Time Warner is sending me threatening letters. Has anyone else received one?

[Stinkfinger75]

Hi all, first post here.

A couple weeks ago I fired up my browser only to find that my homepage had been set to a message from Time Warner:


Dear Subscriber:

Road Runner Customer Care is sending you this notice because we have received a complaint
from a content owner that your computer has been used to distribute copyrighted material (music,
movies, computer software and/or television programs) without authorization through a peer-to-peer
program. This is at least the second complaint we have received from a content owner about your
account. Our last notice to you was sent by email.

As we explained to you in our earlier email, in addition to being illegal, peer-to-peer
trafficking in copyrighted works violates the Road Runner terms of service. It is therefore
extremely important that you inspect your computer for peer-to-peer programs, and ensure that you
are not - - either intentionally or inadvertently - - making copyrighted works available for
uploading by others. RoadRunner has a policy of terminating the accounts of repeat copyright
offenders, and we do not wish to lose you as a valued customer.

For information on the problems associated with peer-to-peer file sharing, please follow
this link: http://research.pestpatrol.com/whitepapers/p2p_impact.asp.

If you use the Windows OS, the best way to remove peer-to-peer programs is through the
Add/Remove Programs tool. Other removal options are discussed at
http://security.uchicago.edu/peer-to-peer/no_fileshare.shtml.

In order to gain access to your Road Runner account and the Internet, please click on the
hyperlink at either the top or the bottom of this page. Please be aware that the next time we
receive a similar complaint about your account, you will have to call us to regain Internet access.

Thank you for subscribing to Road Runner. We look forward to having you as a customer for
years to come.

Very truly yours,


Road Runner Customer Care

The only way to navigate away from that page was for me to click a link called "I am aware of this issue and will take steps to resolve it.".

I have quite the collection of music that I bought on CDs over the years and to back them up manually is quite the chore so I use bit torrent to do my backups. Set it and forget it, just like the Popeil Showtime Rotisserie Oven.

So what do you think I should make of this letter? I thought that making my client randomly assign new ports upon each activation might help me out, but other than that I wouldn't know what to do about this. Has anyone else ever received one of these letters? What did you do to resolve it? Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks for your help,

Stink

[cheapprick]

Pretty funny. The letter was clearly from your ISP and not Time Warner. Maybe they're sending you letters too, but more likely Time Warner is sending letters to your ISP.

As for advice:
1 - reload windows
2 - avoid p2p programs and monitor your computer to ensure that nobody else uses your machine
3 - buy various brand name security solutions to ensure hackers aren't targeting your machine to use it as a peer
4 - periodically post your ip to 4chan and ask the experts there to look your computer over to ensure it's not open to terrorists to hijack and pull into their nefarious schemes
5 - pray hourly and to several deities (one of them will come through)

Alternate advice
1 - check on the availability of alternative service providers
1a - If one or several exist...say to yourself "fuck it, they aren't suing"; this is business as usual
1b - If you have the only one available in your area... delve into darknets and newgroups

Alternate Alternate advice
1 - pay for shit in stores (while borderline ridiculous, it is legal)

[Midnight's Children]

Road Runner is owned by Time Warner.

[cheapprick]

Touche. Regardless, the letter was from Road Runner.

When it's time to really shit bricks it won't be over a letter from your ISP. It'll be from a media creator/distributor.

[Midnight's Children]

Sorry if that sounded abrupt. AOL bought Time Warner and placed it's ill-fated future in the Road Runner service. AOL should lick my balls and die of gonorrhea.

If possible I would switch ISP's. Time Warner as a content provider has more incentive to screw with you then other ISP's.

[w31n3r]

...AOL should lick my balls and die of gonorrhea.


squirted milk out of my nose laughing...

but seriously, what are you taking for it? glad to see you're only spreading it to the bad guys :)

[Sephiroth]

I have quite the collection of music that I bought on CDs over the years and to back them up manually is quite the chore so I use bit torrent to do my backups. Set it and forget it, just like the Popeil Showtime Rotisserie Oven.

