200,000 U.S. BitTorrent Users Sued

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More than 201,000 people in the United States have been sued over illegal file sharing activity using BitTorrent since the beginning of 2010, according to a post published by Torrent Freak.

More than 99 percent of the suits were directly targeted at BitTorrent, while 1237 are aimed at users that allegedly used eD2k. More than 55,000 cases have been settled over the 20 months, which leaves the number of pending suits at 145,417 at this time.

Torrent Freak highlighted the download frenzy surrounding Hurt Locker, which triggered a massive wave of copyright infringement lawsuits - 24,583 against BitTorrent users. The publication notes that the copyright infringement trend could be turning into a significant business opportunity - not just for the lawyers drafting and submitting the filings, but also for the copyright holders themselves - especially those who are willing to settle for a few thousand dollars out of court to escape the threat of a $150,000 fine for each copyrighted title in question. This could be providing a decent windfall for the entertainment industry.

If that is the case, the RIAA may want to rethink its decision to curb illegal file downloading from sources such as BitTorrent. The organization announced in July that it is working with Internet Service providers to monitor the download activity of their users in an effort that is called Copyright Alert System. If you download copyrighted material, your bandwidth will be throttled. The RIAA calls this a mitigation measure to stop online content theft.

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Douglas Perry

Douglas Perry is an author and journalist from Portland, Oregon. His many articles have appeared in the likes of Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, The Oregonian, and several newspapers. He has covered topics including security, hardware, and cars, and has written five books. In his spare time, he enjoys watching The Sopranos.

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87 Comments Comment from the forums
  • silver565
    Welcome to the U.S. Where everyone is sued.

    The RIAA need to calm down and realize that they'll get very little from these cases
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    I don't think the RIAA, a private corporation, should have access to see what I do online at all. They have no authority there and should not be able to pressure ISPs into doing their bidding. I think the government should stop them before it gets out of control.

    Or we could sue the RIAA for invasion of privacy.
    Reply
  • Parsian
    US is F'ed.
    Reply
  • beenthere
    Reality theater time. Those who pirate are going to pay and soon it will be a felony with mandatory prison time.
    Reply
  • silver565
    America is just... screwed up. For a country that always talks about "freedom" and "rights". Their people seem to have very little of it.

    You see... China, a communist country wouldn't let the RIAA do what they want.

    America needs to stop bending over when someone has a whinge
    Reply
  • house70
    Whoa, that was a bad movie (not good-bad, but bad-bad).
    Taste aside, this whole RIAA thing suing people left and right is ridiculous.
    Reply
  • silver565
    The whole suing people in general is just becoming stupid. All the tech companies are doing it.

    If I were a judge, I'd be banging my head on a wall every day.
    Reply
  • beenthere
    No, actually copyright holders have a legal obligation to sue or they can lose their copyright. Pirates however do not have a right to pirate. That is why every civilized country in the word is increasing the penalty for piracy. No one is losing any rights or freedoms. Nothing is free in this life. If you want something then you must pay for it.

    If you think China is better I suggest you move there and see if you are killed for posting an opposing view to the government. It happens all the time.
    Reply
  • dark_knight33
    SILVER565America is just... screwed up. For a country that always talks about "freedom" and "rights". Their people seem to have very little of it.You see... China, a communist country wouldn't let the RIAA do what they want.America needs to stop bending over when someone has a whinge
    Right, why does China need the RIAA? The "People's Gov't" already tells you what you can & can't watch, and what you can & can't download. Great Firewall of China, anyone?

    Communism isn't the problem, corruption is, and the unadulterated capitalism of the last 2 decades that has crushed the middle class, and put a crap load of the gov't under corporate control proves that the US isn't immune to the very same problem. E.g. FCC, Comcast, NBC deal, where one of the regulators took a very lucrative job at Comcast/NBC only weeks after voting to approve the merger. If only the damn teabaggers would stop voting corporate yes men into the house of reps, crap like this would be prosecuted.
    Reply
  • restatement3dofted
    SILVER565Welcome to the U.S. Where everyone is sued.The RIAA need to calm down and realize that they'll get very little from these cases
    That's the point. If they actually get to a lawsuit, they'll almost certainly win, but it will involve huge amounts of time and money, and the chances that they'll actually get the full amount of the applicable fine is virtually nonexistent - an immediate $150,000+ debt would crush most people that are pirating stuff. However, if you can settle out of court for even a fraction of that, you still have the potential to recover a massive amount in the aggregate, without incurring a majority of the costs associated with actually litigating.
    Reply