Cash Demand For Illegal Porn Downloads?

Thousands of internet users have been told they'll be taken to court unless they pay hundreds of pounds for supposedly downloading and sharing hardcore porn movies illegally. A German company has claimed the users are breaking copyright laws and is demanding in the region of £500 to settle out of court.

The company tracks down alleged 'pirates' by logging the IP address of the computer logged on to the file sharing network. It then applies for a court order to force the Internet Service Provider or ISP to release the details of the customer matched to the logged IP address.

Of course to those in the know, this method of tracking an IP address is unreliable. Fake IP addresses, unsecured wireless networks, easy to remember or default passwords could all lead to an innocent user being prosecuted. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the data being downloaded, many people will cough up rather than face the embarrassment of going to court.