Don’t even need to respond, just toss the letter. You will never hear from them again. But do use a VPN when torrenting from especially Germany.

An acquaintance from Germany received one or two of these letters. They didn’t react and there has never been more.

They told me the letters had big and official, scary looking paper work.

A non-reaction seemed to be enough to fend off these unrealistic accusations, they told me.

It’s been a few years since I heard this story.

From my totally uninformed non-lawyer knowledge: It’s more or less safe to ignore random letters from German lawyers until they are forwarded to you by a German court (usually in a yellow(?) envelope).

I’ve also received a letter about seeding a torrent when I was in Germany in early 2010s. I went to see a legal aid lawyer, who was almost free, and he already had a prewritten letter saying that basically I was sorry and that I should come back if I received another letter.

The first letter said that if I didn’t pay within a few days, they would start a very expensive legal procedure. About a month later, I received a reminder, so I went back to the lawyer. This time, his letter said that I wasn’t able to pay the amount and that I should come back if I received another letter.

I never received anything after that. So, based on my experience, I agree: it’s all bark and no bite.

I wouldnt admit not having a wifi password in germany. Theres the “Störerhaftung”. If its your device you are responsible. Thats why germany has so few open public wifis.

But i never got a letter and looked up what to do? Probably tossing the letter into the trash is enough. Just be sure to seperate your waste properly so your neighbour doesnt sue you.

“Don’t talk to someone who is a trained professional to handle these kinds of problems, instead talk directly to the party trying to get you into legal trouble” is the dumbest advice I can imagine.

I used to work the abuse department for an isp back at the turn of the century.

While we covered our arses by emailing customers “we have received a copyright notice blah blah don’t be naughty”, the companies that filed the “complaint”? Got a big fat “fuck off and come back with an Australian court order”

We never released a single customer detail. Because privacy laws in Australia meant $50,000 per breach.

This is terrible advice, please just get a VPN like IVPN or Mullvad and just keep the letter somewhere*. Anyone telling you to forego a legal professional when it comes to legal issues is leading you astray.

You should just use a VPN in the first place and then none of this is a problem.