Oh Brother they are watching

Hello Fellow ATS'ers,

Today I come home to find out that my broadband company temporarily disconnected our service.

The message my husband got went something like this:

This is your first warning. You have visited vuze.com which is a torrent sharing website. This is against our internet policy. Further infractions can result in permanent suspension of your service.

After a phone call to customer service to get our service restored and digitally signing a promise to never visit vuze again we were turned back on.

I live in America. Land of the free. Freedom of speech. Blah blah blah. Apparently it is not so free any more. Appraently the cable company monitors the web sites you visit and downloads you make on your personal home computer in the privacy of your own home.

Does the internet provider have the right to dictate what i do with the service they provide? Where is the line drawn? Do they also keep track of how often I log into ATS, how long I stay here, and what posts I read and respond to?

Before the usual trolls start telling me about copyright laws and such I am aware. Vuze allows you to download FREE apps for your droid phone, and it is a file sharing site where you can quickly download many free apps.

What is so illegal about downloading free apps for my droid?

Who is insightbb.com to tell me what I am allowed to do on the internet with the service they provide?

The world is going to hell one loss of freedom at a time. When does it stop? How do we the people stop this?




I

Well that is ridiculous!

Now if you stumble upon this website again your service will be cut off?

You could really make a point about this.

Sorry about this!

reply to post by k21968


oh yea your right on that they are watching alright.


watch this video: THE ALL SEEING EYE.



oh and this too is interesting:
link:
What is the Singularity (Mike Hoggard)

reply to post by dannotz


Yes! It stinks! I just dont understand. I wasnt downloading movies or music. I use another site for that.

reply to post by k21968

Someone managed to strongarm certain ISP's to do this on a voluntary basis I believe. I remember reading about it a while ago, I think it was the UK being mentioned in the article. They are slowly encroaching on net neutrality via the legal system.

3 strikes and its a SWAT team to your house and they confiscate all digital media and equipment to fornesically investigate them

Years ago I used to post warez to usenet. My childish version of civil disobediance if you will. For many years all went fine, then one day I got a "warning" from some company of lawyers in the US that had noticed what I was posting. It was a copy of the DMCA. Quite how that would apply in Holland Europe I had no idea but I did stop posting. You will find something else. There are websites that offer direct downloads. I don't use those but I can still "get" a dvd iso file (4.7 gigabytes) in an hour and a half. It runs at full download speed, unlike most torrents for me. Good luck!

reply to post by k21968


That's called a contract, and it's been using for years to get people to conform. Read the fine print next time.

reply to post by k21968


Well call them and be like "Since you people are monitoring everything i do on the internet than you should know that i didn't use the site to illegally download torrents or mp3's!"

It's absolutely ridiculous and shows just how much we are watched..

It's just a matter of when, not if, they start expanding this censorship online. They aren't the only ones dictating what we can and can't do.

I sometimes buy products from overseas websites. Sometimes some of those sites use 3rd party VISA/MASTERCARD handlers that are associated with online gambling.
I've had my bank account "turned off" from my being able to access it because when I tried ordering products from sites that share the credit card handlers with online gambling sites, the bank shut my card off citing a possible federal level violation of online gambling access using my account.

My bank basically told me they have to abide by the federal mandates of access restrictions involving any associations with online gambling sites. I don't understand why the banks can tell me what I can and can't spend MY OWN MONEY on, and my cable company can tell me what I can and can't visit online.... stay asleep sheeple, it's only going to get worse.

reply to post by JibbyJedi


JIbby exactly! First they tell me what I can view online next they tell you what you can spend your money on. So now I ask...what do we do??

It seems there is no real answer and that is the most frustrating part. Because, as you can see, we conformed and signed their slap on the wrist to get our internet back. It sucks and makes me very angry.

interestingly your provider does not surpress vuze.com as a search result, now how smart is that ?

they kind of OFFER it, to flame you on using it ?

i would consider changing provider

Change provider...

that would be my suggestion

No one else seems that surprised, which is sad, but I for one, am absolutely flabergasted by this!

I seriously cannot believe that you came home to find your broadband disconnected because you were being "punished" for a website you visited. This is TOTALLY against your right to privacy! You need to take issue with this.

Can you give us more information by calling the cable company back and asking the following questions:

1) How did you know what sites I was visiting?
2)Does it matter that I was only downloading free apps?
3) Did I sign a contract that stated I wouldn't visit this site?
4)What else are you watching when I'm surfing the web? Are you legally allowed to spy on your subscribers?

I mean, if they can turn off your cable (unbelievable) for visiting the site you mentioned, then why don't they turn off the broadband for all the PERVERTS out there visiting PORN SITES? I can think of hundreds of sites that should be monitored and whose subscribers should be cut off that are much more worthy than the site you visited.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, trust me. Pretty soon, we'll be getting our broadbands disconnected for a long list of other things.....

