What's the worst that could happen?

[nanite]

OK let's say I get caught, and get sued by the RIAA/MPAA or whatever. I don't have a job, so I don't really have any income to speak of. So what can they do to me? I could also declare bankrputcy (my credit is already shot to hell, whats a little bit more?) The only worry I might have is that I live with my mother (yes I'm pathetic, I know...) and I think the phone service is in her name, and hence the internet. Could they go after her, even if I admit that I was the one who dled the stuff, and it was on my computer?

For that matter, however, she's retired, and on disability, so I don't think they could garnish any of her wages, and aside from that, she has no other income. So what could they do? Say "You bad, bad man!"? If so, to heck with them, I'm gonna go back to dling, and more importantly, sharing my stuff.

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

...my computer?

Correction...their computer. And whatever other material assets you may have. No computer. No downloading. No sharing.

[Moneo@]

Correction...their computer. And whatever other material assets you may have. No computer. No downloading. No sharing.
Yep..thats the facts...RIAA would take a goddamn lollypop from a kid if they thought
they were downloading music and the lolly was thier only possesion

[Slycktom]

They would go after the person whose name is on the account. If you are using your mother's account, they would sue her, not you since she is the one responsible. And they would garnish any kind of income she has...no matter how much or how little.

So if you care about your mother and have any sense of responsibility, you would change the account from her name into yours since you don’t seem to care if you get caught or not.

[nanite]

Has the RIAA actually taken people's stuff? Because AFAIK, debtors can't do that. The only people that can do that (again AFAIK) is the IRS. Once you plead out, or whatever, that should just become a debt like any other, subject to bankruptcy, etc. and debtors can't take your stuff, unless its the stuff you owe money on. So I just want to be sure that this really is a special case. Same with garnishing wages, debtors CANNOT garnish retirement or disability benefits. I know cause my mom had her car voluntarily reposessed, so she still owed on it, and they can't touch her (I don't feel sorry for them because they were charging her an arm and a leg in interest, and they only got about 1/4 of the value of the car when they sold it).

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

Doesn't this somewhat become more than just a debt issue? I mean with all the federal intervention as of late, you would think that it's more than just a simple debt collection. Based on your statement, does that mean that everyone in your situaton can just do as they please? I can't see this being allowable while people who are better off end up getting screwed into a level possibly lower than you (no offense) because they have the funds or the material possiessions to pay the debt.

[aqlo]

Depends where you live. I also never pay bad debts and don't have any worries about it.

[mfgbypooter]

From the NOLO Law Center web site:

A court may decide in your favor, but it won't collect the judgment for you. So, before you sue, always ask yourself: Can I collect if I win? If you can't, think twice before filing a lawsuit.

Collecting from solvent individuals or businesses isn't usually a problem, because most will routinely pay any judgments entered against them. Even if they don't, as long as you have a court judgment there are a number of legal ways to force them to pay. Unfortunately, however, in a small but nevertheless significant percentage of situations, people and businesses are broke (lawyers say "judgment proof"). Or, they're so good at hiding their assets that even if you sue and win, collecting your winnings is likely to prove impossible.

When an individual won't pay voluntarily, collecting your judgment can be difficult unless that person has:

a job
money in the bank, or
real property.

That's because debtor protection laws keep you from seizing and selling many types of property, including the food from the debtor's table, the clothing from the closet, and the TV from the living room. In many states it will even be impossible to seize and sell the debtor's car, because a debtor's motor vehicle is protected from being sold to satisfy a debt if the amount of equity in the vehicle is below a certain amount (often about $2,000, but sometimes much more, depending on the state). And if the debtor uses the vehicle for business purposes, it is often exempt from being grabbed and sold, no matter how much equity the debtor has.

When determining whether you'll be able to collect a judgment if you win, the first thing to investigate is whether the defendant has a job. If a person fails to pay a judgment voluntarily, the easiest way to collect in most states is to garnish up to 25% of his or her wages. (The wages of very low-income workers, however, are exempt from garnishment.) But you can't garnish a welfare, Social Security, unemployment, pension, or disability check. So if the person you want to sue gets all his or her income from one of those sources, red flags should definitely be flying unless you can locate other non-exempt income or assets. Other common collection sources are real estate (except for equity in a personal residence, which may be protected by your state's homestead law), bank accounts, and stocks and bonds.

Read more here.
http://www.nolo.com/lawcenter/ency/article.cfm/ObjectID/A64255DD-C94E-45BA-9F885D05851D923B/catID/DCA1178C-B579-49DC-AECDFCB8A7E9A20B

[fiery94]

jail, you can go to jail

[aqlo]

nope, cant go to jail for bad debts in the usa except in the cases of
a) the irs
b) child support
c) bad checks or other forms of outright fraud

this doesnt qualify, no.

they are right about messing with your mom or whose ever name is on the account though.

[Mels_Smileys45]

If you don't settle out of court as most have done, jail is possible. If the court orders you to pay an amount and you don't pay, jail is possible.

You would be took to court for illegal distribution of copyrighted material, not for bad debts. Don't know where that idea came from. Fines and jail are possible if you don't settle these kind of matters out of court.

[Muffin_Man]

people dont go to jail as the result of a civil lawsuit.

