hitekhedhelp: Copyright enforcement firm ACS:Law hit by embarrassing email leak

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Copyright enforcement firm ACS:Law hit by embarrassing email leak

by Matt on Saturday 25 September 2010 18 Comments

It's the weekend and Broadband Genie is enjoying a well-deserved break, but this story was too good to wait until Monday. ACS:Law, the infamous law firm which has been sending out dubious letters threatening to take people to court for file sharing, has had a massive database of its emails leaked onto the web.

The ACS:Law web site was taken down by a denial of service (DDoS) attack earlier in the week, an event described by boss Andrew Crossley as "typical rubbish from pirates". He's likely to have changed his tune now because someone discovered that before the site was restored a backup file containing the emails had been left in an open directory. Inevitably this was downloaded and widely distributed on file sharing networks.

The collection includes the incoming and outgoing emails of Andrew Crossley and his employees, complete with attachments, and contains masses of information about how ACS:Law goes about its business and how much money it makes, plus embarrassing personal details.

The leak reveals Crossley discussing how he might buy a Ferrari (he decides on a less impressive Jeep in the end) and talk about how the company can most efficiently track and record the thousands of alleged offenders, with an amusing exchange where he thinks two people can process 200 cases a day and is politely informed by an employee that they would have to work without breaks to achieve this target.

There are abusive emails to his ex-wife, personal contact details, passwords to Paypal and other sites, and it also appears that Crossley is a fan of loopy conspiracy theorist David Icke. Perhaps those inter-dimensional lizards are also guilty of file sharing?

Data protection breach

More seriously there is discussion about how they could "scare" people into paying by pursuing them directly, and allegedly an email with attached file containing the names and addresses of thousands of Sky broadband users (plus the names of pornographic movies they're supposed to have downloaded) which if true constitutes a serious breach of the data protection act.

File sharing news site Torrent Freak is busy sifting through the messages and has uncovered all kinds of worrying information, including emails from couples complaining that accusations of gay porn downloads have caused trouble with their marriage and desperate letters from people who can't afford the fines.

The leak further confirms the suspicion that ACS:Law seems more concerned about how much money it can get than protecting intellectual property. One email found by TF shows the company accepting a settlement figure despite having acknowledged the accused wasn't responsible for any infringment, and giving up on chasing someone else because they're bankrupt and won't be able to pay. It also reveals that in some cases Crossley's firm is netting over 50% of the cash received, the rest being split between the copyright owner and other third parties

At a time when the company is under investigation from the SRA for its questionable tactics this has to come as a major embarrassment, and should there be anything in there which breaks the law or breaches ethical guidelines it could lead to serious repercussions for Crossley and his company.

Comments

by Anonymous at 23:35 on 25 Sep 2010Report abuse
Great article and summary. Thanks for the great read -- there is lots more to come from those emails, watch this space :D

by Blackplan at 23:44 on 25 Sep 2010Report abuse
Laughing... so... hard

by Anonymous at 23:45 on 25 Sep 2010Report abuse
Love this article, Makes me proud that people can still tell the truth.

by Anonymous at 23:55 on 25 Sep 2010Report abuse
Would be interesting to see the first cases brought by victims of their methods for Data Protecction breaches, see how this wholesome firm of solicitors likes being on the receiving end!!!

by Chris Hatfield at 00:41 on 26 Sep 2010Report abuse
A superb overview of events so far!! I like your writing style, a lot.
This leak is hysterical.
Amazing how Andrew Crossley was bragging on TheRegister, saying (like Jessi Slaughter) [words to the effect of] : "You don't phase me!'
Andrew Crossley has dun goofed!!!
Congrats to 4chan, Anonymous etc. :D

by Concerned Lincolnshire at 01:05 on 26 Sep 2010Report abuse
Great news.
Data protection wins hands down.
It's about time this SCAM was stopped and the perpetrators be ordered to re-pay all it's victims. Be struck off the register and barred from practising anything more than the high jump!
It is painfully obvious that this is no more than organised crime, only bent on making profits rather than protecting any copyrights.
Well done.

by Reincarnated Man at 23:12 on 26 Sep 2010Report abuse
Rolled on the floor, almost peed myself laughing.
Serves them right, sad bully boys. Can't wait to see how this develops!
yo-ho yo-ho.

by Doom at 06:52 on 27 Sep 2010Report abuse
LOL
That is awesome and I congratulate the person that did this.

by Christoph T. at 12:05 on 27 Sep 2010Report abuse
yepp it is true I had a quick look at the emails and it contains: date and time, IP address first, last name, name of the movie, postal code and adress - I hope they get a good beating out of it.

by its about time at 20:49 on 27 Sep 2010Report abuse
I had one of his letters for alleged copyright infringement, im glad to see they have been found for what they are, liars and thieves.

by MontySt at 21:00 on 27 Sep 2010Report abuse
Great stuff. About time.

by les c at 07:11 on 28 Sep 2010 | registered | 2 postsReport abuse
i had gotten a letter from acs law i was going to pay just to make it go away was going to bank today but not after what i have just read wont be passing any details over. how do i find out if my name and adrress is on the list i am stressed out to the max

by Mark A at 08:35 on 28 Sep 2010Report abuse
This is just too good!, nice to see lawyers get shafted for a change, well done!.

by spawn at 15:34 on 28 Sep 2010Report abuse
Les C
There is not Les or Lesley with a surname begining with C on the porn list

by HM at 19:22 on 28 Sep 2010Report abuse
Les c: The info is available on a lot of torrent sites, you may have to hunt around until you get a complete file. Also you will have access to a load of other peoples personal data.
If you didn't send them any credit card details etc then the most they are likely to have is you name and address possibly your IP and whatever file you were accused of downloading. None of this can cause you a real problem. Rest easy.

by les c at 23:02 on 28 Sep 2010 | registered | 2 postsReport abuse
thanks to all who have helped ease my mind

by Jeremy at 19:34 on 30 Sep 2010Report abuse
My details are amongst those in the wild so I am concerned about Identity Theft, fraud et al but equally, I too hope Andrew Crossley takes a severe beating over this so in that respect I'm delighted...ambivalent or what!? Anyway, I just wanted to say I was accused in January of downloading a song I'd never heard of. Two strong letters and have never heard from ACS again. He is a bully and a coward and this is indeed nothing more than a scam. No-one has ever been taken to Court so I hope no-one paid up! That's trhe one thing I'm relieved about, I didn't pay so no Credit Card details available in these files. All the best everyone and if anyone wants some help from to give Mr AC a bloody nose let me know!!!

by orthinologist at 17:51 on 4 Oct 2010Report abuse
The iceing on the cake would be if Crossley wraps the new Jeep into a tree, walks away unscathed, still has the repayments and gets the 500,000 fine. That would be poetic justice

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