Are you downloading torrents? Then you should know this.

Yesterday I was talking to my friend who owns a computer shop and he informed me of a disturbing development.

Apparently quite alot of people have been receiving e mails from their internet service providers warning them to stop downloading torrents, the message contained threats ranging from fines to cutting off their service.

He also showed me e mails from a program he uses to hide his torrents of several IP adresses trying to monitor his activity which were blocked.

However after talking to my brother about it, he did some research and apparently the programs that hide your activity are useless and wont protect your privacy. I have in the meantime stopped downloading torrents just to be safe.

I would like to know if you are downloading torrents are you worried? Have you received any warnings? And are you using any program to hide your activity, also if there are any knowleadgable IT people could you please tell me whether the peer blockers work etc.

Originally posted by demoncleaner
Yesterday I was talking to my friend who owns a computer shop and he informed me of a disturbing development.

Apparently quite alot of people have been receiving e mails from their internet service providers warning them to stop downloading torrents, the message contained threats ranging from fines to cutting off their service.

He also showed me e mails from a program he uses to hide his torrents of several IP adresses trying to monitor his activity which were blocked.

However after talking to my brother about it, he did some research and apparently the programs that hide your activity are useless and wont protect your privacy. I have in the meantime stopped downloading torrents just to be safe.

I would like to know if you are downloading torrents are you worried? Have you received any warnings? And are you using any program to hide your activity, also if there are any knowleadgable IT people could you please tell me whether the peer blockers work etc.

Stop using a public tracker for one, get yourself access to a private site. I've had no troubles in the past and i've been using this private tracker for years now (very hard to get an invite to the tracker).

That being said for all the piracy haters on this website, if i find something i like (music, movies, video games, software) i'll pay for it (if i deem it worth the money they're asking). I'll throw an example around, i payed full price for duke nukem and was so disappointed, i wish i torrented it first.

No warnings here.

Emails of that sort remind me of internet hoaxes and scams.

May be legit, but I'm a bit suspicious.

This isn't actually new, it's been happening to people for some years.

Demonoid!

reply to post by SethGecko


So if I follow your logic; it is ok to Steal something you don't like (which is completely subjective) but not something you do like?

I am always amused at the way people try to justify theft (piracy) of any product.

reply to post by demoncleaner


Dont torrent programs themselves have an option to encrypt the data so no middle man can see it? Not a pro at this but that's what I always thought.

Not afraid here because nothing is policed in the third world

I got a letter from my service provider a few months back warning me to stop with immediate effect. The letter detailed the date, time and also the name of the file i'd downloaded - so yes, we are being watched...

reply to post by demoncleaner


You can hide your IP address all you want to across the internet, but it isn't gonna stop your ISP from seeing the amount of bandwidth you use.

Plus...you can use traffic monitoring if you have a starting point to see where you are going. Either end is open info...its the stuff in the middle of a VPN like Tor that's encrypted. So yes...if they see you using lot's of bandwidth, it isn't hard to check and watch you download it.

Some ISP's reject these notices to warn their clients, as it's all huff and bluff legally.

I don't have paytv. I watch free to air. I don't pay for it and I ignore adverts. I'm getting FREE TV shows that someone else made. Shocking revelation, I do the same thing with torrents.

I watch tv shows that our networks otherwise neglect (Im not waiting till 2am or midnight for a new episode of being human, for instance)... despite that new episode being almost a year old.

So, off to eztv I trot, and happily consider what I'm doing no different than if I were to watch it on tv, tivo/pvr it and skip ads.

All the baloney surrounding this is made moot by the fact you can watch a tv show on free tv, because as an end user, I don't pay for it.

In a way, it's kinda like using adblock plus for real life.

As for movies? Well, 99% of the torrents you get are crap cam jobs or r5's with added audio, with foreign subs. I'd rather see a good movie in a theater than put up with that. And I do. But I'm not going to go see every movie that comes out simply because "That's the morally proper thing to do, or else you're a thieving scumbag pirate!" -- I will submit to those who espouse that logic, that some of the studios put out FALSE trailers to entice people to go see a movie... One that shows all the good bits in 30 seconds, when the movie itself is 99% rubbish. Not paying for that. Have done in the past, will do no longer.

