Poll: How Would You Respond to an RIAA/MPAA Warning?
Written by enigmax on March 29, 2009This week’s hot topic is the reported collaboration between the RIAA, MPAA and your ISP. The aim of the music and movie industries is to reduce and deter illicit file-sharing by sending out warnings to alleged infringers. The big questions is this: How would you react if you received one of these warnings?
Last week we ran a poll asking why our readers use BitTorrent. We were really impressed with the feedback with more than 14,000 readers taking the time to vote. Following on from this success, this Sunday we’re asking you guys a new question.
This week the press has been buzzing with the ‘news’ that the music and movie industries will be working with ISPs to send out infringement notices to alleged copyright infringers. Of course, this has been going on for years already but the indications are that the tracking of file-sharers will intensify and with this will come an increase in warnings.
These warnings are designed to frighten people away from file-sharing networks but the million dollar question is: Will these scare-mails work? Let’s find out.
How would you respond to an RIAA/MPAA copyright infringement warning?
Upon receiving a warning via my ISP I would...
Previously: Pirate Bay Torrents Spread Via Facebook
Next: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent





237 Responses
I would definitely carry on sharing..What max it can do to me..they can’t sue me for sharing
Well if your on public sites VPN, if your on a private one, report to staff and they would find/ban the NARC and problem solved.
Altho i’ve been on private sites for about 5 years now and never even heard of someone getting a letter from an ISP.
They’re to busy shooting fish in a barrel on the public sites.
Ignore, of course.
Ignore, but carry on with more caution.
who has ever reacived a warning? probably hide ID
Realize I am in Canada and that the letter makes no sense.
I would be a good citizen and recycle the paper that the warning was printed on. If it was via email I would mark it as spam so my mail service would see all future emails of the like as spam and not deliver them to me at all.
RIAA, MPAA, or any other mob like that does not scare me.
I only use private trackers, haven’t got a warning yet, so I don’t worry about it
I use TPB and have downloaded countless movies, TV shows, music, applications, you name it. I have never got a warning. I figure either your odds are just low of getting one, or my ISP smartly doesn’t waste their time notifying me.
I would print it off and use it for toilet paper…
I suppose technically I’d obey it. I’d try to find other ways of getting what I want without the liability of sharing. E.g. IRC bots, newsgroups, FTP, friends (online or offline), etc.
I live in Norway and my ISP have said they won’t even forward such a warning.
My Vote will be always: Ignore the warning and carry on sharing the same as before!
Who Cares what they want lol, i will do what i want only ;)
I would call my lawyer and sue for threatening with laws that cannot, and will not apply where I live…
oh, i forgot to mention, as you receive a warning (hope not at the first place ), if you receive one, Just request your ISP to change your IP and Ignore the warning and carry on sharing the same as before!
they are using tricks, so you should be cleaver also!
always use tricks to save your @ss ;)
There are no more honest person in the world. Just use tricks and live happily ;)
print it off and eat it xD
I would frame it… that’s something to be proud of…
Ignore and then download and upload more, just to get the point across that I really don’t care what they think.
Hopefully they’ll send the letters by mail, I need some more paper for my bonfire.
A curiosity about the poll is the presumption that one is sharing… in the first place. Of course, anybody can receive such a warning whether or not they did share, as was previously demonstrated.
TrueCrypt and they can suck my cock.
I got a DMCA letter many months after downloading The Departed. I had forgotten I’d even got the movie. I was proud when I got my letter. I still have it hanging on the wall in a frame.
vpn+1
I use newsgroups via an encrypted service most of the time anyway.. If I got a warning I would simply stop using torrents which actually help promote the artists! I would also stop buying ANY material distributed by them! (I currently buy any material I want to keep and spend around £30 – £50 per month)
I’d write to my ISP and ask what kind of proof they thought they had, and scorn them for being patsies.
Ive gotten a warning from my ISP who said they were contacted by a NEWS CORP, the file i was dling was
Bourne Supremecy, on Mininova.
nothing ever happened tho, strictly only a warning, carried on as usual.
@21 What a great idea. If i ever get a warning, I’d do the same. :)
Got an email from my isp telling me MPAA got a hold of my ip address. Course i live in Canada and didn’t give a fuck so i ignored it.
As any self respecting British citizen would do, write back with the sentence
“COME ON THEN, IF YOU THINK YOU’RE HARD ENOUGH”
Yours sincerely
x
PG2 and Ipfilter etc
file sharing cannot be stopped !
Open wifi for the win
I would instruct my lawyer to file criminal charges against RIAA & MPAA for false accusation and obtain an interim order preventing my ISP from infringing the service in any way.
I would ignore the warning and carry on sharing the same as before. Although due to the fact that I only have about 250MB of bandwidth a day, and perhaps am a bit selfish, I don’t actually share; I just download. I did upload some games and stuff a year ago though, but all of it except for one is gone.
I guess I should reupload some stuff…
I would prob just buy a rapidshare account, and limit my torrent use to private sites.
In my city there are 3 floor pirated cd megashops… A letter from the RIAA/MPAA to me makes no sense! :P haha
Demonoid is open for registration
http://www.demonoid.com/register.php
Fold the letter and wipe my fat arse with it.
Take it seriously, because you never know when they will make you an example.
Don’t be careless.
I wouldn’t give a Bollocks. I aint got nothing, so they cant have nothing.
Take me to court…. Bothered??
What they gonna do, send the Bailifs n reposese my MP3?
