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Comment by trilbyglens | Hacker News Reader

Germany is wild. You will get a knock on your door within hours of firing up a torrent client

Not sure if this is just misinformed, or anti-Germany/EU propaganda? Either way, not true.

In Germany, if you torrent something without protection of a VPN, you may receive a letter from a blood-sucking legal firm within a week or two, with a fine that can be argued down somewhat.

I'm sure the OP meant "knock on your door" figuratively. And refers to exactly what you say, those leechy law firm letters. In that sense it's entirely true.

"knock on your door within hours" does not usually even figuratively mean "getting a letter a few weeks later".

Huh, what in the world are you talking about.

If you’re torrenting and you happen to get caught, you will receive a letter from some copyright lawyer with a fine of X amount as well as a cease and desist.

The only knock on your door is the mail delivery man

What? No, you will not. You could get fined for seeding some popular stuff, but even then no one is knocking on your door, it'll probably come in the form of a letter, and even then it's not a guarantee.

I lived in Germany. At least back then it was definitely a letter. They were not very good at it, though, and I received one for torrenting large open source software.

I wonder if people could form a nonprofit that starts torrenting public domain media or open source software as a honeypot to find these firms and bury them in legal procedures. I'd gladly donate to such a nonprofit.

Do these letters have teeth or just trying to scare you into a settlement for lawsuit that would never come?

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