British law firm ceases hunting downloaders

The Britisch law firm ACS:Law has, over the last year, earned up a rather dubious reputation by sending letters to alleged file-sharers on behalf of rights holders. The message: settle now for a few hundred pounds to prevent having to answer to court.

Andrew Crossly, founder and CEO of ACS:Law, announced Tuesday to feel forced to abandon this course. In a statement, he claimed to be threatened with death and bombings. "It has caused immense hassle to me and my family." The statement was issued during a hearing of 27 alleged downloaders of pornographic material of rights holder MediaCAT.

Of the many thousands of letters sent by ACS:Law, these 27 cases were the only ones to reach court. Only days before the hearing, ACS:Law wanted to drop the cases, only to be told by the judge that the court would decide whether the cases could be dismissed.

The judge is surprised that ACS:Law wanted to drop the cases. "I am not happy about this. I get the distinct impression that at every twist and turn there is a desire to avoid judicial scrutiny. There's been thousands of letters, and only 27 cases have had to be dropped – I doubt that.” The judge is expected to rule on the dismissal at the end of next week.

However this particular case ends, ACS:Law will not be able to avoid judicial scrutiny. Recently, the names and addresses of thousands of Britons we published on the web during a ddos attack on the servers of ACS:Law. The Information commissioner, the British authority for digital rights and data protection, is investigating whether ACS:Law has done enough to secure these data. If not, the law firm risks a fine of 500.000 pounds.

This is not the only investigation into ACS:Law. After hundreds of complaints of unjust allegations, the Solicitors Regulation Authority a study into the admissibility of the methods used.