RIAA & MPAA, Move along….. Your boring me now…
Step one would be calling my ISP, bitching them out, and canceling my service. Then I’d carry on with a different provider (because I’m lucky enough to have two in my area) with an added VPN plan.
I wouldn’t do a thing. All I share is Linux and the 5GB of legal free music from SXSW.
Luckily, I am in canada, and downloading is not illegal as long it is for personal purposes..YAY Canada!!..but uploading is illegal..So if ever I get a notice, I will change my wireless router to an open network, and send back them a notice to quit bothering me..
- not -
since I’m paying a massive isp bill for super fast broadband which is created for nothing more than downloading i would just use the notice … light it on fire and use it as a damper to start my cut off bushes and twigs on fire..
is provides the broaband super fast it is meant for nothing else but downloading which ever way you dress it up as.
they dont provide any content what so ever to download legally so what are we paying for? just what are we paying high super fast broadband for?? and what are they selling it for and advertising it as super fast download speeds if there’s nothing legally to download?
stuff em
@5 My friend got a letter last week.
Anyway, I’d just lay low for a while, then carry on with more caution.
Three years ago I received a letter from the MPAA (forwarded by my ISP) threatening me with legal action. I ignored it: I live in Spain and US laws doesn’t apply here. I could’ve even sue them for illegaly threat me, but that’s too much time and money :(
I would write a counter threat letter.
Such a warning. Or even inspecting my internet usage would be illegal where I live.
I received one warning. Now I use peerguardian and i’ve yet to recieve another warning. (also i’m made sure to check for comments on torrents to ensure they are not fake).
Live and learn.
i WILL haz torrents, a new ISP and another banana … fuck ‘em.
My isp is a dick. They cut me off if I don’t respond to the warnings within 24 hours, and I have to call them to get it turned back on. Each time they turn it back on without any delay, but it’s annoying. I hate Cox, and I’m too lazy to check my email more than once a week.
I continue to share despite the trouble they’ve given me.
I received a warning letter 2 years ago from my isp for a movie i downloaded. Ever since then i have been using peerguardian2 and haven’t received another letter since.
If you live in the u.s. don.t waste your money on a vpn service when peerguardian works oh so well.
Peace out pirates!
@49
Change ISP
@10 by Anonymous LMAO nice idear use the warning as toliet paper
I would ignore the first warning,
second warning I will be more cautious,
the third warning I will subscribe to a vpn.
id fart in a microphone and burn it onto mini cdr
then put in envelop and on front of latter containing cdr
warm them that contents may explode if ignited LOL
@ 49
Change ISP cox likes cocks. =]
As far as I see it, if you download a scene release and you upload 99.99% of the file back to another peer/peers (we can put it at 5 megs for this example) no such copyright infringement can be committed because the .rar files will refuse to assemble themselves with missing information.
Ignore but use caution. Especially since I am a uploader hehehe
i WILL REPORT THE AUTHOR OF THE WARNING AS SPAMMER.
One answer is missing:
I would deny their claims.
I would ask for how they come to collect their “evidence”.
I would demand to be considered a false positive and to be treated as innocent.
I probably would threaten my ISP to sue him if he actually happen to act against me based on arbitrary accusations, does not provide confirmable evidence, and denies to document the methods of data collection involved …
I use PeerGuardian, and have never received a letter in 4+ years of very heavy torrenting. By that, I mean 1TB/month+.
If I did get a letter, I would ignore it. I have planned with the idea that my internet is not safe, and have my internet account registered in a false name.
I’ve gotten a warning once, back in 2006. I had downloaded a copy of a movie that had been released by the studios just to catch file-sharers. Days later, I got an official warning from my ISP. All it took was a five minute phone call to my ISP and promised them that I would never download again, and my connection was back up.
Two days alter, I found out about PeerGuardian. It has been nearly three years since, and I have never gotten another warning. PeerGuardian is the king!
“Take it seriously, because you never know when they will make you an example. Don’t be careless.”
I would take it seriously and will drop 3 Jdam bombs on the RIAA and MPAA headquarter to eliminate the treat against my country and since I am a good patriot.
God bless the USA!
Obey the warning and stop sharing.
I’ll just wait until the professional copy industry is bankrupt and the laws are sane again. In the meanwhile I’ll also stop buying music/movies.
I answer to this is very simple. As what has already been mentioned, I have no use for broadband if not to download. Doing things like email does not require broadband.
So I will let them know what I think of their actions by cutting the cost of my service. I will revert to 56k and screw them of the monthly profit they would normally make. That’s the one thing they understand very well, is when you hit them in the pocket book and tell them why. While I have them on the phone I will also cut other items that have been tacked on to my account over the years, turning it into a nice monthly savings that at the same time will cut into what they were making.
What I will not do is threaten to leave for another ISP. That is what they hope you will do. When you do, they figure they have saved themselves bandwidth because you might actually use what you bought and at the same time they figure that giving you to the competition makes them come out ahead. Neither of these will I satisfy.
Nope, I’ll hit em where it matters, in the wallet. I would hope that a million others doing the same thing would encourage these ISPs by giving them a wake up call.
Of course, I’d stop sharing. In all the years I’ve been sharing, I’ve never ever got a warning. If I got one, it’d scare me to death.
I’d lay low, and figure out a better way to do it.
I would add them as a friend and post a glitter comment… <3
Or something more Emo… <3
Photocopy it to hang on my wall, and return to sender due to jurisdiction fail.
Despite what they might have you believe, US law does not apply to other countries.
