I just heard about ISP's sending letters to downloaders, and, I have some questions...

[SpringYardZone]

So, I was reading the news online (As I do every day), and I heard that ISP's will start sending letters to people who download copyrighted materials on their computers. What about ROMs? If I download ROMs (I think you can tell whether I do or not by the fact that I'm a member here ), will my ISP send me the "letter of doom" and slow down my speeds or even sue me?

Again, sorry for my lack of knowledge of technology; I searched this stuff on Google and could only find it talking about torrents, but surely files from a website would be in this "crackdown" too, wouldn't they?

[Milady]

ISPs have been sending letters to people for ages.

[Pickles]

I think you're ok dude.

From my understanding, ISP's are starting to give people shit due to pressure from labels and media corps etc. but there is little point in the likes of Nintendo butt hurting over people downloaded games they no longer sell anyway e.g. pokemon red. So you should be ok for your ROM's and ISO's.

[deadlegion]

In some parts of the world it's extremely rare for letters like this to show up

[Pickles]

In some parts of the world it's extremely rare for letters like this to show up

I'll deliver a letter to your house myself so you don't feel left out With a message... of pain

[MaslowK]

So, I was reading the news online (As I do every day), and I heard that ISP's will start sending letters to people who download copyrighted materials on their computers. What about ROMs? If I download ROMs (I think you can tell whether I do or not by the fact that I'm a member here ), will my ISP send me the "letter of doom" and slow down my speeds or even sue me?

Again, sorry for my lack of knowledge of technology; I searched this stuff on Google and could only find it talking about torrents, but surely files from a website would be in this "crackdown" too, wouldn't they?

From my understanding, ISP's are starting to give people shit due to pressure from labels and media corps etc. but there is little point in the likes of Nintendo butt hurting over people downloaded games they no longer sell anyway e.g. pokemon red. So you should be ok for your ROM's and ISO's.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...i-piracy-rules

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/22/tech/w...acy/index.html

etcetc

There was a new one put out recently more clearly defining the actions big-name ISPs would take against pirates using their service to download illicit material. These actions include sending letters more frequently (nothing new), as well as throttling the bandwidth of repeat offenders (also nothing new) and in some cases supposedly setting up a redirect to a webpage intended to educate the user on the perils and pitfalls of piracy (entirely within their power).

As mentioned earlier by Gizmo, in general you'll be fine downloading older material (retro roms, as well as older movies, etc). It's newly released movies, albums and games that are most likely to get you in trouble, particularly using torrents. Personally I'll use a public connection (say, at the library) if I decide I want to download anything particularly new to keep the heat off my own connection.

[Pickles]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...i-piracy-rules

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/22/tech/w...acy/index.html

etcetc

There was a new one put out recently more clearly defining the actions big-name ISPs would take against pirates using their service to download illicit material. These actions include sending letters more frequently (nothing new), as well as throttling the bandwidth of repeat offenders (also nothing new) and in some cases supposedly setting up a redirect to a webpage intended to educate the user on the perils and pitfalls of piracy (entirely within their power).

As mentioned earlier by Gizmo, in general you'll be fine downloading older material (retro roms, as well as older movies, etc). It's newly released movies, albums and games that are most likely to get you in trouble, particularly using torrents. Personally I'll use a public connection (say, at the library) if I decide I want to download anything particularly new to keep the heat off my own connection.

Sums it up pretty well. Just to add to your last statement, there is plenty of software you can download to block traffic or scramble your IP address to ensure you don't get caught, on top of this, your IP only becomes public when you begin to seed. So, if you are really worried, just don't seed.

[Muscab]

In some parts of the world it's extremely rare for letters like this to show up

Absolutely. I have been downloading illegal stuff for ages, and I've never received that shit..

[Necrovarium]

Absolutely. I have been downloading illegal stuff for ages, and I've never received that shit..

Yes, I have been a part of these communities for many years and have never received anything.

If you're nervous, though, start finding appropriate software to scramble your I.P.. There's a lot of it out there.

[MaslowK]

there is plenty of software you can download to block traffic or scramble your IP address to ensure you don't get caught, on top of this, your IP only becomes public when you begin to seed. So, if you are really worried, just don't seed.

You can download PeerBlock, which allows you to block incoming/outgoing connections to known government/RIAA etc agencies. However this is hardly fullproof, as it does nothing to stop your ISP from seeing the illicit traffic you're passing through your connection based on the protocol used, filenames, etc.

As far as seeding is concerned, many trackers will limit/block your downstream based on how much you are/aren't seeding. This and, without seeders, torrents simply don't work; it's kind of a dick move to use a torrent and not at least seed while you're downloading. Again, avoid pirating brand new movies/games/music this way and you should be fine regardless.

If you're nervous, though, start finding appropriate software to scramble your I.P.. There's a lot of it out there.

The closest thing you can do to "scrambling" your IP is to connect through a VPN or a proxy (Tor comes to mind), which depending on the type of proxy used may or may not "mask" your actual IP from the server(s) you're downloading your material from. Again, this does nothing to prevent your ISP from seeing what you're doing, as you're still passing the data through their servers at some point. Unless the files are encrypted in some fashion (I.e., password protected archives), you're pretty much SOL in that area, if they happen to be watching you or care to come down on you at the time.

Just thought I'd clear that up.

[Svardskampe]

ISPs only give out direct torrent-related IP's. If you handle them through VPN or Tor there's nothing that a government can see about it when torrenting. Even more safer would be to use usenet instead of torrents, but still just a VPN or Tor does the job

source: worked for an ISP

[MaslowK]

ISPs only give out direct torrent-related IP's. If you handle them through VPN or Tor there's nothing that a government can see about it when torrenting. Even more safer would be to use usenet instead of torrents, but still just a VPN or Tor does the job

source: worked for an ISP

The government, no. Your ISP, yes. Unless the information is encrypted on one end before arriving at the other end there isn't anything stopping your service provider from seeing the data; a VPN/Tor are only going to protect you from the RIAA/MPAA directly.

[Svardskampe]

a VPN/Tor are only going to protect you from the RIAA/MPAA directly.

Yes, and isn't that the only thing you want to achieve :/

[luffy4]

if your in canada i'm pretty sure your good cause to my knowledge it is LEGAL to download for personal use only

[MaslowK]

Yes, and isn't that the only thing you want to achieve :/

Considering ISPs themselves (not at all affiliated with the RIAA/MPAA) are now taking more serious measures to throttle your connection/cancel your service if they see you pirating media, no. Anymore, its your service provider you need to worry about.

The RIAA etc have never been anything to particularly worry about, as they've only sued a handful of people at random to try and make a point against piracy (pirate media and we will SUE YOUR ASS OFF!), however with the huge number of people who do, it wouldn't be cost effective for them to go after every single person who's ever downloaded a movie or album.

In any case again, the best way to avoid this issue with your ISP is to go to a public WAP and use that to pirate newer stuff (i.e., public library, mcdonalds, starbucks, etc), as they can't track it straight back to you doing this, unless they happen to keep MAC address records along with records of what those MAC addresses have been doing with their network (highly unlikely).