Today these entrepreneurs are increasingly hunting for new business on peer-to-peer networks. Lawyers working for these firms have been known to sue first and ask questions later--and sometimes they make controversial legal maneuvers. If you're illegally downloading the latest Mumford and Sons album and you aren't worried, maybe you should be.

In this article I'll discuss the rise of copyright trolls, and how they work. For any pirates out there, I'll describe what happens when the jackbooted copyright lawyers come knocking on your door to serve you a settlement letter. And lastly, we spoke with legal experts to gain insight into from the mind of a lawyer.

Copyright trolls work in a few different ways, but the end goal is the same: Threaten, scare, and embarrass people into paying a neat sum (usually between $1000 and $3000) without ever actually going to court.

One way copyright attorneys work is by first identifying copyright-protected content being swapped online. Next, working independently of the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, they contact the owners of the content, usually a movie- or music-production company, and ink a deal to have alleged pirates sued on their behalf and to split any monetary damages recouped.