So what do you think I should make of this letter? I thought that making my client randomly assign new ports upon each activation might help me out, but other than that I wouldn't know what to do about this. Has anyone else ever received one of these letters? What did you do to resolve it? Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks for your help,

Stink

The reason why you got the letter is because you set bittorrent and left it running, Bittorrent hosts files you are downloading so anyone can download them and typically files that are done downloading and shared by default and since you were not there it was left hosting the files.

You should go back to the manual way if you want to rip your music collection. Changing ports will not do anything.

Other than that the letter tells you what they want you to do to resolve it which is to uninstall and not use any P2P programs.

[Krell]

The reason why you got the letter is because you set bittorrent and left it running, Bittorrent hosts files you are downloading so anyone can download them and typically files that are done downloading and shared by default and since you were not there it was left hosting the files.

You should go back to the manual way if you want to rip your music collection. Changing ports will not do anything.

Other than that the letter tells you what they want you to do to resolve it which is to uninstall and not use any P2P programs.

Yeah . . woop woop woop . . . New flash - this is called SEEDING.

Either DO P2P or NOT do P2P, but dont fuck it up by leeching. If you leech I will come to your house and kick your ass. You download, you take the risk, plain and simple.




.

[baksteen]

What client were you using, cause in utorrent it says encyption in the speed bar,you should always keep that check, that is the only way i think that think of if they caught you with utorrent downloading and seeding

[msa9167]

Wouldn't having a firewall prevent isp's from seeing what you are doing?

[baksteen]

no cause they check your internet activity going in and out they monitor it all

[Andrew110]

Wow.......I think some people should just stick with limewire.

[DigitalJunkie]

You paid for your bandwidth! There're legit reasons for using P2P programs, but just don't run them 24/7. But, if you feel cheated for not able to use the bandwidth you paid for, tell them you will switch ISP & that will them you mean business! :)

[mfgbypooter]

When it's time to really shit bricks it won't be over a letter from your ISP. It'll be from a media creator/distributor.

If he got a letter from a media creator/distributor he wouldn't just shit bricks, it would be cinder blocks.



*

[Stinkfinger75]

Well here's a few things to add since you folks were wondering:

@Midnight's Children: I have no other broadband providers in my area so RR is my only option. Furthermore, I need my broadband because of my Vonage account, so I really can't afford to have them cut it off.

@Sephiroth: I don't leave it running 24/7. I get what I need, seed for a short while, then move the content to another drive so it can't be shared. At most I would say that my bittorrent usage is modest at best.

@backsteen: I found the protocol encryption option in uTorrent and set it to "forced". It was originally set to "disabled". Is this what you were referring to?

Once again, thanks for the help everyone.

Stink

[Stinkfinger75]

1b - If you have the only one available in your area... delve into darknets and newgroups


Do you have any experience with usenet or darknets? I'm googling the hell out of both but am coming up with articles but no real resources. Any ideas?

[Sephiroth]

Do you have any experience with usenet or darknets? I'm googling the hell out of both but am coming up with articles but no real resources. Any ideas?

Darknets is just a private virtual network where only those invited or trusted are allowed to access.

Usenet is another name for newsgroups which is a internet discussion network. You would have to pay to access the newsgroup servers, and it would likely be cheaper just to get a subscription to a online music store like the zune pass or something similar.

[Mels_Smileys45]

Stinkfinger? Nice alias. Too funny.

[shawners]

Darknets is just a private virtual network where only those invited or trusted are allowed to access.

Usenet is another name for newsgroups which is a internet discussion network. You would have to pay to access the newsgroup servers, and it would likely be cheaper just to get a subscription to a online music store like the zune pass or something similar.

They all have DRM and now are watermarking mp3's that arent protected, and they start at 89cents or more for a track.. You would be better paying 19.95 for unlimited usenet service and be able to download games/cd/apps/dvd/music/porn and everything else under the sun without any restrictions.

Since OINK has been down, i have yet to find a perfect music site to plunge into. I use filemp3.com for scene stuff and current releases. But as far as anything goes. You got your ass handed to you by the public BT sites you visit. Timewarner.. Or anything else can easily find you and rip your head off to shit down your throat because your on a network of peers that are connected to so many pc's by the time warner company. Encryption wont protect you, seeding and leeching on any public bt site wont be safe. If your downloading, your certainly uploading. Now nobody or anyone downloads music to back up the ones they have unless your paranoid as shit that their monitoring you on a p2p site and just say it for your defense lawyers benefit. You have a cd, its easier and less time consuming to let it search the online database for track listings and to rip as a 320cbr or flac.

