Are You One of 23,000 Defendants in the US’ Biggest Illegal Download Lawsuit?

  • Share
  • Read Later

Did you illegally download a copy of The Expendables, Sylvester Stallone’s old-school macho get-together fight-fest from last year? If so, watch your inbox: You’re likely one of the more than 23,000 file sharers being sued for doing so by the US Copyright Group in what is now the largest BitTorrent downloading case in US legal history.

Hey, look at it this way: you’re part of history!

A federal judge has agreed to a subpoena request from the U.S. Copyright Group to get the names of everyone who downloaded the movie from their ISPs. According to the Copyright Group’s leader, Thomas Dunlap, he’s already got 23,322 addresses that he wants names for, but it’s expected that that number will grow during the discovery process. Subpoenas are expected to go out to ISPs in the next week or so, and once received, the ISPs will contact downloaders to notify them that their information is to be shared as a result.

More on TIME.com:

Most People Are Basically Thieves (At Least Online)

MPAA Sues Hotfile.com For Promoting Internet Piracy

When It Comes to Illegal Downloads, Movies Trump Music