Your post is one of the first like this--because this is just the beginning. Sadly, it's only going to get worse.

reply to post by k21968


You do not however have the freedom to steal. The only reason to go to torrent sites is to steal.

reply to post by TMJ1972


What alternatives are there to companies like this? Very high speeds. So what, then you go back to a dial up which moves a little quicker than a slug by comparison. And there is only one cable high speed in one area..at least in my area. There are no other solutions and they know it. Unless you want to put a phone line back in and go to a dial up once again.
DH

reply to post by Blaine91555


I cant even argue with you. My name is (&(*&)(*&&#^#^#^ and I have illegally downloaded movies at some point in my life. But that is not what this is about. If the FBI came and said I had infringed a copyright law..fine..you got me. However, for my CABLE company to shut off my service because I went to a torrent sharing website and to know what was downloaded is absolutely scary.

I am upset that m y piddly local internet provider/cable company keeps track of my internet history and can decide what is legal for me to do. If the FBI came and cited me, then , so be it. But again my question would be why do they care? and How the heck do you know?.

That my friend is scary.

i read through much of this companies 'Acceptable Use Policy' which showed a good portion of things which might get violated by the average user.

now what really keeps me thinking is ... they can in fact set up a rule for not allowing you to browse a specific website.. THEY CAN .....but...

they are not allowed to sniff on you to FIGURE you did.

cause this would touch your (in my opinion higher valued) right of having your privacy protected.
A few years ago i remember the usual procedure in case of illegal actions using the web (the kind of illegal defined by law, not by company-policies) the provider gave a notice to a law enforcement ageny, which was ..in this case .. the FBI, and they just acted if a damage in access of $6000 had been done.

Now since larger companies seem to have fun sueing individuals for downloading copyrighted content, they tried to change the system somehow, with the ultimate goal that the hurdle someone takes action is lowered in a way that a provider can pull the plug in case of doubtful activity on its own. Just to relief law enforcement to some point.
This results in having your providers start a kind of sniffing on you, which is basically not allowed for violating your privacy imho.

To all our misfortune this change came at a time where the government came on the brilliant idea to start sniffing for terrorists using the www INSIDE the US, where the NSA was always being legitimated to sniff on communications cross the border (dating back for decades).

now as you'll see we live in some tricky times, cause if you challenge them for violating your privacy, you may get a bloody nose for still having republican anti-terror laws backing your provider.

Another argument in this possible dispute is, that your provider can start claiming while you are using his property (routers etc) he has the the right to have an eye on you since you are playing in his backyard.
(as far as i remember this argumentation came up with a doubtful use of facebook in a few cases)

sooo

its quite obvious to me that your privacy has been violated, but its obvious too that we are the sheeple, right now, till someone tears down specific laws being in place atm.

i would still change the provider, or at least think in using a sort of encryption in case you think you have stuff to do noone has to look on. I guess there are companies offering such sort of solution.

Originally posted by Blaine91555
reply to post by k21968

 

You do not however have the freedom to steal. The only reason to go to torrent sites is to steal.

You're correct. The freedom to steal is reserved only for the wealthy. It's bad enough they steal our money to bail out wall street, and fight wars which the taxpayers don't agree with. It's another thing to then rub it in our faces and call others criminals for trying to gain an advantage. Oh the hypocrisy!!

Originally posted by k21968
reply to post by Blaine91555

 

I cant even argue with you. My name is (&(*&)(*&&#^#^#^ and I have illegally downloaded movies at some point in my life. But that is not what this is about. If the FBI came and said I had infringed a copyright law..fine..you got me. However, for my CABLE company to shut off my service because I went to a torrent sharing website and to know what was downloaded is absolutely scary.

I am upset that m y piddly local internet provider/cable company keeps track of my internet history and can decide what is legal for me to do. If the FBI came and cited me, then , so be it. But again my question would be why do they care? and How the heck do you know?.

That my friend is scary.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the internet... everyone is tracked, everything is logged...

anyone who tells you its not is wrong.

i have worked in IT for about 8 years, my family have owned IT companies for 26 i have grown up around it, thats sadly just the way it is, much like every txt message and email can be accessed if anyone (anyone who is imporatant) wants for any reason, it cant be used in court (in the uk) but it can viewed.

I have the following suggestions for you.

1. Learn how to surf anon - Tor Project Anonymity Online

2. TrueCrypt Full Disk Encryption

I have no idea why in the world would people not use the tools that are out there to protect your privacy from prying eyes. In your particular case, I would encrypt my whole hard drive right now as you never know with whom your internet provider shared your information with and what lies they said about you!

Why make it easy for them to 'charge you' when the tools are out there to keep you safe...

PD. Ebay also carries 'modified' modems for your convenience

reply to post by k21968


In a way I agree. I can't agree with stealing though. A better route would be to block access to begin with. Remove the temptation.