Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

....I would strongly advise caution with regard to "naming" this "alledged" new player

....that "blog" is the one and only source I have seen, and does seem to look like a "curve ball"

The turd still retains a faint smell of Andrews aftershave to me

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Who`s Andrew? :confused:

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

....keep up at the back!:)

....Andrew Crossley ....ACS Law

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

The alleged new player has nothing to do with the GCB set-up other than the fact that they are one of over 50 companies that use that Regus service office.

However the new company just seems to be ACS in disguise. PC Pro have published an article that states:

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

:(

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Lol.......Cheers. :D

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Well today is round 2....

...a very fustered and sweaty Andrew turned up JUST in time....

....court convened

...to be imediately recessed - due to the judge demanding to know "who the hell are CGB?"

.....how many punches is this guy gonna get dealt today????

:D:D:D

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Law firm ACS: Law stops 'chasing illegal file-sharers' - write up on yesterday's hearing on BBC News website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12253746

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Yep ACS law have got what was coming to them :LOL:

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Although:



Didin't ACS:Law itself spin out of Davenport?

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

GCB is ACS law and they have been stopped from sending letters out

More info in this thread, Waring there is some bad language

http://www.slyck.com/forums/viewtopi...92&start=14875

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

i know of a woman who is in her late 60s who had a letter from ACS accusing her of downloading adult films. She wouldnt have the first clue how to and she hasnt got a wireless connection.

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Well it looks like all those that have been blackmailed by ACS and the other shysters are about to get there revenge

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Well looks like its over now

"http://torrentfreak.com/acslaw-and-medi ... es-110204/"

...........well quite a mess to clean up yet but looks like crossley is trying to "do a runner"

Edit - errr hang on try - "http://torrentfreak.com/acslaw-and-mediacat-completely-shut-down-both-their-businesses-110204/"

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

:clap:

Excellent result, Hope the shysters are taken to the cleaners

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Thats exactly what they are trying to avoid with this tactic.....

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Well lets hope they don't get away with it and that might make other shysters think twice before trying there blackmail trick

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

They'll get away with it. At best the law will be changed to try to avoid this kind of thing......:(

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

The ramifications of the case go beyond it as if the judge rules you cannot take a case to court based on the collection of ip addresses then isps should not be handing over customer details associated with ip addressess to 3rd parties in the first place and further more that clauses in contracts between isps and customers that say a customer is responsible for all activity on his ip address are currently unenforceable.

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

I would point out that Virgin have never handed over customer details unless the court has ordered it to.

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

And MediaCAT, the company that carried on sending the letters after ACS Law stopped, has ceased trading. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12366747

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Ben - dont go there...

YES THEY DID - they were the first to roll over back in Davenport Lyons days

your post does NOT tell the full story....

Very briefly the history went like this...

- VM were asked not to "object" to the NPO - they did NOT and so it went through, and the first victims of this scam were all VM customers (most of whom still have this hanging over them as the claims were never discontinued but transferred to ACS)

To be very fair to VM they subsequently stated that they would object to any further attempts at an NPO. Since then no one has even attempted to apply for an NPO against them. They were amongst the first ISP to do this and all kudos to them

BUT - like all the other ISP`s there eyes lit up with greed at the fee`s paid to them in return for there compliance.

Lets not try and rewrite history - we are not in Japan ;)

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Just in case anyone is interested....

Judge Birse is expected to issue his judgement today at 2pm

....Should be interesting what he makes of Mediacat and ACS attempting to "do a runner"

.........maybe this will all end today????? (forever????);)

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Judge Birse has issued a statement (it is on link below)

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWPCC/2011/6.html

...having speed read it (so not definately accurate) a synopsis would be:-

It seems to be pretty much everything we could have hoped for

...it questions the NPO process was carried out correctly

....it questions the IP address collection process

....it questions how "collecting" an IP address actually proves anything

....it questions the validity of Mediacat`s right to actually claim anything

...it absolutely dam`s crossley`s conduct

...........and more to come in March

think we all deserve a drink tonight

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

A drink and a big thumbs up for your continued updates lymmranger :drunk:

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

I thought that this was an interesting quote from Bob Pullen at Plus net

I find it staggering that the licences used to perpetuate this scam may not have even been valid for the UK. According to a user named Mullard on Slyck who seems quite knowledgable the licences appear to be a sham and not to afford the right to sue as a licensor of the works in question under the CDPA because the licences do not allow the licensor to deal in the work at all.