[Mels_Smileys45]

To bad its a Federal crime and they can charge you with a criminal suit. This is the worst that could happen.


A little dated info,

The Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation (Pirate) Act of 2004 passed in the Senate by unanimous consent last week. It would allow the DOJ to provide greater legal support to content owners who feel their copyrights have been infringed upon online. Under current laws, the DOJ can only pursue criminal suits against file swappers, which can result in jail time. If approved by the House, the new law would allow the DOJ to bring civil suits, which can result in financial penalties.

Criminal suit is always possible but they would rather have your money. In a criminal suit you would likely get jail time and have to pay Federal fines. Its best just to settle out of court and pay the copyright holders off.

[CRLocky]

and you go to hell, one way ticket, on a commuter plane

[Mels_Smileys45]

Oh yeah, going to hell would be the worst thing.

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

If you believed in it. How is that any different than 4 more years?

[mylastserenade]

Is there ANY danger in downloading files in Canada using Bittorrent?

[Whistler]

not at present, i think you may have already asked this...

[Psilaxs]

OK let's say I get caught, and get sued by the RIAA/MPAA or whatever. I don't have a job, so I don't really have any income to speak of. So what can they do to me? I could also declare bankrputcy (my credit is already shot to hell, whats a little bit more?) The only worry I might have is that I live with my mother (yes I'm pathetic, I know...) and I think the phone service is in her name, and hence the internet. Could they go after her, even if I admit that I was the one who dled the stuff, and it was on my computer?

For that matter, however, she's retired, and on disability, so I don't think they could garnish any of her wages, and aside from that, she has no other income. So what could they do? Say "You bad, bad man!"? If so, to heck with them, I'm gonna go back to dling, and more importantly, sharing my stuff.

I think what needs to be addressed more immediately than what you are going to download is; why in the hell are you mooching off of your mother who is disabled and has no other source of income!!? Get a damned job and stop playing on the computer all day.

Get your own residence, internet connection, and then decide whether you will put yourself in danger, rather than relying on the safety net of you being a deadbeat.

If you get caught they will go after her since the service is in her name she was condoning "illegal" behavior.

[wapazoid]

If a lawsuit does come about, your mother would end up the target considering it's her account. Agreement of her ISP's acceptable use policy would place her in the legal spotlight, but I sincerely doubt a judge would allow the plaintiff to confiscate personal property. If these corporations have their way with Congress, then jailtime could be a concern for many filesharers. I'm curious though, have you already been warned? It's not uncommon for a notification from the ISP being sent because a copyright holder filed a complaint. Just posting all that personal info about yourself indicates that your a little spooked. Maybe it would be a good idea to atleast get your own internet account.

[mp3MaStA88]

There is always that simple risk you have to take of being caught by the riaa or mpaa... This is why there are programs out there now to block their ip addresses, such a program like peerguardian created by http://www.methlabs.org/ check it out, download it, its a small file so it will not take long on a dial up modem and will take like 1 second on a broadband connection. I have been using this program ever since it came out and it has been suiting all my needs for blockations and warning me of ip addresses that are trying to get into my computer.

[Mels_Smileys45]

It should be pointed out that peerguardian has not been proven to improve or diminish ones chances of not being caught as people have been nailed while using the program.

[drfibes]

Hi. I'm new here, I have some info I'd like to pass on to you all.
If you or anyone you know has been threatened/busted for copyright violations regarding video media, you may be interested in what I have to say.
I worked for a school district that for 7 years INTENTIONALLY stole copyrighted movies, etc. to advertise 2 local businesses on our "educational" cable channel (200K households). What the motivation for this was is unknown to me...
I became aware of it at the same time that I observed abuse of the students by the perpetrators of these crimes, including one of them recruiting students for devil worship meetings.
I reported this to the school officials. This began an "Alice thru the Looking Glass" experience for me, eventually resulting in me being fired. This has caused extreme detriment to my family.
I also reported it to: CA Board of Education, Arnie and his wife, the FBI, U.S. Justice Dept., MPAA, and each of the copyright owners individually. Many others too. I have boxes of evidence, there is no doubt. Dates, times of offenses (required for prosecution of these crimes), videotapes, numerous witnesses, certified mail receipts of notification, etc. Agent Sanchez of the Victorville FBI office told me: "because of the negative publicity, these copyright owners are usually hesitant to prosecute when a school is involved." That seems to be the case, so basically I get screwed and the crooks are still laughing and working. Unlike the typical d/l'er, these folks were violating the law to make huge sums of money.
My reason for telling you all this is not to solicit sympathy. It is because it is quite clear the law is not being applied equally. I'm not a legal expert, but I believe that your attorney can use this information to get charges dropped.
Please feel free to spread this wherever you think it may do some good. I want to sing, sing, sing. The MPAA and copyright owners are no friends of mine, so maybe I can do some good going in the out door.
I have _lengthy documents on the web describing the affair in great detail:
http://webpages.charter.net/drfibes/crimesatvvuhsd.htm
http://webpages.charter.net/drfibes/improprieties/response_to_dr_marks.htm
The last link is a letter to the superintendent expressing shock at her threat to fire me for whistleblowing. She resigned 12 days after I sent it.
Send 'em to me. Maybe we can blow this whole thing sky high.