The Business Software Alliance appears to be using this technique to flush out people distributing their Members' software via Gnutella and others. I have received the obligatory nasty-gram advising me as the "owner" of an IP (not taking into account the IP has been allocated and then assigned to consecutive downstream providers) that I could be held liable for the actions of this particular user.
The BSA is definately scanning P2P networks for alleged copyright infringements. I received several of a similar notice for my netblocks. This earned the BSA a null-route (not that they would care). Although this complaint was not for a system of our own, I do own both of the software programs cited in the complaint. After receiving legal threats, I wonder if I will give my $150 to Intuit next year, or a local accountant. --- snip --- Where the infringing content was located: ------------------------------ First Found: [Time First Seen] Last Found: [Time Last Seen] Network: Gnucleus Repeat Offenses: [Number of Tiems Seen] IP Address: [X.X.X.X] Protocol: Gnutella What was located as infringing content: ------------------------------ Filename: turbotax premier 2001.zip (33,006kb) Filename: quickbooks pro 2002 + key(1).zip (147,505kb) John R. Wolfe Manager of Investigations Business Software Alliance 1150 18th St NW Suite 700 Washington, DC 20036 URL: http://www.bsa.org E-mail: copyright@bsa.org 1-888-667-4722 --- snip --- Regards, James Thomason
Mike