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Originally Posted by GeoffW
They may find your IP address, they may trace that via your ISP to your account, but how can they prove it is actually you using that PC if it is shared amongst more than one person at the same address, or if there is more than one PC behind a NAT router.
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That's the same thing I guess with the vehicle owner getting a fixed penalty notice thorugh the post after being 'snapped' for speeding. There are lots of stories about how you can refuse to declare, as the vehicle owner, who was driving the car at the time of the offence - none of them true.
If you own the PC, or are the custodian of it (for example a work owned PC in your house) then you are likely to be asked by the court who downloaded or shared the music files. If you refuse to say who it was you're likely to be in contempt of court and as such could easily spend the night in the court cells whilst you consider your stance.
But of course when it comes to file sharing illegally, in exactly the same manner as with fixed penalty notices for speeding, they're very unlikely to end up in court as the costs of defending yourself and losing, outweigh the costs of settling out of court by a huge amount.
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Originally Posted by GeoffW
How can they actually prove that it is on your PC without getting a search warrant and seconding it? And would a judge grant such a warrant? Would you have to give them the password to access it etc...
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Yes, if the people suing you could establish that the IP address assigned to your gaff at the time of the recorded infringement then that gives them a pretty reasonable case to ask the beak to get access to your computers. And if, when the letter drops though your door, you choose to delete and overwrite all of your naughyness - don't forget that there are forensic experts that can retrieve elements of files even after being overwritten to CIA standards!
Even if you threw out the PC, you would still have to defend yourself, which would involve some rather expensive lawyers, probably a barrister or two and a bill that could be in excess of 100 grand - easily. Can you afford the gamble?
Of course this does raise serious issues about the rights we mere mortals have when it comes to defending ourselves - if we didn't do anything wrong we'd like to think that we could rely on the court to prove our innocence - but as we all know justice is more linked to how much you can afford to pay, rather than what you may or may not have done wrong.