Yep, frame it with a little glass hammer, right beside the toilet for emergencies…..
Your business model is ****ed Mr Big 4/MAFIAA…we want you to pay us for doing nothing really.
We, the people, have decided that you have been ‘Robbing’ ‘Us’ for far too long.
Go away and pester someone else. It’s falling on deaf ears buddy.
Upon getting a notice, I would quit “public” P2P entirely and:
1. Try to join a private torrent site or other “darknet”.
2. Pay for a Rapidshare account.
3. Pay for a newsgroup account.
***Unfortunately none of those three options are listed as choices.***
My download volume would likely not change.
I would welcome the shift to Usenet because it would totally lock out the RIAA/MPAA forever and the download time would be less for me without the need to seed others or maintain a ratio.
But simlar laws apply in most countries…..Its a bummer i know…but true…
I use public trackers with a static IP and I’ve never received a warning. Of course, I’m the type of person who would send a reply telling them to get bent!
Ignore the warning but carry on with more caution
Ignore the warning but SHIT MY PANTS….
No challenging the letter and/or evidence option?
yeah i agree i would probably shit in my pants but would continue filesharing after a change of clothes.
Ignore the warning and carry on sharing MORE MORE MORE…….
Nope….Just SHIT my pants….Bad aint it?….But the shit would oooooze….im afraid…I could end up on de streets….howl
No good changing ya clothes cos the shit would just oooooze….jeebus if i got dmca…ma pooper would explode..
I wish i’d thought to frame the warning i got years ago. :(
If i got a dmca notification i think i would probably just sit down and think….Yeah this is a sound judgment..Then i would try to get my head down even further and..for once…Get my cock into my mouth….(Christ, i just cant reach! Doh.)
i would line the bottom of my ferret cage with the letter
I’m in the UK and use f2s.com, they sent me out a letter saying I was downloading certain games and when I phoned them up to ask them what evidence they had that I was doing it they actually apologized saying it’s a company policy and since I was offended (and they had bugger all evidence) they gave me 1/2 price internet for 3 months!
Fuck em, they should not have any authority anywhere but in there home country of America, there is a clue in both of there names.
Drop my ISP & get a new one.
I have received two letters. I am naughty naughty.
Both letters state that it is possible the activity was caused by a website banner or other such item that is not connected directly with file sharing.
Both letters, had a check time of one second. Meaning, they (whoever the third party was doing the snooping) took a screen shot of one second of transfer.
So I have pretty much ignored them. I did get a bit hot under the collar at their stupidity. Though, I let it go. Because if ever the ISP did take action against me, my first action back would be a phone call to them followed by a lawsuit.
Just because I was in the bank when it was robbed does not mean I was the bank robber.
So yeah, may see me on the news one day if ever it happens. I will make a big stink about their gorilla anti-piracy tactics and what bullshit they are.
In Australia, copyright infringement is a criminal offence. I received an email from my isp stating that I had infringed copyright.
I did some checking and found:
1 an allegation is meaningless. The only thing which counts is a court conviction.
2 As I have not been convicted of copyright infringment I am innocent of the crime (innocent until proved guilty)
3 Therefore I did not infringe copyright irrespective of what the copyright holder says.
4 As the isp stated that I had infringed copyright and as the isp threatened sanctions against me when in fact and in law I had not committed any offence the isp is wrong and in this country can be held accountable in law in a number of ways.
5 probably the best way to get them is to accuse them of workplace bullying which in this country is a state and federal offence and is taken seriously. Cyber bullying laws would also apply
6 Once a convction for this is obtained against the isp they will be in deep shit if they try it against you again as that then constitutes workplace harrassment as well as bullying.
ignore that *ish! then tell anyone else i know who has got one to refer to this for legal advice on how to turn it back against the non-human entity trying to sue you: http://is.gd/pzp9 Section IV
cheers
I got a warning from Verizon around X-Mas from a Wanted DVD Rip Torrent. You can view the letter here.
Not Spam.
http://www.nixlab.net/blog/?p=296
don’t download shit from Zektrom.
i would dare them to come after me!
As an independent filmmaker I’ll continue to seed the films I release and I’ll be continuing to collecy fore my case vs the MPAA. Seems they are collecting copyright infringement money for films I give people permission to distribute. I fully embrace the pirates as my own and as my most loyal fans. Thanks pirates.
Cheers,
JP
collect for* Seems spellcheck might be a wise choice as well ;).
Cheers,
JP
I use all private sites so it would be easy to find out which one has the snitch. Just ask for the evidence. If I really wanted to protect myself I’d probably just start downloading through the neighbor’s wifi. Although protecting myself from the RIAA/MPAA probably isn’t worth the 15 seconds it would take to crack their WEP.
Those ‘Sorry Sobs’ might reply with a cattle prod ‘Up Your Ass’….How would that feel?
@Joh nDavis
Stop scummin your scummy site on here man!!!…..It gets borin…
go to /b/ find as much fucked up shit as i can, print it all out and send that to them
Considering the extremely low chance of getting a FUD e-mail, I’d say I would be proud (that I used P2P so much that even the idiots got to me). That whole “being proud” thing should get old in about 5 minutes though, so strait to the Spam folder ;)
All that being said, DMCA doesn’t apply to me, and copyright law is quite loose where I live. And my ISP has actually centered it’s whole infrastructure and pricing model around P2P. Much like every major ISP in my country – all are unlimited traffic plans and speeds below 5-10 mbit/s are considered kind of noobish. So my response is hail to the community and ignore the **AA spam :)
sorry, but im not seeing an option to access my neighbours wireless internet and continue as usual. lol
I would respond that their investigative methods are flawed and good luck prosecuting me in court as you know yourselves that your so called evidence is subject to tampering by file shares themselves.