It only took me 1 time to get a cease and desist letter from warner in 2001 to realize that these p2p apps and public sites just arent good.

[cheapprick]

Deep down I think we all knew it would take a thread about usenet to pull you back in.

[Stinkfinger75]

So let's say I was willing to pay for the Usenet, how robust is the selection of available content? Is it as robust as the selection found on say the pirate bay? Is there special software to use or can something like Thunderbird handle it? Any help you can provide would be great.

[xer0ice]

Stink I urge you to contact Consumerist.com and TorrentFreak.com, here are the contact informations:

Consumerist:
Tip Your Editors:
tips@consumerist.com

Editor:
Ben Popken
email: ben@consumerist.com
aim: benpopken</a>

Senior Editor:
Meghann Marco
email: marco@consumerist.com
aim: meghannmarco

Associate Editor:
Chris Walters
email: chris@consumerist.com
aim: windowsunday

Weekend Editor:
Carey Greenberg-Berger
email: carey@consumerist.com
aim: consumeristcarey

Interns:
Alex Chasick : alex@consumerist.com
Theresa Profio : profio@consumerist.com


TorrentFreak:
http://torrentfreak.com/contact/


And it looks like your post was submitted to Digg and Reddit already:

http://digg.com/tech_news/Time_Warner_Threatening_Customers_for_Using_P2P_So ftware

http://reddit.com/info/64s45/comments/

[baksteen]

yea that is what i was reffering, now you shouldnt really have too many problems with this i would say, it says on most utorren guides that you should always tick the protocol encryption, enable it :)

this should help you :)

[drtoker]

So let's say I was willing to pay for the Usenet, how robust is the selection of available content? Is it as robust as the selection found on say the pirate bay? Is there special software to use or can something like Thunderbird handle it? Any help you can provide would be great.

Newsgroups will have the same 0 day content that bt trackers have. The only difference comes for older files. Newsgroups work with a retention factor, meaning after XX days, the content is deleted, and you can no longer get it. This is usually between 60-120 days after its posted. Now, people can, and do, requests reposts on newsgroups, making it available again for the XX days.

Some providers offer software with their subscriptions, but I've always used NZB-O-Matic.
Its free and easy to use: you just find the NZB file you want (similar to a torrent file), put it in the program, and hit go.

More information can be found on the web and here on the forums, but all in all, newsgroups are a great alternative, especially for some one in your position recieving letters about infrigement.

[Stinkfinger75]

@xer0ice: I'm a big Consumerist nut, but considering that I am violating my TOS isn't it reasonable to think that eventually I might get one of these notices?

@drtoker: Thanks for the information. So is this NZB-O-Matic a pay service? I looked into it a little and it seems like it's just a piece of software. Is it spyware/adware free? Where do you find these NZB files? How is the speed.

Once again, you guys are proving to be a valuable resource.

Thanks again,

Stink

[drtoker]

the software is free, and free of adware/spyware. To use it you need to pay for a newsgroup service, such as usenet, giganews, or any of the countless providers out there. Once you have service, plug your username, pass, and news server into the program.
As for nzb's, I just use Binsearch.info. It is a free indexing site that you can search and create the nzb's for the files you wish to dl.

I usually know what I'm looking for when I search. I use sites such as vcdquality for release information (just an example, numerous release sites exist).

[Stinkfinger75]

the software is free, and free of adware/spyware. To use it you need to pay for a newsgroup service, such as usenet, giganews, or any of the countless providers out there. Once you have service, plug your username, pass, and news server into the program.
As for nzb's, I just use Binsearch.info. It is a free indexing site that you can search and create the nzb's for the files you wish to dl.

I usually know what I'm looking for when I search. I use sites such as vcdquality for release information (just an example, numerous release sites exist).

So if I subscribe to one of these services, do they basically all take me to the same place or are certain newsgroup service providers geared towards certain content?

[thepuzzler]

A beginners guide to newsgoups:

http://www.slyck.com/ng.php

[tackdaddy]

i kinda of agree with krell. there are risks to using bittorrent and you have to accept the good with the bad.

