Thousands of BT customers accused of piracy

Up to 13,000 BT customers accused of illegally downloading content are likely to receive legal letters in the new year.

The letters from ACS:Law Solicitors will be demanding payments of hundreds of pounds, and thousands of customers from other internet service providers (ISPs) may also be affected.

ACS:Law has been sending similar letters since 2007, but the scale has reached unprecedented levels and marks a significant step up in copyright holders pursuing illegal downloaders.

The law firm has sent an estimated 25,000 letters in the past two years to people it believed to be guilty of using illegal peer-to-peer sites, according to data from Being Threatened?, which claims to protect innocent individuals in such cases.

ACS:Law obtains its information on individuals who have been file sharing through data monitoring companies that track file-sharing networks.

:story: Full story: V3.co.uk