I'll check it out, then go see it. I always pay for what I take, as long as it's worth the amount asked. If it's not, the no loss to anyone. Crap does not pay for itself, quality does however.

Music? I don't download music.. why bother, just bung youtube up and search for it, but then, are youtube paying for copyright ? Lol.. no, but, google is master with lawyers out the kazoo, even the RIAA step back.

ISP's sending you infringement notices can be ignored as far as I'm concerned. Unless you're in a country legally bound to such laws. And if you are, why the hell are you not using peerblock or something.

pathooey on the greed mongers.

I haven't been bothered by anyone for piracy since the time I got warned for downloading Metallica from napster.
(i was so proud)

I immediately sent the message to the recycle bin and have never heard another peep.

That's not to say that they don't go after people, I'm thinking they are after people who create and host torrents, and not people who are just downloading a few torrents now and then. So i just leave the dirty work to my peeps in the eastern bloc.

I also would like to hear what some IT folks have to say on the matter. Is blocking software worth it or not? and should a person as I described above be concerned with such activity in the current state of whatnot?

Originally posted by mileysubet
reply to post by SethGecko

 

So if I follow your logic; it is ok to Steal something you don't like (which is completely subjective) but not something you do like?

I am always amused at the way people try to justify theft (piracy) of any product.

You can enjoy the trash, as long as you pay for it.

I'll continue to preview it before paying for it, and if it's utter trash, I'll keep my money.

I am rather amused at YOUR logic, to be honest. "Well I'll pay for anything, simply because they ask me to... Why I even paid for a snugee once, not realising it's just a backwards coat.. hyuk hyuk"..

reply to post by GeordieLegend


Thats exactly the e mails im talking about.

Did you stop?

Im in South Africa and dont think they will really clampdown in terms of getting the police involved but I do know the service providers are threatening to stop their service.

I received several emails from my ISP for allegedly torrenting movies. This is what they send.


Notice of Action under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Abuse Incident Number: NA0000032106340
Report Date/Time: Wed, 19 Oct 2011 05:25:03 -0500

Dear XXXXXXXX High-Speed Internet Subscriber:

XXXXXXXX has received a notification by a copyright owner, or its authorized agent, reporting an alleged infringement of one or more copyrighted works made on or over XXXXXXXX's High-Speed Internet service (the 'Service'). The copyright owner has identified the Internet Protocol ('IP') address associated with your Service account at the time as the source of the infringing works. The works identified by the copyright owner in its notification are listed below. XXXXXXXX reminds you that use of the Service (or any part of the Service) in any manner that constitutes an infringement of any copyrighted work is a violation of XXXXXXXX's Acceptable Use Policy and may result in the suspension or termination of your Service account.

I haven't ever had a cease and desist letter, but I have received general email that have been sent to all users on my ISP... which essentially state that the ISP doesn't care what or when or how you download data through their connections, but they do care what you UPLOAD.

With that said though, I've never seen or heard of anyone ever being reprimanded on that front, either.

What kind of stuff are you guys downloading when you receive these letters?

IMO they would only target High Profile torrents like, the Latest Movie, or Latest Episode or Latest Music Album.....it doesn't seem feasible to target anything else

reply to post by goochball


Downloading torrents is like masturbating near an open window.

You either don't care if someone sees you, or you take action and close your curtains.

lol, you left your windows open, and someone saw you... that is all

I have a friend who works in tech support for a telco in Australia, he told me he regularly gets emails about which customers are downloading copyright material from the ISP. But because the law is toothless at this time, the "offenders" aren't even notified and the email gets deleted and all is forgotten..

There is always the defense that "someone hacked my wi-fi" anyway..


I think most people would buy music and movies if they could afford it, and the majority of illegal downloaders are the ones who cant afford it, a nice cd or video in its pretty case is much better than a cruddy white or silver disk jammed in an album anyday IMO.

So the copyright owners aren't losing out on all that much I reckon .. cause the crap tv, music and movies keep coming at a furious pace... and the obnoxious celebrities aren't broke either, snorting their coke and what not.

Maybe if the companies concerned charged a reasonable price for their wares, people would be more inclined to do the right thing?

reply to post by PrecogPsychicSensitive


I love iinet

I hate TPG!

o.O they have allegedly sent on the notices, iinet however, are a strong backboned isp!