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IPFS News Link • Sexuality: Sex and the Law

List of porn pirates leaked on to internet

• telegraph.co.uk

A list with the names and addresses of more than 5,300 Sky broadband users, alongside the titles of pornographic films they are accused of sharing, was posted on the internet, in what experts believe is a major breach of the Data Protection Act. The list is understood to have been compiled by the solicitors ACS: Law, which specialises in tracing people suspected of film and music piracy.

The Information Commissioner said last night it would investigate the leak and contact ACS: Law to establish how it had allowed personal information to be made public.

It is believed that hackers opposed to the company's activities deliberately targeted the firm's database before posting details online. A spokesman for ACS: Law told the BBC the company was the victim of a "criminal" attack on its systems,

The firm has been criticised in the past over claims that it had wrongly accused people of illegal file sharing and had written letters demanding £500 compensation from people suspected of piracy.

Privacy campaigners are worried that such a sensitive list was not encrypted by ACS: Law and was therefore able to be published in full.

A spokesman for the Information Commissioner said: "Any organisation processing personal data must ensure that it is kept safe and secure."

The alleged attack on the firm's database is the latest in a string of such activities by piracy activists.

Illegal downloading and file sharing is thought to cost the film and music industry more than £1 billion a year.

 

1 Comments in Response to

Comment by Justen Robertson
Entered on:

Wait... why would piracy activists intentionally post the personal information of people who are -on their side doing what they advocate-? That's kind of a stupid accusation, isn't it? This sounds more like a vindictive move on the part of the copyright claimants to me.



www.universityofreason.com/a/29887/KWADzukm