence in the current process. We're pleased that the court has agreed to an adjournment so that our concerns can be examined".
In the current environment, it seems that law firms getting involved in this sort of business can expect cyber-terrorists to slay their websites, a shedload of dreadful publicity and no co-operation at all from belligerent telecomms companies. For example another London firm, Cramer Pelmont, announced at the end of last week that it would be pursuing file sharers (and actually on a rather more reasonable basis). However countless threats immediately appeared online, and the firm's website announces that it has now "ceased its interest in working with clients in the area of the Digital Economy Act".
Still, despite the many difficulties it's easy to see why there will be plenty of firms out there prepared to pick up the slack. An investigation by The Guardian has revealed that ACS:Law keeps around 40% of the settlements paid by those it accuses of file sharing. Firing off 10,000 letters each demanding £495, trousering nearly half of everything that comes in - now that's a business model.
Tip Off ROF
London firm Gallant Macmillan plies the same greasy trade as ACS:Law - firing out countless letters demanding cash from individuals who may or may not have shared files illegally. It acts for the Ministry of Sound, and over the weekend the websites of both the firm and its client crashed after suffering distributed denial of service attacks.
However, this isn't Gallant Macmillan's only problem - it is also engaged in a fight with BT, which is resisting the firm's attempt to recover details of its customers. BT has just been granted an adjournment, and a spokesman said that "the incident involving the ACS:Law data leak has further damaged people's confidence in the current process. We're pleased that the court has agreed to an adjournment so that our concerns can be examined".
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A cyber terrorist yesterday |
In the current environment, it seems that law firms getting involved in this sort of business can expect cyber-terrorists to slay their websites, a shedload of dreadful publicity and no co-operation at all from belligerent telecomms companies. For example another London firm, Cramer Pelmont, announced at the end of last week that it would be pursuing file sharers (and actually on a rather more reasonable basis). However countless threats immediately appeared online, and the firm's website announces that it has now "ceased its interest in working with clients in the area of the Digital Economy Act".
Still, despite the many difficulties it's easy to see why there will be plenty of firms out there prepared to pick up the slack. An investigation by The Guardian has revealed that ACS:Law keeps around 40% of the settlements paid by those it accuses of file sharing. Firing off 10,000 letters each demanding £495, trousering nearly half of everything that comes in - now that's a business model.