Hi, today I got a letter from this “law firm (Headman Partners)” demanding 1050€ for a p2p sharing back in October, I did a bit of googling and most of the results that I’ve seen it’s supposed to be blackmail and that Finland is suffering this type of scam pretty often since 2014.

They got supposedly got the name/ip address from DNA and they said they have proof of it.
My concern here is how did they get the information of who’s using that IP etc. Does this comply with the GDPR law?

Articles we’ve found about it (Some in English some in Finnish)

https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000005052577.html

https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/14734-finnish-law-firms-are-using-intimidation-to-profit-from-internet-piracy.html

https://murobbs.muropaketti.com/threads/hedman-partnersilta-kiristyskirje.1213329/page-1756

https://kiristyskirje.fi/hedman-partners-kirje/

https://torrentfreak.com/finnish-government-investigates-as-tens-of-thousands-face-piracy-fines-170126/

Got a letter from Headman Partners from Finland

Hedman Partners muisti meitä kirjeellä -rusinat rasahtelee from Suomi

http://semantics.sebastianmaki.fi/2014/08/an-open-letter-is-copyright-trolling.html

http://oikeusjakohtuus.blogspot.com/search/label/Hedman%20Partners

Thanks in advance for the help

Edit, sharing not downloading

15 comments

  1. Huh, I thought they were done with this kind of crap. IIRC Hallinto-oikeus, or administrative court, used to demand the ISPs to release the information to Hedman Partners, but I also remember there was a ruling couple of years ago that basically ended it. Maybe they are using information they were able to collect before that ruling, since there used to be some delay.

    The general advice on how to react to these letters was to throw them in the trash bin.

    Edit: the court is called Markkinaoikeus (market court), not hallinto-oikeus.

  2. Best u can do is ignore them afaik.
    They are sending this shit to lots of ppl and are trying to see who reacts. If u just ignore them there might be another letter but thats it.

  4. They seem to have extremely bad reviews left on google. With people mentioning similar situation to yours calling them scammers.

  6. The main point about the court decision about this a few years ago was that an IP address is not comparable to a personal identification. Basically they cant sue the “owner” of an IP address since it could easily claimed to be an open wlan for example.

  8. I got one of those about 5 years ago. I called them and asked what I had shared according to them, and when they told the name of the tv series I actually had pirated, I denied that I had done anything and told them I wouldn’t pay. They sent me two more letters, each with a higher amount of money they wanted. I just ignored them and they stopped sending them.

    I know several people who also got letters from them, didn’t pay and nothing happened. I think they very rarely take people to court over this, but at least on my case their information about me sharing a TV series was accurate and they would have probably won the case.

    My advice would be just ignoring them. Don’t even call them back and ask what you’ve supposedly shared. You’d be extremely unlucky to get actually sued by them, but it can happen.

  9. Turre Legal (turre.com) has profiled as “good guys” legal representative in these cases against Hedman. They know their law and tech as well. So in case @OP requires legal assistance or an attormey, I’d recommend them.

  10. I got one in 2018 for something I allegedly did in 2015.

    I just shredded their blackmail letters and went on with my life. Haven’t heard from them since.

  11. Scam. Got a letter from them in 2016. Ignored.

    Got a 2nd one a little while later that sounded a bit more threatening. Got pissed. Called them and told them to stop harassing me amongst other not so pretty things.

    Never heard back from them again.

  13. Never, ever, send anything in written to any lawyer. You might want to prepare a defence, but you only need to answer to the court.

  14. Been there dealt with that, as others have said ignore the ba*tards they have no rights to do anything it’s scare tactics

  15. Do not contact them. Do not admit anything. Radio silence, that is what the Muropaketti-thread advices. You will get the best advice from them for sure.

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