Brain sends warning email to user of usenet site Nzbxs.com
The Brain Foundation has sent a warning email to a user of the usenet site Nzbxs.com. In the email, Brein indicates that the user must stop illegally downloading protected material in order to prevent ‘follow-up investigations’.
In the email, which was posted on a forum, the Brein foundation explains how copyright works and how Nzbxs users infringe it. Brein says it is ‘important that repetition of ‘this abuse’ is prevented. For example, Brein warns the recipient to only use ‘legal offer from well-known platforms’ and that popular content that is offered for free ‘or for far below the usual price’ should be seen as suspicious.
If the recipient knows nothing, Brein indicates that someone else, such as a family member or roommate, is misusing the recipient’s data. “I urge them not to do this anymore,” the foundation writes.
The email is only intended as a deterrent. Brein does indicate, however, that in the event of future infringements it can ‘conduct follow-up investigations into your activities’ and can request name, address and residence details from the user’s provider. With this information, the foundation would like to agree on a declaration of abstention or request a court order.
Brain got the data from the former administrator of Nzbxs.com. On Tuesday, the foundation announced that it had reached a settlement with the administrator of this Usenet index site. As part of this settlement, the administrator would take the website offline and provide information about registered members. This includes first and last name, username and email address. At the time, Brein indicated that it wanted to approach these members.
It is not yet clear how many users have received the email. In the topic, one user states that he has received the e-mail for the time being. The foundation says that it processes the personal data in accordance with the legislation. ICT lawyer Arnoud Engelfriet responded in an earlier article about Nzbxs.com that the processing of this data under the GDPR is probably indeed lawful.
Nzbxs.com was a site that offered nzb files for downloading movies, music and games, for example. The site is said to have had “several thousand visitors” per month. It is not known how many logged-in users there were.