Official ACS:LAW/DL letter/legal threat discussion

[JustInterested]

I hope that the events of the last week will now force the powers that be to do something to sort out this unseemly mess before more lives are ruined, sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately I believe the focus of the 'powers that be' will be in bringing the perpetrators of this theft to court, rather than on Crossley. The way this information has been obtained makes it a very sharp two-edged sword.

[8of9]

Illegally Obtained Evidence in Civil and Family Proceedings

http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/guidance/guidanceonillegallyobtainedevidenceincivilandfamilyproceedings/

It follows, therefore, that there is an important distinction between the obtaining of such data in the first place, which amounts to a criminal offence, and the disclosure of such material thereafter in legal proceedings which is likely to be lawful provided that the disclosure was compulsory.

It does seem that although the method of obtaining the E-Mails was against the law, the use of the evidence in them can be used in court.

EDIT
@ Justinterested
Sorry about the repeat, you must have been posting while I was writing

[ralphmilne1992]

Something which I would like answering by anyone with a bit of legal knowledge: whilst this is a significant turn up for the books in this whole sorry saga, does it actually change anything? Can he be disbarred, can he still apply for NPOs, will he just carry on as normal (albeit with a dented reputation)?

Sorry for the questions but I'd like to know where this leaves those us of still in contact with Crossley.

[Hickster]

http://ueof.co.uk/acslaw/?_task=login

The leak online!

[jambo]

just been reading some of the emails and they clearly show the real reason ACS want NPOS to be granted for purely fianancial gain this whole saga has nothing to do with copyright infringement and this is clearly being used as a smokescreen for ACS gaining the NPOS.I personally think this is a key point to mention to CMW in what im hoping will be alot of letters arriving for him in the coming days.

[Zoot Cadillac]

I offer this for your perusal.

with regards to the investigation of Crossley by the SRA,
the SRA final report.
CASEWORK INVESTIGATIONS AND OPERATIONS REPORT
ANDREW JONATHAN CROSSLEY (Sole Practitioner)

http://www.datafilehost.com/download-ad130d1b.html (32 pages DOC)

and the full response by Crossley

http://www.datafilehost.com/download-08666c34.html (55 pages DOC)

These are pages with links to direct downloads of original word documents. Some formatting may have been lost in the saving and uploading ( for compatibility )

this is interesting


There is a great deal of insight into the process and the thinking in this whole mess.


I expect that a takedown notice will be received at Slyck. I'd also expect that in such case none of my details will be released if requested..

[MrFredPFL]

rest easy, zoot. the ONLY one that should be losing sleep over this is andy.

HOW YA DOIN TODAY ANDY?

[sunnyd]

ACS:Law (Gay) Porn Letters Target Pensioners, Married Men

http://torrentfreak.com/acslaw-gay-porn ... en-100925/

Last night, the private emails of anti-piracy law firm ACS:Law were spilled onto the Internet. Today, as we continue to dig through the mountain of information, we take a look at some of the human victims of this scheme. From poor people pleading for clemency, to bewildered old age pensioners accused of sharing adult movies, to married men who have been confronted with allegations of sharing gay porn, the cost is significant.

[8of9]

Mr Crossley also confirmed that several other potential clients had expressed an interest in this type of work, namely:
• Big City Beats (Record Label)
• Allan Kopie (Songwriter)
• Manuel Reuter (Songwriter)
• Autodata Ltd (Software company)
• Alcatech GmbH (Software company)
• Fust (Software company)
• Wever & Ko (Software company)
• KG (Software company)

We have been in negotiations with a games software company, Connect2media Limited, based in Manchester. They have expressed an interest for us to act for them. At this stage we have received a shortlist of games it produces to monitor for a trial period. Retainers have been sent to this company, but have not been signed.

We are in negotiation with Media Protector, a German-based data monitoring company, who wish to place with us captured data for their clients. Discussions are ongoing; no contracts have been formalized or sent out.

Dont think so, not now

[Wankers in Law]

I hope that the events of the last week will now force the powers that be to do something to sort out this unseemly mess before more lives are ruined, sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately I believe the focus of the 'powers that be' will be in bringing the perpetrators of this theft to court, rather than on Crossley. The way this information has been obtained makes it a very sharp two-edged sword.

It is VERY important to note that there was no data theft -- the entire email database was made public by ACS:LAW and their hosting provider. ANYONE WHO WAS ABLE TO GET TO THE SITE AT THE TIME COULD OBTAIN IT!

This is a MASSIVE breach of data protection laws on Crossley's behalf. There are full credit card details of some of his victims stored in plain text emails.

He should be fully unemployable let alone banned from practicing law in the UK.

