Letters from F.A.S.T. ....
Discussion
My friend (no really) got an email a few weeks ago from his ISP stating that he'd be sharing a file which appeared to be a well known application over p2p, and that FAST had asked for his details. They gave a date/time last year that the alleged incident occoured. He just got another mail from his ISP asking *him* to contact FAST, and apparently there's some kind of form to fill in (just called me from his car so he's a bit light on details at the mo).
So... on a scale of 1-10 how f*cked is he?
Personally, I didn't think FAST had any real powers - are they just politely asking him to incriminate himself? Why does he have to contact them, why aren't they sending him a letter or something? Has anyone heard of anything similar, I thought they were still busy going after 12 year olds for brittany spears mp3's?
Cheers
Neil
So... on a scale of 1-10 how f*cked is he?
Personally, I didn't think FAST had any real powers - are they just politely asking him to incriminate himself? Why does he have to contact them, why aren't they sending him a letter or something? Has anyone heard of anything similar, I thought they were still busy going after 12 year olds for brittany spears mp3's?
Cheers
Neil
ThePassenger said:
Scale of 1 - 10, 1 being a Cease & Desist and 10 being bubba's bum chum.
He's at about 1, maybe 1.5.
He's at about 1, maybe 1.5.
Cool
I didn't they wouldn't be fannying around like this if they were actually going to do something. Still, to say he's worried about it would be somewhat of an understatement!m12_nathan said:
Tell him to deny it, if they bring out any proof just say he had unsecured wireless at the time and that he is very sorry and that p2p is evil.
Hmmmm...
But
FAST is not toothless though, but the current campaign against "filesharers" is like throwing deckchairs off the Titanic
tigger1 said:
m12_nathan said:
Tell him to deny it, if they bring out any proof just say he had unsecured wireless at the time and that he is very sorry and that p2p is evil.
Hmmmm...
But
FAST is not toothless though, but the current campaign against "filesharers" is like throwing deckchairs off the Titanic
Unless they've changed they are toothless in so much that, rather than investigating and THEN serving papers. They've told him to come incriminate himself, personally I'd visit their website and see what he's alleged to have shared.
On more than one occasion people have been served with legal notices for sharing things. Like OpenOffice.org, Linux Kernel Sources and so on. The evidence is gathered and actioned by bots which just look for say 'Office' (i.e. Microsoft Office in this case) but don't filter anything out.
FAST are toothless for private individuals, not so nice to corporate piracy though. I spent a long time doing licensing stuff for my last employer and the fines at their, and the BSA's, disposal can run to hundreds of thousands of pounds. They only fine if you are uncooperative in the first stage. They give you x number of months to get it in order (using their approved software inverntory tools bought at your cost as proof) and then start getting nasty if you're not doing anything.
agent006 said:
FAST are toothless for private individuals, not so nice to corporate piracy though. I spent a long time doing licensing stuff for my last employer and the fines at their, and the BSA's, disposal can run to hundreds of thousands of pounds. They only fine if you are uncooperative in the first stage. They give you x number of months to get it in order (using their approved software inverntory tools bought at your cost as proof) and then start getting nasty if you're not doing anything.
How do they work - what power do they have? If I was a private business, I would tell them to get stuffed. Surely they would need to prove that any infringement had taken place?
As mentioned they appear to just be going off a dumb filename search.agent006 said:
FAST are toothless for private individuals, not so nice to corporate piracy though. I spent a long time doing licensing stuff for my last employer and the fines at their, and the BSA's, disposal can run to hundreds of thousands of pounds. They only fine if you are uncooperative in the first stage. They give you x number of months to get it in order (using their approved software inverntory tools bought at your cost as proof) and then start getting nasty if you're not doing anything.
Last time FAST did anything was many years ago. Reported case of piracy in a school. FAST sent letter. FAST then aranged a time and date for the investigater to appear and look around. Six months later FAST guy appears. Mysteriously anything to do with the software licenses had been lost in a accident with a water pipe. Result, man goes home with his boxes ticked.
FAST are kinda useless and you really have to be dumb to get blasted by them.
//Don't copy that floppy *dance dance*
tank slapper said:
How do they work - what power do they have? If I was a private business, I would tell them to get stuffed. Surely they would need to prove that any infringement had taken place?
I can't remember exactly. I imagine most of their info comes from inside (like ours did (the £10k reward helps)), but it's not hard to prove dodgy software. They're not out to fine people from the off, their intention is to get you to buy the stuff you're using. Have a look at their website, i remember it being quite informative.
agent006 said:
They give you x number of months to get it in order (using their approved software inverntory tools bought at your cost as proof) and then start getting nasty if you're not doing anything.
They are actually a very very helpful company, and provide that all essential 'nudge' that MS licensing system 6, Genuine 'Advantage' or the cost of Vista Ultimate simply couldn't deliver. http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-50658
In the long term, FAST is your friend
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