German copyright trolls will single out cops, Arab embassies and clergy for accusations of porn downloads

Urmann is a German copyright troll law firm that represents hardcore pornographers, sending shakedown notices to accused downloaders, threatening to publicly link them with porn unless they pay "settlements" to make it all go away. They've revealed that the core of their strategy will be the publication of accusations against police stations, churches and the embassies of conservative Arab nations:

According to comments an Urmann insider made to Wochenblatt, the law firm is planning to target the most vulnerable people first – those with IP addresses registered to churches, police stations and – quite unbelievably – the embassies of Arab countries.
Urmann insists that it is completely entitled to take this action because the law is on its side. The company is leaning on a 2007 Federal Constitutional Court ruling that deemed it legal for law firms to publish the names of their clients’ opponents in order to advertise their services. However, there is some debate if the ruling applies since it was targeted at commercial opponents, not regular citizens.
Bernd Schlömer of the German Pirate Party describes the law firm’s threats to undermine the privacy rights of individuals as “shocking” and says that Urmann’s actions could be construed as “legal coercion.

Anti-Piracy Law Firm Will Publicly Humiliate The Clergy, Police & Arabs

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: blackmail • Copyfight • copyright trolls • corruption • germany • law

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http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

Straight up blackmail, but I’m not a cop, priest or Arabian diplomat maybe they have some way of dealing with blackmailers.
Rickenbacker4001

If they want a cash cow, go after the contractors working at the Pentagon. They got a sternly worded internal memo to cease, so I’m guessing they stopped. :)
- Boundegar
  
  Also, no more shooting civilians for fun.
Josef Stalin

Not a new invention.

Sending “fake invoices” of fake sex shops to relatives taken from death notices in newspapers.
show me

Maybe cops, Arab embassies, and clergy should be publicly humiliated. Or at least some of them.
- Ipo
  
  They should. No doubt. Many of them.
- http://twitter.com/phdemers P.Demers
  
  Maybe the people who are using this kind of public shaming need some exposure too ?
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Parliment/100000014947469 Andrew Parliment
  
  They should, but for the stuff they are actually doing wrong.
Ipo

First they came for …

I have mixed feelings, because I’m not a fan of socially ultra-conservatives secretly porning, but I shouldn’t.
Copyright trolls are wrong. Always. By definition.

Urmann is going for the easy targets who are most likely to fold and settle immediately after accusation. Easy money.
- PathogenAntifreeze
  
  To make the conundrum even more difficult… those that pay up will have less money to commit to their own causes!
SomeGuyNamedMark

So they will go based on an IP address? That is like charging everyone in a house based solely on the address.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=557683737 Adam Greenfield
  
  The point isn’t to make the charges stick, the point is to drag their name through the mud publicly. So it is more like accusing everyone in a house based solely on the address.
- http://twitter.com/sqlrob Rob
  
  If the IP is registered to an organization (vs. a dynamically assigned address), it’s more charging the company for things. Do something on a company computer, the company gets blamed is fairly reasonable, IMHO.
  
  I tend to agree with @Ipo above though.
BrotherPower

The enemy of my enemy is… also an asshole.
Sagodjur

First they came for the cops, priest, and Arabian diplomats,

and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t in Germany.
BombBlastLightingWaltz

“I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

My dad told stories of going to Mexico and seeing some nasty bestiality porn, back in the 60′s, film reel. I think I’ll call him up and blackmail him for say… his estate in will or I’m blabbing. Too bad he was an Audio Engineer, can’t ask for much.
http://twitter.com/SargeMisfit Sarge Misfit

Troll: “If you don’t settle up, we’ll publicly announce that you stole porn from us”
Victim: “Go ahead”
Troll publishes.
Victim launches lawsuit for libel, etc.
- eyebeam
  
  It’s not libel if it’s true.
jhertzli

One day they will meet someone who read The Diamond Age.
- petz79
  
  I read it, but I don’t get what you mean.
  - http://scavenger-ethic.blogspot.com/ scav
    
    I don’t get what he means either.
    
    Anyway, I think the Neal Stephenson-reading cops, priests and Arab diplomats in Germany is probably a pretty small target demographic.
teapot

Haven’t you ever wondered if people who work for the church tend to watch more porn involving nuns than the average viewer?

I have.