UPDATE | Hello Slashdotters, from around the world. Nice to have you with us! The Slashdot article discussion forum has brought up a lot of good points. In particular, that US law -may- reach into Australian jurisdiction due to various treaties and internationally registered entertainment companies (which means an Australian branch of an entertainment like Warner Bros could easily liaise with its US parent and take legal action on Australian soil). That discussion can be read here.

One ISP, which asked not to be named in this story, received a letter listing the IP address of users who had shared movies, along with infringement times and dates.

Australian ISP Managers were today hotly debating the topic of what to do in response to the demands. Some ISPs advocated warning or disconnecting users, while others were seeking legal advice to confirm their view that US companies had no jurisdiction in Australian law.

The company behind the letter is MediaForce, a New York based anti-piracy group that uses "advanced scanning techniques" to monitor piracy across the internet and report infringing users.

According to its website, the company monitors Napster/OpenNap, Aimster, Swapnut, Gnutella (Bearshare, Limewire & others), AudioGalaxy, Hotline, iMesh, KaZaA, Morpheus/MusicCity, Grokster, Xolox, FTP Sites and IRC.

But the company does not just monitor copyright violations, it encourages ISPs to block or restrict file sharing ports on their services. It also distributes 'decoy' files via file sharing networks which look like real music and video files, but are in fact garbled data.

The full letter is quoted in the article continuation.

LINKS

• Media Force Inc
• Aust ISPs hose down reported US copyright attack (ZDNet Australia, 14 Jan 02)
• ISPs wary of role in anti-piracy actions (C|Net News.com, 8 Jun 01)
• File tracker may go too far (Wired, 11 May 01)
• On Behalf of Film Studios, Company Searches for Students Downloading Movies (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1 Oct 01)
• Q&A for ISPs in USA on how to deal with Media Force (ChillingEffects.org)
• Guide to the Digital Agenda Act 2000 (Department of Communication, Information Technology and the Arts, Aust Govt)

Dear Abuse Department:

We are writing this letter on behalf of Warner Bros., a division of Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P. ("Warner Bros.").

As you may know, Warner Bros. is the holder of rights under copyright, including exclusive distribution rights, in and to the motion picture(s) listed above.

No one is authorized to perform, exhibit, reproduce, transmit, or otherwise distribute the above-mentioned work(s) without the express written permission of Warner Bros., which permission Warner Bros. has not granted to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.

We have received information that an individual has utilized the above-referenced IP address at the noted date and time to offer downloads of the above-mentioned work through a "peer-to-peer" service.

The attached documentation specifies the location on your network where the infringement occurred, the number of repeat violations recorded at this specific location, as well as any available identifying information.

The distribution of unauthorized copies of copyrighted motion pictures constitutes copyright infringement under the Copyright Act, Title 17 United States Code Section 106(3). This conduct may also violate the laws of other countries, international law, and/or treaty obligations.

Since you own this IP address, we request that you immediately do the following:
1) Disable access to the individual who has engaged in the conduct described above; and 2) Terminate any and all accounts that this individual has through you.

On behalf of Warner Bros., owner of the exclusive rights to the copyrighted material at issue in this notice, we hereby state, pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Title 17 United States Code Section 512, that we have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by Warner Bros., its respective agents, or the law.

Also pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we hereby state that we believe the information in this notification is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that MediaForce is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive rights being infringed as set forth in this notification.

Please contact us at the above listed address or by replying to this email should you have any questions.

We appreciate your assistance and thank you for your cooperation in this matter. In your future correspondence with us, please refer to Case ID XXXXXX Your prompt response is requested.

Respectfully,
Mark Weaver,
Director of Enforcement
MediaForce, Inc. (212) 925-9997