Ie. Go F*&K Yourselves!
I make my own music so that everyone can enjoy. Check my songhere and go to my page for more http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFFPLbII7GE
Upon receiving a warning via my ISP I would… change the ISP :)
I would drop my ISP and choose one that does not monitor me or fucks with my privacy!
I got a ISP letter before, personally I wouldnt have stopped, but my dad went rage mode on me, but i stop torrenting and now use HTTP sites.
Don’t wait for a warning letter. Act on option 4 and do it NOW. Also stop trusting Peer Guardian blindly and especially about the myth about only uploading 99.99%.
FREE INTERNET – UNDO THE CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP MULTINATS AND BIG CORPS USE TO RULE US
Liberty in our lifetime, Freedom and Opportunity for our Kids
DON’T work, buy or sell – stay home APRIL 15th
John Hubertz
Patriot
Frame it and ignore it ….
Unless the letter came certified mail from a law firm, I would just ignore the first one. If they sent more, I would contact my lawyer about harassing and threating mail.
ignore, maybe wait for the 2nd-4th one and then switch ISPs. and continue.
we got one once waaaay back, so we just sent a pm on irc :P to one of our friends that worked at said isp, and he dealt with it by making it disappear on his end, never had one since
I have recieved 5+ of those emails…
Stopped counting/reading long ago, as it would take time away from carrying on sharing the same as before.
Torrents aren’t usually as efficient as I would hope, and on private trackers I can almost never find anything I’m interested in. So, personally, FTPs and newsgroups serve me well already.
To most people who go the “Fuck the music industry” route…
Its really not a great idea to ignore a warning AND upload/download even more recklessly. Its not like the music industry top execs are watching YOU, stop and think over a cup of coffe, and contemplate “This individual has downloaded even more since getting a warning… hmm…”. While on a massive scale, would be interesting, it NEVER will happen on a massive scale. Do what’s best for YOU, not what you may see as “fighting a conspiracy”.
cox (isp) loves to send those damn letters to me, and i don’t give a crap. I would change but the only other option is qwest, which sucks big time.
I’ll check out preditor when it comes out.
I always thought telling them to sodomize themselves with a retractable baton was the proper course of action.
Canada rules.
@ I always thought telling them to sodomize themselves with a retractable baton was the proper course of action.
I swear i hered the same comment on h33t
My ISP is evil, they limit my dl/ul speed when I use BitTorrent.
*Downloading Ubuntu at 4kb/s*
hur hur, what a question to ask to the TF crowd >_> wonder what the overwhelming majority will be.
…………………./´¯/)
………………..,/¯../
………………./…./
…………./´¯/’…’/´¯¯`·¸
………./’/…/…./……./¨¯\
……..(‘(…´…´…. ¯~/’…’)
………\……………..’…../
……….”…\………. _.·´
…………\…………..(
…………..\………….\…
I recently received such a notice, for a game I could not buy in stores, and had previously purchased on 2 different occasions.
I simply ignored the notice. Feel free to read about my rant at http://www.sensefromnonsense.com
Without even opening it, I’d write “wasn’t me, return to sender” and drop it in the mailbox. I’d also send them a brick by UPS COD for $100.
i’d be annoyed, I really don’t download very much and the material that is downloaded is either extremely hard to get or required to bypass excessive DRM.
I’d ignore it with a small amount of caution in future
Anybody who isn’t ignoring the RIAA/MPAA letters doesn’t get it. These groups are sending random letters. They aren’t sending you letters based on any real evidence. Chances are you probably didn’t do what the letter claims. It’s nothing short of extortion- and worse since you didn’t (most likely) do it even if you were in fact sharing files they probably won’t be the ones you are being accused of sharing (made up/random).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling_Effects_(group)
I would respond pirate bay style
I like the framing it idea.
But if you use protocol encryption and PG2, you should never get a letter.
I dont like how all of the options in the survey seem to admit that I was actually sharing. what if i didnt share but still got a warning
keep on sharing and send them a reply telling them to go screw themselves.
All music and movies I download are ones I own legally.
they’ll have to pry the mouse from my cold dead hand !!
Everyone should just move to using google or blogs that post up stuff via file-hosting sites. That’s the safest way to pirate anything since you don’t share your IP address to the public (to the website, yes that’s nothing to be worried about.)
use rapidshare or megashares or megaupload
change MAC addres sif anything happens.
Or if things get really serious trash your computer and tell them someone must’ve hacked your wireless router
and if you changed your MAC multiple times before, tell them they are obviously smart and changing the MAC (plus if you combine with changing IP address often as well, then you are very covered)
Or you can just ahck someone’s wireless to begin with and forget about the whole thing and they’ll knock on their door instead!
/me ROFL
Like an Email is gonna stop me.
I’ve never gotten one, but recently I got a VPN from TorrentFreedom so now no need to worry (:
I don’t download big famous movies, or idiotically popular TV shows, the ones they would keep track of, I don’t even download Anime anymore. I just download one show but I don’t seed, and I’ve never gotten a warning from my ISP, because I’m cautious and because I don’t hog bandwith, that’s what they look for in internet traffic to catch bittorrenters. I usually buy stuff I want to rip anyway.
