The IFPI claims to have filed 8,000 new actions around the globe against people which the organization accuses of copyright infringement. The suits, spread out over 17 countries, bring the worldwide total of file sharing cases to over 31,000.

But there's a bit of incongruence between the IFPI's story and that of the RIAA.

John Kennedy of the IFPI tells the BBC, "People should understand that they can be caught whatever network they are using. The next time a series of law suits are announced you could be on the receiving end if you are an illegal file-sharer," a statement which contradicts earlier legal action by the RIAA in the US courts.

Industry lawyers in the US have told courts that the opposite is true, that there are methods and techniques which prevent the RIAA from identifying users of file-sharing software, and have argued the RIAA's contracts with its copyright protection software provider MediaSentry should be held in confidence as a result.

So, believe what you will. Either the IFPI's claims that it's the boogeyman, waiting around every dark corner of the Internet to sue its next victim --or-- the RIAA's claims that there are methods of avoiding legal action which must be kept a secret to protect intellectual property.