If this is true I wonder how the government is going to stop this type of abuse once the DEA comes into force. Or would it be down to everyone to become copywrong sorry copyright specialists

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

If (and its looking like an "if") the DEA comes into force without major amendments, then the waters WILL get distinctly "muddy".
Any poor sod that finds themselves falsely accused will have a very steep hill to climb.
We really should "pray" very hard that the proposed review results in wholesale change

..........otherwise I am thinking of emigrating :erm:

ACS Law - in conclusion....
 

Keeping it short and (VERY) sweet...

http://www.ralli.co.uk/news/acs-law-...ion-to-proceed

oh and.....

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/201...t-acs-law.html

not forgetting....

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/366841/j...and-lamentable

and more..

http://torrentfreak.com/senior-judge...payout-110418/

;):D

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

:D :D

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

You can bet your bottom dollar that any so called law firm thinking of carrying out this scam will have been scared off now. ACS law is about to find out what its like to be dealt with by the law correctly.

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

...the only problem with this (yet to be decided) financial penalty is

....it will be paid by his Insurer, so everyone`s premium will ultimately suffer as a result. :erm:

I did detect the merest hint of some type of personal penalty being awarded against him (Crossley), but he will wriggle out of that by declaring personal bankruptcy. Of course he has now had several months to hide any/all personal assets :rolleyes:
...as for Mediacat - well they were just a shell company, so again no pain will befall the company owner "Mr Bowden" :rolleyes:

This is looking like a very hollow victory....

-No -one looks likely to "personally" suffer too much
-The evidence was never dis credited in court

On the bright side....

-someone would have to be very brave to "pick-up" this businesss model (we hope)

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

The case is now online here -
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWPCC/2011/10.html

it makes very interesting reading!

I particularly liked this bit -

71. Mr Tritton advanced his case on the Notices as one of unreasonable conduct and that is how I have addressed it. However it seems to me to be right to take into account the fact that the improper revenue sharing arrangements meant that Mr Crossley himself had a direct financial interest in continuing the letter writing campaign. As I found in my previous judgment (paragraph 99) Mr Crossley/ ACS:Law had a very real interest in avoiding judicial scrutiny of the cause of action because of the revenues from the letter writing campaign. In my judgment the combination of Mr Crossley's revenue sharing arrangements and his service of the Notices of Discontinuance serves to illustrate the dangers of such a revenue sharing arrangement and has, prima facie, brought the legal profession into disrepute. It may be better placed under the revenue sharing heading in this judgment but it is, prima facie, improper conduct in any event.

The SDT will love that!

- How can they possibly fail to act now, you could argue that this will effect the case with the DLtwo as well

(just going to my GP now for some ointment - my ribs are really hurting now)

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

A Big `oooooooops` Here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11425789

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

That news story is 8 months old and as already been discussed in this thread ;)

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Andrew Crossly only fined £1000.00 by the ICO after pleading he was skint. :rolleyes:

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Yea shame as it could have been 200k instead...

Still if nothing else it'll deter any other dodgy firms from trying it on too.

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

I suppose we should be grateful that the scammers are now out of action...

I am afraid that the size of the fine does not surprise me
I suspect that the SDT will let him off too
Of course any costs concerning the "court case" will be paid out by his Indemnity insurer

Overall he has had a public humiliation, updated his CV in such a way as to make himself virtually unemployable, Oh and single handedly killed the goose that laid the golden eggs

...like I said we should be grateful (NOT!)

