Received a €900 Frommer Legal Abmahnung because a guest torrented a movie on my Wi-Fi. What do I do?
I am an expat living in Berlin, and I just got my first official taste of the terrifying German legal system. I opened my mailbox yesterday to find a thick, official-looking yellow envelope containing a cease-and-desist letter (Abmahnung) from Frommer Legal. They are demanding a staggering nine hundred euros for copyright infringement. According to the letter, my IP address was flagged for uploading and sharing a popular Hollywood movie on a torrent network three weeks ago. I have not used a torrent client since 2012, and I do not even watch Hollywood blockbustres.
But then I remembered that three weeks ago, I had a guest staying with me from the US. He asked for my Wi-Fi password, and I casually gave him access to my main network instead of setting up a guest profile. I asked him about it yesterday, and he sheepishly admitted that he had a torrent client running in the background of his laptop to download some stupid action movie while he was asleep. He had no idea that Germany actively monitors torrent traffic.
Frommer Legal has given me exactly ten days to sign their pre-formulated cease-and-desist declaration (Unterlassungserklärung) and transfer the money. I did some panicked research on German copyright law, and I know that as the owner of the internet connection, or Anschlussinhber, I am technically subject to something called Störerhaftung. However, there seems to be a gray area if a guest did it. Everyone on the forums says under no circumstances should I sign their original declaration because it is basically a lifelong contract with a massive penalty loop.
I want to send them a modified version, known as a modifizierte Unterlassungserklärung, to protect myself, but I am terrified of making a mistake in the German phrasing and getting dragged to court. Should I name my guest as the actual infringer to clear my own name, or does that just make things worse for both of us? I do not have the cash to hire a local lawyer for seven hundred euros just to fight a nine-hundred-euro fine.
I am currently staring at my router, wondering if I should just wrap it in tinfoil and throw it into the Spree. I think I am going to change my Wi-Fi password to a forty-character string of random letters and never give it to anyone again, not even my own mother .