Largest BitTorrent prosecution begins

The US Copyright Group has been granted permission to subpoena ISPs for the details of users who have illegally downloaded movies via BitTorrent.

Film companies are said to have paid ‘snoops’ to monitor BitTorrent sites by observing active torrents and capturing users’ IP addresses. TechRadar reports that around 23k individuals are being sued for downloading Sylvester Stallone flick The Expandables.

A number of others are being pursued for a number of films, many of which are B-movies or porn. In total it is estimated that around 140k people will be receiving notifications from their ISPs.

It is thought the the Copyright Group will look to settle with defendants out of court for a free of around $3,000.