Legal firm Tilly, Baker and Irvine (TBI) has agreed to stop sending letters to Internet users when they believe they may be infringing copyright. The ironic thing is that this is the same week in which UK law changed to allow the Government to cut users off for precisely the same reason under the terms of the new Digital Economy Bill.
Consumer association Which? has welcomed the news. It has been broadly welcoming towards the Bill, which it believes will be proportionate in its handling of Internet transgressions, but had criticised the legal partnership for approaching people with insufficient evidence.
TBI had been sending letters to people for infringing its clients' rights, its clients being pornographers. Some recipients of the letters claimed innocence but settled out of court to avoid public humiliation.
Morality aside, it's clear that an image is copyrighted no matter what it is, to the clients had rights to defend. It may well have coloured some of the coverage in the media or the sympathy with which the company was typically greeted.
The recognition of the images also means someone was looking at the faces, probably. I'll make no comment on that, just leave it as a thought for the weekend.