2011/02/09

ACS:Law turn themselves off

ACS:Law the legal firm that has become infamous due to their actions of trying to prosecute alleged illegal file sharers (and more infamous due to their exposing files containing lists of said filesharers). MediaCAT (the client of ACS:Law involved in the alleged file sharing cases) has also ceased trading.

In the past ACS:Law had said it had "ceased this type of litigation" as it had suffered a series of unfavourable court hearings.

ACS:Law was under investigation from the Information Commissioner's Office after the company allowed files containing alleged downloaders of pornography and file sharers to be made available on-line (though not deliberately it has to be said).

In the past it is alleged that ACS:Law offered cash to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for data on their subscribers.

The latest action may be as a result of recent court action where ACS:Law tried to discontinue the case against file sharers. However Judge Birss QC wasn't happy to do so and stated "I want to tell you that I am not happy. I am getting the impression with every twist and turn since I started looking at these cases that there is a desire to avoid any judicial scrutiny". Judge Birss is expected to rule on his finding this Thursday and many suspect that ACS:Law and MediaCAT ceased trading to avoid judicial scrutiny.