I would tell them Im writing a book about the perils of Torrents and i was downloading just to research how easy it is.
I would sue the mediacompany and my ISP for illegal blackmailing.
Wont bother me in the slightest. Now its files then it will be bananas, and then what, water? Its bad enough we have crocodiles to watch out for when we want a drink, but if the likes of the RIAA/MPAA start on water next, we all become slaves.
Seriously, knowledge no matter what it is decoded on must be free. You can not copy write abstract thoughts, opinions, or expressions of any kind of art. By doing so, all your doing over time is building up a society that will be gridlocked in perpetual determination for the sanctioning and endorsing of material. Content must not be owned, ideas are free.
Say no to plutocrats; Free the Knowledge, Ideas, Thoughts and Expressions (free the KITEs).
FREE THE KITEs! Say no to plutocrats.
email them a copy of the Suck my Dick song
There’s a lot of big talk on this page but i’m pretty sure the majority of you are actualy 13 and therefore the threatening letter would go to Daddy.
Having received 3 warning letters in 3 different countries (i move a lot) they can be a bit worrying.
Two of them were warnings which i ignored as i was moving anyway. The third was a notice of legal action. Luckily i was in a juridiction with no copyright laws and once i made this clear to the mpaa and my ISP i never heard anything else. The ISP are however forwarding warnings they recieve even though they are not legal.
One person above commented that they had a huge bandwidth package and that it was meant for downloading so he was safe. Just because an ISP seals a top level bb package doesn’t mean that they agree with you file sharing. I’m pretty sure their TOS says no copyright material. Plus there are so many legal uses of large amounts of bandwithd i can’t see your argument standing up in court.
My printer got a warning last week! I really do hate that son of an itch for not sharing with the rest of the network :(
About 5 years ago I got a threatening letter from my ISP for going over 100GB in a month… at the time caps were not advertised anywhere but hidden away in their ToS was a line about cutting people off if they’re harming the network. I was told to stick to 20GB or less.
I promptly found a new provider that wasn’t going to harass me about that sort of thing.
I expect that if I were to receive a copyright infringement notice I’d do the same thing.
I’d reply to them:
WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!
and then I’d continue seeding/leeching torrents ten fold.
I recieved one once in 2007, ignored it, and nothing has come of it.
Tell them to F off!
i can tell them to kiss my butt
i think that MPAA and RIAA members sons and maybe them selves using torrent right now
TORRENT IS AN ADDICTION
sorry my referral didn’t work right in the first post
Nehahahaha
still not working maybe here is better
http://www.tips-box.blogspot.com
http://www.tips-box.blogspot.com
i think now is okay
As I use a small, local ISP, I’m not really worried about infringement notices. They tend to turn a blind eye to what their customers do.
On actually receiving such a notice, I’d probably subscribe to a VPN service. After all, better safe than sorry.
rofl @ 10 && 52;
Don’t forget to send it back. (better use next-door’s cat/dog to wipe their bottom on, just in case they DNA-test the turd)
sry for the spam , i was just high
i didn’t mean it
I would ask how they would feel if their wives ‘nd children suddenly went missing…
>:D
laws of my country and my “rules” by which ISP allows me to use internet says nothing about way [b]I[/] use internet if I do receive such warning I’ll ignore it or file a complaint to either RIAA/MPAA or local court trough lawyer….
I pay piracy tax(as weird as it seems we have one)so buzz off lol
Well if it really came down to it. I would have to stick with going to the library. Copy the discs and then turn them back in.
Hy my tax dollars pay into it, so I might as well use it.
@87 – Yeah, I’m in Aus too, but still couldn’t care less. :D Besides, I end up buying what I download and liked – so fuck ‘em.
Doesn’t matter /how much/ they say it’s illegal, it’s only what they say XD
I’d stop sharing… that file.
I’dd send my ISP a mail/letter telling them to do their job (making sure i got internet) and that for the rest they should mind their own business…
I’d ignore it, to be honest.
[x] Change the provider
I’d go VPN, mainly because if there’s a technological solution I would feel safer.
Otherwise, carry on with caution, probably look at seedboxes & private trackers.
Anyone know a good seedbox service btw?
Rofl ^?_?^….!
I have bought that many cd’s, games and merchandise that i have lost\had stolen or technology such as cd’s have scratched or had the famous parasite eat the foil in them and even old cartridge games perrish. My collection of BETA videos no longer work cos of age. Maybe its time companies\industries realize it cant be stopped beyond the millions of ways that files can be shared or modified and price things accordingly so we think, stuff it, I’ll buy it rather than spend days downloading it
I’m hosting myself a torrent tracker for the Japanese industry.
Nobody sofar ever stopped me (BayTSP, FunImation, Brein, whatever).
I doubt they could in the future, since we have quiet some good IT related lawyers where I live.
Besides, I kicked Blizzard Entertainment in their butts before, who says I won’t do it against other companies trying to hurt me and/or my community ^^.
But yes, I would just continoue, it’s always (as we say here) making a mouse becoming a elephant.
This poll is missing an option, because I’d just change my ISP.
the top anti-piracy chief here in the philippines is connected with well known piraters. even the mall which sells pirated dvds is protected by the po-po.
goodluck riaa. mwahahahaha
we got one and were ignoring it also.
but we will sue your grandmother, your printer and dead people.
Respond with the hello.jpg
id say how you prove it considering hte site i use , has a speial torent client that ONLY allows a mod of the site or staff to see IPS
um that about smacks it up the butt
Fith option
Find a new ISP.
