As it turns out that a lot of SaskTel customers are allegedly involved in
internet piracy, the company, since January 2019, has sent out around
30,000 Copyright Infringement notifications to
customers, who are accused of engaging in downloading or uploading copyrighted
materials.
A spokesperson for SaskTel said that the number of notices the Crown
tends to issue has remained steady in recent years. The spokesperson explained
that receiving one of such notices doesn’t mean that the user is being sued by
Hollywood studio. However, it can lead to a suit if the user continues with the
activity causing infringement.
Although SaskTel doesn’t monitor the customers’ online activities, it is
obligated under the Copyright Act of Canada to issue notices related to
infringement on receiving communications from copyright owners.
Halifax-based lawyer David Fraser, who specializes in internet privacy
and technology law, warned SaskTel customers by saying that they shouldn’t take
the notices lightly. Mr. Fraser, during a recent telephonic interview, said
that he would neither ignore it and nor laugh it off; rather, he would take it
seriously. The lawyer continued and provided an example saying that if he were
to receive a notice in his house or to discover that one of his kids was doing
something like a violation, he would have a conversation with the kid as he
wouldn’t want the thing to go further.
According to Mr. Fraser, copyright owners can track SaskTel users with
the help of companies that possess the technology to detect the IP addresses
that access copyrighted materials, like movies through peer-to-peer
file-sharing software. Nonetheless, the copyright holders don’t get aware of
the users’ names, and SaskTel wouldn’t provide that information to anyone
unless a court orders it to do so.
Fraser then said that Hollywood studios have sued around thousands of
individuals in Canada for piracy. While representing Canadian residents against
whom the lawsuits for copyright infringement have been filed by the studios,
Mr. Fraser revealed that these lawsuits often fall within the range of $5,000.
Companies usually provide individuals with several notices before
deciding to sue them for copyright infringement. If you receive one or two
notices, then there’re possibilities that you could be sued in case you
continue doing the same thing as you were doing it before. Moreover, once you
get sued, you will be sued again and again. You cannot ignore it, as if you do
so, then the studio gets a default judgment against you, said Fraser.
A default judgment takes place when a defendant fails to respond to
summons or unable to appear in court. SaskTel said it received one court
application asking for information about copyright infringement, but the data
wasn’t available because the Crown stores the information only for six months.
Pirating copyrighted material is in infringement of the Crown agency’s Internet
use policy.
According to this policy, customers should not upload, transmit, publish,
or reproduce literary work, software, or other material, which is protected by
any Intellectual
Property (IP) right without obtaining the prior written permission
of the copyright holder.
SaskTel, at last, said getting a copyright infringement notice doesn’t
affect the customers’ internet access, but the continuation in piracy-related
activities can result in the suspension of service.
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