law.com: The Online Enforcer
Dave Powell is not an officer of the law, but he prides himself on having a keen sense of where a man will bend and where he might break. The casual software pirate will usually respond to a sternly worded e-mail that appeals to some sort of universal sense of justice. Stealing, after all, is wrong and even though the Internet gives people a sense of anonymity, most people don’t like to think of themselves as thieves. For the more savvy software pirate, Powell must appeal to an instinct more powerful than morality: self-preservation.“A subpoena will look something like this,” Powell says, lifting an inch-thick sheaf of papers off his desk. “A pirate gets this in the mail and it’s like, ‘holy s—t.’”
But we’re skipping a few steps here. For Powell, managing director of Copyright Control Services (CCS), legal action is always the last resort. It’s expensive and far from universally effective—and while it may work in Fort Lauderdale and Liverpool, it’s futile in Kiev and Beijing. No, there are many other ways to apply pressure to get the desired result, and Powell promises results in 24 hours or less.