[Hickster]

I have just update my Blog with the SRA report. (Thx Zoot and Flaw) TBH their is SO much info it is mindboggling. I have posted the report as a PDF, there is a LOT more stuff I need to look at, but I am very interested with who was talking to who and where, ie between the companies involved their seems a LOT of collusion. I need sleep LOL

I would urge you ALL to keep trying theonline version of the email leak as posted on the Blog and On here. If you find really HOT stuff send it to us or even POST it here! Happy hunting guys and gals

[thesauce]

From the CAG boards:

Ladies and Gentlemen- a commenter on Torrentfreak has stated the creditcard details are part of the big ACS Law leak- if you have paid off Mr Crossley, I suggest it might be good advice to get in touch with your credit card company/bank and inform them of this- if it's a creditcard company, they'll shut your account down and issue you with a new one.

[sunnyd]

Wikipedia update...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACS:Law

DDoS Anonymous and e-mail leak

On 21 September 2010, ACS:Law's website was involved in a DDoS attack by Anonymous after the firms recent actions. When asked about these attacks, Crossley said, "It was only down for a few hours. I have far more concern over the fact of my train turning up 10 minutes late or having to queue for a coffee than them wasting my time with this sort of rubbish."

This prompted further attacks, leading up to company emails getting leaked. They are currently available through a torrent. According to Slashdot, within this archive there are e-mails from Andrew Crossley "basically admitting that he is running a scam job" sending out thousands of frivolous legal threats. When asked about this, Crossley said, "It was only a joke I have no more to say"

[Wankers in Law]

If you have a news link, download link or information link you'd like to share in a central place, this blog is going to centralize everything into one tidy reference point.

There are some absolutely wonderful people on here who have created their own information sites on ACS so please PM me here on Slyck with your URL and I'll make sure the owner of that blog links to you as the blog is working high to the top of Google for ACS:Law related terms.

[sunnyd]

Starting to see more articles on this now...

ACS:Law Emails Leaked On The Pirate Bay

http://www.unitethecows.com/content/280 ... e-bay.html

Part of the article...

If ACS:Law were waiting for train then I’m sure they now feel that not only has the train arrived, but it has crashed right into them. It will be interesting to see how they come out of the wreckage.

[Bungo_1]

I'll stop lurking as these emails make some interesting reading.

We are happy to agree to a non disclosure agreement to put your mind at ease in relation to your confidential information. In reality, the only information we require from Media Protector are a list of captured IP addresses and experts report. We do not expect confidential information about the inner workings of your proprietary software to be disclosed.

So ACS don't know how Media Protector do it either.

One of our major corporate customers, Go Native has approached us to say they have received the enclosed request (Pdf) for payment from ACS regarding I/A 3 of 2010. They were included on the list of names and addresses but were highlighted as a major corporate customer / reseller.
Could you tell me if there has been a mistake or are you intending to follow up on this request? They are not very happy receiving your letter after we advised them that although they were on the list, you had agreed not to approach them. We have asked them to hold back on the request for now while we speak to you. I’m also a little worried that you might have chased the other highlighted customers

Words fail me, this idiot actually tried to screw an authorised reseller.

We are obliged to answer all infringers questions and queries, albeit some of them to try and elongate the process!

How? By being innocent? How difficult of them

Dear Terance
I am concerned that we have not according to my records received settlement of our invoices 1126965,1128416,1130537,1131583 & 1133700 (copies attached).
Could you please make the appropriate arrangements for payment to be forwarded to me as soon as possible?
Kind Regards.

They don't pay their bills either

Finally, I will send to you tomorrow our invoice for complying with the Court Order of 17 February 2010 in relation to your clients Kopie, Reuter & Peifer. Our charges are calculated in line with the agreement in place between Sky and your clients

Glad to see Sky value their users

http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/in-practice/sdt-decisions/vanessa-glover-clerk
lol Clerk (paralegal) getting in lots of trouble...

This from Terence T to ACS, guy must be psychic

Im a bit concerned that the automatic generation produces "Dear Sir or Madam". This makes it obvious that it is a template generated letter. Im aware that the Letter of Claims are also like this. What do you suggest? Should we leave it as it is? I just thought I should point it out.

Templates? ACS? Never....

Just wanted to end on this little gem

I hear that there have been some developments with the SRA and just wanted to let you know that if i can be any help to you please dont hesitate to ask. I dont mind helping you prepare for anything, even if that means coming in on the weekends to sort out papers etc.
I am sure nothing will come of it because ACS are thriving at the moment.

There's loads more there so I strongly advise people to torrent it. It's interesting how so many of the ISP's have no intention of standing up to them, indeed are happy to comply but hopefully this will be the end of Andys' reign of (rather inept) terror.

[Wankers in Law]

To sum up: This is the end for ACS:Law and Andrew Crossley. He will NEVER be able to come back from this.

There is so much more info being sort through that's going to make headlines everywhere. Good people on this Slyck thread - you need to consider a lawsuit of your own to get the money back that was extorted from innocent people and file sharers alike.