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

In keeping with all scammers he, no doubt, has skin as thick as a rhino's and so won't be bothered by damage to his reputation, assuming that is, if he had any to damage in the first place. He is a solicitor afterall. :)

He will probably find some way to start again under a new name. :rolleyes:

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

....No need to change his name (especially given his lack of shame)

- someone may(will?) employ him as a consultant/legal officer, not quite as much money but still more than most of us "average joe`s"

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

And for those that thought this was all over ACS are now targeting sharers outside of the UK..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14215510

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

No, they aren't:

;)

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Silly me, I misread it :D

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

ACS stopped trading didnt they?

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

They should make Crossley pay the full fine. If he can't pay it now let him start when he has some income. Just because he has not been convicted of a crime should not mean that he can escape justice and be allowed to escape paying reparations and legal fees.

I suppose that at least his reputation has been destroyed and hopefully his legal career is now over. It would be too much to hope he spends the rest of his life working at McDonalds.

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08..._file_sharing/

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

:woot::cleader::clap:

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Yes Yes Yes :clap:

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

i was fined £900 about 2 yrs ago for downloadin a game called "two worlds" which i never heared of. silly me did pay these people only cos the internet is under my wifes name and she can not have anything on her record for her job. but i do remember do a little digging and what i found was intresting to me that the company DPL and the company retrieving the ip adresses and also the judge granting these companys to get the info from isp`s are all origianlly from the same country(strange). i was one of the first to get this letter and believe they just went out of control when they saw just how many payed what they asked. i dunno if there is anyone out there who could look deeper into what i found maybe its just coinst. but one thing seeing them get a 20,000 fine has put a smile on my face ;-).

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

£900!?!? Did you not ask them to provide proof of the accusation before paying up!? If you knew full well no-one in your household had downloaded such software, did you not think handing over £900 was a tad iffy???

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

https://torrentfreak.com/acslaw-anti...-years-120116/

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Justice!! :cleader:

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

I did not recieve a letter from them personally but that sounds like justice to me.:)

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

At last, a result :)

I hear his wife has left him, he cannot find work, he is bankrupt and he is struck off as a solicitor :cleader::woot:

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

So what now for all the people bullied into paying for downloads they never touched?

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

I should imagine they will just have to put it down to experience like all the other poor so and so's who get caught up in scams. :(

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17525349

Just when we thought it was all dead..

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

However the Judge has seen some sense

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

I don't think this case is likely to reach Crossleyesque proportions - the British legal machine is now wise to this scam and the judge has handed down quite a wise set of instructions. The pr0n companies have got the IPs they wanted but they have been prevented from using them to operate a speculative invoicing scam. If they have to negotiate individually with each of their targets, it will cost them a lot more and they stand to gain a lot less.

I suspect the standard advice still applies to anyone approached by one of these 'studios' - reply and deny. An IP address proves nothing.

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

It is possible to hide you ip or even fake it if you know how ;). Most of the IP address info they will have is because people are still idiotic enough to use public trackers to get there fix. I am fairly confident they will have no ip information from any private trackers, Newsgroup or Ftp sources. If users stick to none public sources then they will significantly reduce the chance of being targeted by those that carry out the speculative invoicing scam.

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Now it's starting in the US

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17763218

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

If they use the ip info they will lose. And people need to move to private trackers not public

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Ok How? :confused:

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

If you are asking how to find and use private trackers then its not my place to tell you how to find them.

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Its was but I have no idea what they are :erm:

Googled it.

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

This looks promising http://www.btracs.com/

Though I must admit I don't really know anything about it either, I'm sure once the internet snoop bill gets in, it won't matter if it's public/private you'll be knackered either way.

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Wouldn't a VPN protect you?

Re: Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?
 

Perhaps, but it starts to get more bothersome than it's worth when you have to go to ever increasing lengths doesn't it.