You have to go to 2017 to explain the history of these letters: on April 3 of the same year, the Commercial Court No. 2 of Bilbao issued a judgment against Euskaltel in a complaint filed by an American producer. The company did not make use of higher authorities, as did other telecommunications companies.

When the case was lost, she gave the producer the IP addresses of her clients and now, thanks to that data, on behalf of this producer, hundreds of citizens have been torn against the wall: to pay EUR 150 per film shared or to receive a court complaint. The persons concerned are requested to enter into a current account on behalf of the company Alfa Guardian S.L., domiciled in Leioa.

The case is unique, as similar causes have been raised in other courts that do not oblige the telephone company to provide this information to its customers on the basis of the Data Protection Act. However, the Bilbao court forced Euskaltel to give the producer Venice PI, LLC a reason and to provide the IP of the customers who supposedly shared the film Once Upon a Time in Venice on P2P networks.

Many Euskaltel customers have also received similar messages from other films: Like The Titan or Wind River.

What do the people affected say?

At the end of May, Euskaltel announced that it had filed a complaint against Venice PI, producer LLC, for the use of its customers’ data. The company considers that the letters sent to users who allegedly shared films do not respect the data protection law in force in the Spanish State.

Every day the number of people receiving such messages increases. Faced with this situation, they have decided to set up a group of people affected and have contacted a lawyer specialised in such cases to prepare their defence.

This group has published a note on social media in which you can read the news. The paper states that Euskaltel is responsible for the situation for not fighting until the end in defense of the interests of the clients. “It has left us totally helpless,” they said.

They have also insisted that the risk is real: “It’s impossible to ensure that our routers are free to enter someone outside and to this you have to add that the routers signal is used for the Kalean Wifi service. We also warn public centers, bars, cafes, hotels, ikastolas and associations of all kinds that offer open WiFi of the risk of being a client of Euskaltel, as in this Kafkaesque judicial procedure we have become an easy prey as clients of Euskaltel”.

According to the victims, given the situation of helplessness generated by this case, many clients have chosen to leave Euskaltel and the company has approached the Spanish Data Protection Agency. However, the group has denounced that this step has been taken to "cleanse the face before the customers" of the company.

They have also pointed out that the majority of those affected remain clients of Euskaltel and hope that the company will protect them, making the financial means available and the resources necessary for their defence.