There is likely to be massive data protection lawsuits (victims data sent and received via email in plain text, stored on a server and made public by ACS:Law - credit card info, names, addresses, phone numbers), confidential third party company information - corrispondance with ISPs, other firms)

There can be multiple charges here. Let's get thinking people. Is there any way money can be recovered from ACS and directly paid to those who have had it (to be proven) illegally taken from them?

The contents of the emails sum up exactly what Crossley's intentions were. This NEEDS to happen. This is only the beginning. Torrentfreak's first glance at the emails turned up this: http://torrentfreak.com/acslaw-gay-porn ... en-100925/

[ACS Gits]

I enjoyed this one:

TEMPLATE LETTERS
1. Scan Letter.
2. Have a quick check through letter to see if there is any bespoke wording. If there is please place in the “general” box.
3. Find infringer on the system.
4. Check if infringer has paid – if YES then place in the “file away” box.
5. Check there is a Final Warning Letter already on the system if YES then you need to issue A PART 36 (see below)
6. Check if there is any other correspondence on the system – if YES refer to supervisor.
7. If none of the above then please issue a FINAL WARNING LETTER.

PART 36 XTERM
1. Select “Part 36 offers for Approval” spreadsheet.
2. Fill in and send to Supervisor.
3. After indication of AJC approval by supervisor – please generate Part 36 letter as below
4. Select generate Letter
5. Select “Part 36 Offer” template and generate.
6. Print and post.

PART 36 ACT SAGE

1. As above 1 – 3.
2. Select “Write” tab on the top of screen.
3. Tag Part 36
4. Select “Other document (from template)”
5. Select Part 36 template and fill in as appropriate
6. Save and upload.
7. Hand to Supervisor for checking before posting.

FINAL WARNING LETTER XTERM

1. Select “Final Warning Letter – Template response” and generate.
2. Print and post.

FINAL WARNING LETTER ACT SAGE

8. Select “Other document (from template)”
9. Select “Final Warning Letter” – template” template.
10. Fill in details n top of payment form.
11. Save and upload into the system.
12. Print and post

[samanthaj]

So a couple of companies in the UK are getting in on the act.

Autodata Limited
Connect2media Limited

[ACS Gits]

It would seem andy doesn't pay his mate for the harvesting:

You seem to have ignored my previous e-mail, I am not happy and want some revenue in account.


Everyone is getting eir bit and I am owed £17k ffs.


Lee

Sent from my iPad

On 3 Aug 2010, at 17:05, Andrew Crossley <andrew.crossley@acs-law.co.u=> wrote:


Lee

Statements 8-16 attached.

Let me know if you need any prior to these. This brings you up to date. =br>
Regards

In another email he subscribes to porn wonder what the missus will make of that lol

[ACS Gits]

Must have problems getting it up judging by all the emails he gets about his C*CK

[Billpayerr]

A Member of the ACS Law team wrote in response to a question ...

" I do not believe that we should answer this as I assume, having no detailed knowledge of the capture process either from the data monitor suppliers or the superficial expert witness report, we do not capture either the swarm size or the period which the IP) address was making available. In addition we have no knowledge of how many people the IP address madfe the work available to. That is an impossibility. "

[AlexanderHanff]

I have a very senior contact at the Information Commissioner's Office whom I sent an urgent email to this morning regarding this data breach. I made sure to emphasise that this data was exposed to the world as a result of ACS:Law failing to take adequate measures to secure it (a requirement of the DPA) not as a result of them being "hacked". I have explained that whereas their web site was "knocked offline" it was a system administration error which exposed the data.

I also sent a txt message to the same contact who has assured me the details will be passed on to the ICO Enforcement Team immediately he gets in the office on Monday. The level of risk posed by this breach goes beyond anything I have seen for a long time and when coupled with the issue of it being sensitive and confidential legal communications, it really is shocking.

I would be very surprised if Andrew is not disbarred and personally think he should be prosecuted - not just for the data breach but also for the content of some of those emails which clearly illustrate extortion/racketeering type behaviour. Attempting to obtain Money by Menaces is a very serious crime. I suspect the SRA will be paying close attention to this data over the coming weeks.

[samanthaj]

I also beleive that peoples credit card information has been made available too. So the potential financial damage could be conciderably more than already suffered

Lets hope that the ICO have more teeth than the SRA seem to have.

[sunnyd]

Slyck Lounge Menu for today...

Appetizer: ACS Nachos emailio, with hot toppings
Salad: Crossley leafs, lettuce alone with torrents of tomatoes, sprouts and shredded beets.
Main Course: Fried wankers cooked to perfection, scalloped scam potatoes and green greed mixed beans.
Dessert: Andy critters, a la mode
After Dinner Drinks: Law Liars Liqueur