In the battle against illegal downloads thousands of broadband users are being targeted by games developers, who are threatening to take legal action

Over recent months the battle against illegal downloading by broadband users has been hotting up, with industry groups and officials determined to try and stamp out illegal downloading and file sharing as much as possible through suspension of service or hefty fines. According to a recent report games developers are the latest to join in the fight, and a number of major developers behind a range of well known games are targeting thousands of broadband users.
It is thought that around twenty five thousand broadband users across the UK are being targeted by games development firms such as Atari, TopWare Interactive, Reality Pump, Techland and Codemasters. The developers, behind games such as Lord of the Rings, are contacting users telling them to pay three hundred pound fines or face being taken to court and being fined thousands.

Those that ignore the demands for the three hundred pound fine are being told that they will have court action taken againsts them. As one woman found out earlier this week, this can cost dearly. Isabella Barwinska was fined a whopping sixteen thousand pounds by the development company for illegally file sharing in relation to the game Dream Pinball.

A legal firm that has been hired to work on behalf of the developers has said that the development firms are becoming ‘incensed’ by the level of illegal game downloads being performed by broadband users, hence the decision to koin in the fight and take action. Around five thousand addresses are thought to have been obtained by the firms, and they are asking courts to force ISPs to hand over the addresses of around 25,000 broadband users who are thought to be engaging in this activity.