2 years ago when i was living in hull,uk i downloaded charlotte’s webb and my isp which was karoo kingston communications cut my internet off and said i had ti sign a letter as a warning before they would put it back on and the next time i would be kicked off, they said they got a letter from paromount with my ip address and the time i did it, obviousley i denied it but thinking back i downloaded it off moviex and never seeded anything back, when i was there i downloaded loads of films and bsg but only got caught for that one, now im with anouther isp and never got a letter since.
I would try to sue them for such blackmailing.
they got pissed off cos i was downloading 40gb a month and they was complaining about it, moved away from there and now on unlimeted with sky, :)
I would send back an cease and desist letter stating that if they continued they would be terminated with extreme prejuce.
at the time if it wasent for the step kids i would of told them to stick it, i did them a favour by downloading after midnight all night,hehe,
I would just totally stop to download on public sites. Actually i doubt i would ever be sue for what i download on public trackers, because that’s materials i can’t get anywhere else, which means not popular files, which means no big money underneath, which means riaa and mpaa dont give a shit(btw in France it’s some agencies related to government, and they are sooooo noob)
So, no i would probably never get a letter from ‘em…
Btw: Few weeks ago, in France, journalists tricked some Mps who are debatting the anti-piracy laws by the question : which is the worst : p2p filesharing or bittorrent? Not a single one actually figured out that the question was a tricked one…O_o
I’d send it back.
I got one this weekend. I am stopping. I have a family to take care of and don’t have the money for fancy lawyers and such as it’s said. I did it before Napster was famous, so it’s been a fun ride, but life is a little more important than 8 bucks at a theater.
NBC got me in Michigan. They’re sweeping WOW internet so beware ladies and gentlemen. GOD SPEED.
Unless and until they change the laws in Canada, I would not just stop. I do however need my internet connection for other things, and I can’t risk it being cut off. I’d probably look into VPN and see where that takes me.
It’s funny all of those saying ‘i use peerguardian and never get a letter, so peerguardian works great’. For every 10 people that use peerguardian and don’t get a letter, there’s 1000 that don’t use it and don’t ever get a letter.
TO put it another way, peerguardian users, where can I buy a t-shirt like the one you’re wearing, because it clearly protects you from being hit by lightning. After all, every time you wear it, you’re not hit by lightning, so it must work.
You’re praising it for doing nothing. You’ve not got any letters because you’ve not been on a monitored torrent, not because peerguardian’s blocked you from being connected to (but leaves the ip on the tracker, which has been proved as all they need to send a notice – see dmca notices sent to printers)
Heres mine: Copyright infringement notice:
MEdiacom has received a notice that you or someone using your acount has posted,transmitted or shared with others certain copyrighted materials without the permission of the owner, thereby engaging in copyright infringement. A copy of that notice is attached.
Ifringmenet details: NAME OF WORK: Slumdog Millionaire Awa.
IP ADDRESS: ***.**.**.**.
Date: Mar.162009 07:54:30 GM
Reporting Agency: FOX
—————– And then a whole lot of crap about it actually being a violation of my ISP agreement when i signed up YEARS ago. –NOte it does say that i have to “remove or disable access to all files and materials in the notice”.
Well i still dload because, its too damn late, I already dloaded quit a few movies since this one, and it took this long to get the notice. So if they get me again I get disconnected from my ISP. And that sux cuz i dont have any other HSD choice.
Like 6 years ago my ISP cut off my service, I called them, they had emailed my @isp email account the warning notices but I never checked it (had other accounts), so since I didnt respond they cut off my service… when I called they turned it back on and I installed Peer Guardian. Haven’t had another since, and I do a hell of a lot more sharing these days than back then.
I wipe my ass on it.
I thought it was about how to respond to those maniacs. :D
go have kfc for supper and use it to wipe your hands
5. Tell the ISP to shut up and not bother me with junkmail.
It might be the time for a new tutorial, “How to hide on P2P” or something like that.
i live in canada, id throw a snowball at them and retreat into my igloo
Find a private tracker you like. You can also use peerguardian or what i found works better is blocklist manager (free) from bluetack internet security and outpost firewall which has support for blocklist. I run my own private tracker and have been using bittorrent for 3 years with no issues.
i dont live in the states, so i’d tell them to go #^&* themselves and leave me alone, seeins as i am not subject to their laws
Ignore the warning and change ISP.
I’d more thank likely shit my pants, run for the hills and pluck my pubes out.
I would be a good citizen and recycle the paper that the warning was printed on,in the toilet………..
I would sue them for spying on me!
bastards
Well the vpn services owners make more money with more customers :D
I got a seedbox!! HAHAH
I just got my second warning, and it obviously hasnt changed my behavior
I got a warning letter from my isp like one day after I downloaded the new Red Alert game. I haven’t heard of software companies doing this, just movies and music so this really troubles me. I live out of town so we have only one affordable and fast option for internet which means if I get busted again it’s game over. what do you guys suggest?
I live in Canada and as file sharing is legal, well for now anyways, I would end up sending a letter back advising what they did was illegal and threaten a lawsuit if they didnt stop
I work at a mid-sized ISP and I get a few emails a day from the MPAA, RIAA and other networks directly notifying us of one of our IP addresses sharing their content. I ignore them. If it’s not a court order, then it means nothing.
Come on guys, don’t be so harsh against the entertainment industry. After all they are entitled to ALL the money made by Music, Tv and Films. Its their industry, not ours.
