Today the IFPI announced a new wave of lawsuits (2000) in Europe. But how new is this wave? It seems like they keep suing the same people over and over again. If you compare today's press release with the one they put out last year you will see that in both cases they sued a "German judge", a "British Councilor" and a "French Chef". What a coincidence!

Ok, I have to agree, it seems like the French chef got a promotion because last year he or she was just a cook.

Here are two fragments from both press releases.

April 12, 2005

Those who are paying the price of piracy include a German judge, a French cook and a British local councilor.

April 4, 2006

A wide variety of people are finding themselves on the receiving end of legal action and paying large financial penalties. They include a Finnish carpenter, a British postman, a Czech IT manager, a German judge, a French chef, a British local councillor and a retired German couple.

Sure, I know that these “lively” examples are just a propaganda tool that is used to make us feel vulnerable. But still, they could have been a little more creative.

Ok, I have to admit, the postman, carpenter and the retired couple are new, and very appealing. They replaced last years nurse, truck driver and car salesman. But I wonder why they sue the retired couple as “a couple”. How does that work? Did they share a single windows account or what?

Well, I think the bottom line is that the IFPI announced 2000 new lawsuits, so we all should be very scared. Everybody is vulnerable, and the next person that’s going to be sued could be YOU.