Be careful of what you download

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by DrummerX, Sep 22, 2009.

  1. DrummerX

    DrummerX Empires Tyrant

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    As you all know i like to download my favorite tv shows and movies through p2p sites such as demonoid and rapidshare. I've recently received an email from my ISP saying that i have been given a warning about downloading star trek from demonoid through a bittorrent client (utorrent). I then today received a letter from the MPAA finning me 30 dollars for the illegal downloading of a tv show known as dyfing gravity from mininova. I have been through many people on the phone and even called my attorney about this and there is nothing i can do due to the new regulations (and old ones mostly).

    Anyone that uses demonoid on a daily basis knows that they are down and are having to go through a serious clean up of all their torrents. The following link is a list of all approved websites to watch your favorite tv shows and movies, any other site other than the ones listed are considered illegal and if caught you can be fined money that you cannot fight against. I hope this is an eye opener to all people that use the internet for entertainment purposes.

    http://www.mpaa.org/piracy_LegalOpt.asp

    I do not know about music downloads for i rarely do so and was told that was a separate area
     
  2. recon

    recon SM Support Dev

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    It's nice to know your ISP is so quick to act for a DMCA violation, yet they won't cut off the access of someone running a DoS attack (a felony AFAIK). Of course, server owners don't have millions of dollars to spend on lawyers to force the ISPs to abide by the law, and in some cases, their own policies.

    A private organization can't "fine" you for anything. All they can do is take you to court.

    Protip: Use public wifi.
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2009
  3. DrummerX

    DrummerX Empires Tyrant

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    My ISP is ATT (It says i have Road Runner but my bill goes to ATT)

    According to the Attorney i could take it to court but the chances of me winning is very slim, they would have to not appear for me to win. He helped with a 20k case in Dallas Texas and had won for a little background.
     
  4. recon

    recon SM Support Dev

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    So your wording is incorrect. Technically, they asked you to settle before they took you to court.
     
  5. DrummerX

    DrummerX Empires Tyrant

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    There has been no mention of court.
     
  6. ScardyBob

    ScardyBob Member

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    Its kind of ironic that they picked the one show that they essentially canceled. If you are going to threaten to sue your customers, at least have the decency to pick a non-canceled show.
     
  7. DrummerX

    DrummerX Empires Tyrant

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    wow, was unaware it was canceled, it had potential for a full season.
     
  8. Metal Smith

    Metal Smith Member

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    Is this for downloading only? or is this also for watching it on a streaming site?
     
  9. rampantandroid

    rampantandroid Member

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    This is normal. ISPs will act on notices like this...else the ISPs get in trouble.

    Just buy it. These days, finding content for a decent price or even free is not too hard. Hulu, netflix, NBC streams stuff on their own, XBox/Zune have video services...etc. The end solution is to simply not download illegally.

    THey can supeona records from streaming sites...but I don't know of any cases where that has been done on a large scale. Catching people using bittorrent is easier for now.
     
  10. -=SIP=-

    -=SIP=- Member

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    Doesn't anybody worry that an ISP checks the downloads? What else is an ISP allowed to do? Read privat emails? Listen to VOIP communication? Check your balance when you are logged in at online banking?

    In germany we have elections next week. Hopefully "Die Piraten" get enough votes to show the major parties that there are also laws in the internet.
    Only police is allowed to search for illegal activities. Not ISP or MPAA.
     
  11. Silk

    Silk Mapper

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    When you have a download limit you have to be carefull about what you watch. If i download it i have a good quality version that i can see again and again, if i stream it i have to "download" it everytime i'm watching it and i just don't have that much room with my ISP's limit.

    I do buy the good stuff, but that doesn't mean i cause any harm by illegally downloading the other things i will not buy anyway. I'd be very pissed if my ISP would be following me around or if i get fined by some tax dodging company like Sabam for "Not causing any harm".
     
  12. blizzerd

    blizzerd Member

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    sue them for trespassing on your privacy and breaking and entry of your personal network

    basically, sue the fuck out of them, that's what i would do if id live in America, i live in Belgium though and stuff like that does not happen here because its against the constitution
     
  13. Trickster

    Trickster Retired Developer

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    <3 Rapidshare. Fuck torrenting. Also use peerguardian ffs. I don't torrent and even I know that.

    Also fuck the MPAA and RIAA, they can't do shit.

    Besides, I have no issues with pirating music. If I like the band, I'll go see them and I can assure you, they get a lot more money from gigs than they do from their Albums (where the record label takes 90% of the profits).
     
  14. blizzerd

    blizzerd Member

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    there is no substantial difference between organised media and mafia

    some friends of mine organised a party where they themselves would play electronic music that they created with software (to showcase what they created) anyone was welcome for a small fee and posters where hung around the city

    they got a letter from SABAM (basically the music industry money thingy from belgium) saying they where going to host a party and didn't pay for playing the music publicly yet, and should do so to prevent lawsuit

    when they sent a letter to report the mistake, they got a new letter saying they will be prosecuted if they did not pay

    i advised against paying, and said i would sponsor there juridical bills if needed and they got 1 more letter demanding money just before the party and ignored it after that nothing was seen from it again

    stuff like this is not "that" common, but you can see the injustice i hope
    i herd its even worse in America on this particular field
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2009
  15. Chupacabra

    Chupacabra Member

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  16. ScardyBob

    ScardyBob Member

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  17. MOOtant

    MOOtant Member

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    People outside US aren't subject to US law.
     
  18. Avneet

    Avneet Member

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    As a heads up I think it's something your local isp is doing and not all ATT. I've been reading at all the torrent communities and nobody else has had this happen from ATT.

    Also I suggest you use utorrent and use forced encryption.
     
  19. RKB53

    RKB53 Member

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    The US government like to think they have control.


    But in UK I found out that streaming is not illegal but download and upload is.
    Fucking stupid loop hole that serves well.
     
  20. rampantandroid

    rampantandroid Member

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    The ISP did not do it. They caught him based on the presense of his IP and a timestamp on a tracker server. The content owner just looked up the owner of that IP at the given point in time and bingo. There was no trespassing involved. In fact, they caught you by using other people's servers to find the incriminating evidence.

    If it isn't good, why download it? As for streaming, ISPs are split down the middle on download caps. My parent's ISP I hit the limit many times. My own ISP - Comcast - well...you try to hit 250 GB. I stream and DL plenty of stuff (all legally, mind you) and can't hit it...and that's considering I'm streaming HD content from Netflix.
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2009

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