I’m personally am trying to make some money out of Drum and Bass Mixes. If the industry didn’t control 90% of what people listen to, it might be easier. I wont give up though! I want my share
I would post it on the internet
http://i34.tinypic.com/334nqeo.jpg
And let everyone see it just to show how much my ISP sucks.
Who gives a flying fuck about MPAA/RIAA notices, they aren’t even worth the bytes the email uses… If i ever get a notice from my ISP that MPAA/RIAA (or the finnish counterparts)told them im sharing something id tell my ISP to forward a little message to them. “Go fuck yourselves MPAA/RIAA(finnish counterpart), if you want money from me try suing me you little bitches.” And ofcourse i’d upload and download a shitload of more stuff. As of now my dl/ul stats are around 100-200gb/100-200gb every month, i could go much higher if i had more stuff to download and upload.
I would accept even more evidence of corporate greed.
False statements attributed to J.K. Rowling are in “mainstream” media to justify an assault on free media sources like Gutenberg…
We just get a little pandemic going you see:
VIRAL sharing
VIRAL hoping
VIRAL wecorps, hackerspaces and opensourcejobs
VIRAL attention to their lies
VIRAL activism
VIRAL justice
VIRAL freedom
VIRAL liberty
Their enemy? It IS the entire… collective… internet – not the tools and toys, US
You see – a group in harmony, moving in an obvious direction away from pain and toward promising tasty light and enough food for all?
WE ARE A SCHOOL, but not of fish, and the GRADUATION CEREMONY would appear to make the ignorant and crass, the greedy and elite, VERY unhappy.
Kewl
Prowl and howl, and torrent – because those torrents become storms and will wash away the ugly War Incorporated selfish supercitizens and their corporate pawn politics
Even if not American – Check out or Declaration of Independence
1 tiny country – Galicia – same Greek early democracy model – oh yeah, they didn’t last.
But you know what – maybe I’m wrong since they EXIST free and jammin parties for PEOPLE not POLITICIANs
FOR OVER TWO THOUSAND YEARS
double my downloading and never buy any of their stuff again
I’ve gotten 2 warnings in the past 5 years. Here’s what I did both times. I stop sharing only the content that the warning was about. I keep sharing everything else. I respond to my ISP and tell them that the MPAA is incorrect, and I never shared their content. At that point, it is over.
Nothing bad ever happens. It’s just a scare tactic.
I am in somewhere in the world that they can not reach, even if i had death sentence for murder , so they will never bother send me anything in the first place , they already know my answer.
A private VPN would probably be the most sensible response, although I doubt I’d actually get a letter. I don’t really use torrents anymore, anyway, only for indie and free stuff. For everything else, I have my sources…=D
I got one of these the other day. Our ISP shut off our Internet access for 3 or 4 days.
Shit sucks.
I used to work for my ISP, I know what they do with those emails. *select all>move to trash*
For everybody caring about this.
Just state that even though they see you downloading/uploading something.
They have no data if your actually seeding or leeching.
So how can they say you actually received the file fully ?
Let stand the fact that they might be looking at a spoofed IP for that fact ?
Wasn’t TPB going to release some proxy system called IPREDATOR, that hides your iP?
It depends. If confronted face to face you could expect me to drop trow and show some skin, than laugh in their faces. Bring it.
My ISP doesn’t forward RIAA/MPAA warning messages, but if they did, I know they’re just scare tactics.
When they send these messages, they only have the downloader’s IP address and have to subpoena their personal information, which happens rarely. By replying, I would just be giving them my personal information, so I would ignore the message and force encryption in utorrent among other things.
Pfffft, solution to problem: Get wireless router, make it public claiming you never knew passwords can be put on there, blame weird neighborhood kid for leeching of your bandwidth…
There are plenty of ISP’s out there, if they hassle you give them the flick and go to someone else….their monetary loss not yours
Well…
Continue on as usual.
:D
I have a seedbox!
As someone who actually had my net access shut down because of alleged copyright violation, I’d say all the blowhards saying they’d ignore a takedown are being foolish.
If you’re a Mediacom customer, you really have no choice; either you comply or you have to find another supplier of web access. They send you a letter via USPS on first notification of a violation, and if they get a second notification, they cut you off.
To get service restored, you have to sign a paper saying you acknowledge you can have your service terminated if a third notification comes through.
Given that my ’second notification’ happened several days after I made sure that I was not violating anyone’s copyright via Bittorrent, I don’t think that the company that was working for the copyright holder (in this case, HBO) has their shit together.
I’d ignore it and turn up profits every time I receive another warning. I will make the cost increase as long as the idiot who signs that warning has a higher position on the R**a or m**a . That, and upgrading my connection to a much higher bandwith level so I can share and download things 10 times the usual. I would also demand to those companies to stop acting so stupidly and stop mailing these letters out. THis is another reason why they have been earning less and less, they are wasting money on other ridiculously idiotic procedures–plus, they have robbed musicians long enough! If say, you take the example of Tito Puente’s orchestra (a 21 piece band!) who sold millions and millions… I ahve never heard any of these musicians earned a lot. Other people surely did (you know who you are!) but some of these musicians are retired, switched jobs, out of the music scene, why? because of that same reason–NOT ENOUGH INCOME, and because the industry has been wattering down the music for better marketting (more money for them). HTis is why latin music has been so terribly done. It lacks the energy of its predecesors just because someone decided to use things like sequencers and true artistry is obscured by the booming number of sales, and of course the music suffers a terrible form of degradation. Thanks, music industry. Thanks for making people believe that “dreams come true”, which in reality they become truly ruined. Well aside from this particular illustration, the music industry has lost all of my respect and confidence. At least you can find some good stuff on torrents and other forms of file sharing. And if torrents happen to go away there is always the option of burned cds, digital recorders (though who wants to record the crap that’s on mainstream radio?), rapidshare, msn, skipe, there are countless forms of file sharing or even music and movie sharing. So as long as they try taking or cutting out the internet to share there will always be other ways. Move on and stop being so emo already. Use the brains inside your head (above your neck)–not the lower head….
