Leaked Details Online
A law firm faces a fine of up to £500,000 after confidential information about thousands of Sky broadband customers suspected of copyright theft leaked online.
A list of over 8000 broadband subscribers and what they have been doing surfaced following a security breach of legal firm ACS:Law. In addition, they contain details of how much compensation infringers have paid ACS:Law, along with internal case notes.
The Isle of Wight Chronicle have seen the leaked documents and while most internet service providers like o2, PlusNet and BT only provided IP addresses and in some cases the name of the illegal file downloaded, SkyBroadband customers have had much more exposed. The leaked details of Sky customers includes IP addresses, torrent program used to download files, full name, full postal address, post code and what files have been downloaded illegally.
ACS:law, working for Allan Eshuijs, Manuel Reuter & Yann Peifer sent out £295 settlement letters for people downloading “Evacuate the Dancefloor” via torrents. One pub owner in Sandown was sent two demands for £295 each after allegedly downloading the same file along with one lady from Shanklin and a male from Ryde.
Other personal details include another public house in Ryde and a male from Sandown, Details of what files were downloaded was not included in the document.
A BBC investigation in August found a number of people who said they were wrongly accused by ACS:Law of illegal file-sharing. The firm is under investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) over its role in sending letters to alleged pirates.