“As someone who actually had my net access shut down because of alleged copyright violation, I’d say all the blowhards saying they’d ignore a takedown are being foolish.”
As an owner of guns I’d say that anyone responsible for sending me a tackdown notice are beeing foolish.
Did foolishness caused the dinosaurs extinction?
i dont think the mpaa/riaa really care. 221 ppl responded to this poll alone, i dont think those two sad organisation have enough manpower to keep tabs on the several million people in the us alone who use p2p.
its prolly more an automated process.
connect to swarm
find ip and isp
send ip and demand for threatening letter to isp
if i were them, id stop working so hard and spend 3/4 of the funds on
“other stuff”, like buying movies, games and music, cos piracy is bad.
For enyone who recieves a letter.
Just goto a site that offers demos that are like 1.5gb and download them again and again :D
That will start eating into ur ISP’s profits lol
I would reply to the letter,
“to whom it may concern,
I have no idea what you are talking about. And if you send me a letter again of these false accusation’s it better be accompanied with evidence and punishable by a court of law. If it is not punishable by a court of law. the F’ off :).”
I would be curious to see if they would. and If they did reply I would scrutinize every detail of the evidence submitted and post it on the internet. But I bet they don’t keep all the data. I’m sure they rely mostly on the scare tactics. Like a poker game, I think they bluff more often then not.
I would explain that I am free to leave my wireless connection broadcasting without password enabled and do. That anyone within proximity may be performing this “illegal” action. The entities that seek action will need to hire round the clock surveillance of my apartments to determine who is logging onto my preferred wide open network and then obtain their identity. They will need to monitor all my neighbors by installing cams in their domiciles(hope they don’t have privacy screens or something else that could prove helpful in their nefarious schemes), people in vans(free candy’ers are always up to no good). They would never act outside the law (like when they analyzed my network traffic, so they will need a warrant. Unfortunately, no judge will give them one since it violates the privacy act and is a waste of time.
SHOOTING FISH IN A BARREL
more like shooting fish in the pacific ocean.
I would sue for libel in small claims for something around $300. A corporation must be represented by council, it’s cheaper for them to cede the case than to show up.
I’m already using VPN..
framed and nailed it ont the frontroom wall
I got a couple warnings. I responded and told them to fuck off. I give them far to much money for them to try and tell me what I can and can’t do.
Counter sue them in court of record (common law.) There aren’t statutes in common law.
Zeke129: Ditto.
Of course, this is assuming I’m 18 and have access to a credit card… by then, I’d probably buy anything that cost less than $0.60 per unit anyway.
Considering I’ve gotten a warning, (Not from MPAA or RIAA) from BayTSP, I can truthfully answer this. I would certainly continue on downloading, but with more caution.
I got a C&D letter for sharing HBO shows.
i havent noticed a warning, because i dont check the email my isp sends me, but a friend of mine received an email after he downloaded ‘zoolander’ from a 3rd party (not his isp or the MPAA) and told him that if he didnt stop there would be penalties, blah blah.
point being, i’m in Canada, so currently there’s not a comprehensive law that has been passed yet that would make this criminal, but being in canada he could easily be sued. Fact is, in order to get that email at all would require the isp’s co-operation (bell canada). I’m using a vpn now because of this, but bell is using things like DPI and other techniques to throttle torrenting, i have to admit that the big guys are getting better at seeking, identifying and tracking content sharing :S
The business model that the industry is clinging to is dead. It is only a matter of time before they collapse. I would like to see the artists market and sell their work directly. The prices will come down and the compensation for the creative work will go up. The quality of the content will go up as it won’t be skewed by the deals made by the industry. There won’t be a single executive pushing the crappy new song. That will be nice.
I hate the MPAA/RIAA as much as anybody. Completely ignoring the legalities of all of the different jurisdictions, the morality of taking something that is someone else’s just isn’t right. I don’t understand how anyone above the age of 5 can’t understand the idea of ownership and rights. At 5 years old anyone knows that when another kid takes your stuff it isn’t right. Simple. Just because I have a gun doesn’t make it acceptable to use it to steal anything from the gas station down the street. Just because I have a fast download speed with my ISP doesn’t make it acceptable to take the creative works someone else owns the rights to.
I like the suggestion I read above. Boycott them and they will go away. Buy from the artists that will sell direct. Your money will speak for you and it will make the change happen.
Frankly, I would not want to risk getting cut off from the internet. I would stop sharing music, except maybe occasionally lending an album to a friend. I would just buy my music. I mean, honestly, it’s not that expensive. My problem is that the record companies take all the money. If the artist actually got 10 bucks per CD, I would buy all my music twice over.
We’ve got one from our ISP in the UK alledging we seeded a nintendo ds game… and demanding that we remove it immediately. The ISP have sent us a link attached to the email on how to secure our network :)
6 references to this post
Responses are closed
All remaining responses will continue to be archived. Use the TorrentFreak forums if you want to discuss something.