[mfgbypooter]

I've been using Newshosting (http://www.newshosting.com/) since 2003 and will highly recommend their 14.95 unlimited account to anyone.

*

[Krell]

I've been using Newshosting (http://www.newshosting.com/) since 2003 and will highly recommend their 14.95 unlimited account to anyone.

*

Cheaper than NetFlix, and you dont have to send the DVDs back in thse damned envelopes!


.

[Stinkfinger75]

I've been using Newshosting (http://www.newshosting.com/) since 2003 and will highly recommend their 14.95 unlimited account to anyone.

*

Their plans seem very reasonable. Their service has worked out well for you?

[mfgbypooter]

Yes.

I highly recommend it.

*

[Midnight's Children]

As do I....

[Mels_Smileys45]

Yes.

I highly recommend it.

*


But you also enjoy your own farts and the nice neighbor lady needs to shove her pussy in your face so you will take the hint. All this makes me not sure about your advice. Does this plan also include duck porn?

[mfgbypooter]

both kinds of duck porn, that with quaker state motor oil smeared on their assholes as well as without.

*

[Stinkfinger75]

I didn't give you two permission to hijack my thread, what with all this talk of duck porn.

[robincheema]

I didn't give you two permission to hijack my thread, what with all this talk of duck porn.

you guys need some serous hookers.

[Stinkfinger75]

So what if I were to use private trackers? From what I've been reading it seems as if it's the only way to go if you're going to be using bittorrent.

[Midnight's Children]

Duckporn, Quaker State, and bizarre humor aside, you should really listen to what these guys are talking about. If you can't change your ISP then your only realistic option is to consider a much more secure alternative to Bittorent.

[carpefile]

At the very least, use pg2 or an ipfilter.dat (updating either frequently) with your bittorrent client. That will at least block all the known bad ips from connecting.
You'll get a lot less letters. And if you do take the time to learn about newsgroups, you'll never go back.

[Stinkfinger75]

As for nzb's, I just use Binsearch.info. It is a free indexing site that you can search and create the nzb's for the files you wish to dl.

I was poking around a bit on this site. Let me see if I have this straight as to how it works. 1) go to binsearch.info (any other sites you suggest?), 2) search and find what I'm looking for, 3) tick the box next to the file or files I want, 4) click create nzb, 5) load that nzb into my downloading software.

Is it that simple? If I tick several boxes and click create nzb am I able to download multiple files at once?

[beatsme]

if you use some proxy arent you able to be "free"?

[DasFox]

Your using Cable? If so you must of been pumping a hell of a lot of bandwidth, otherwise they wouldn't of bothered you.

People say uTorrent's Protocol Encryption helps security, I can't say I know much about it. I use Road Runner, and I've been a pretty hardcore downloading nutt for 10 years with no nasty letters.

You just need to know when to let off and not be cranking it out 24/7.

I mean lets get real, how many movies, mp3s, and games can someone watch in a week? LOL. Just try to be normal about it, and just download a little a week, and you'll be cool.

[Stinkfinger75]

I mean lets get real, how many movies, mp3s, and games can someone watch in a week? LOL. Just try to be normal about it, and just download a little a week, and you'll be cool.

See, that's the thing. I am, as you say, pretty normal about it. uTorrent might get fired up every other week or so to download a little this and that, yet I got this message.

I still haven't pulled the trigger on the newsgroups yet. Does anyone have any good suggestions for good sites that have release announcements? Is there a good all in one release site?

[axlman]

They Hijacked your browser? Can't the ISP get in trouble for that? They may own the bandwidth, but they don't have any right to change your browsers homepage with out your consent.

[HelenaP]

They Hijacked your browser? Can't the ISP get in trouble for that? They may own the bandwidth, but they don't have any right to change your browsers homepage with out your consent.

Who will they "get in trouble" with? The NSA?

[Krell]

They didnt hijack his browser. All DNS requests return that page. The only thing the PC can talk to is that particular address with the message.


.

[DasFox]

See, that's the thing. I am, as you say, pretty normal about it. uTorrent might get fired up every other week or so to download a little this and that, yet I got this message.

I still haven't pulled the trigger on the newsgroups yet. Does anyone have any good suggestions for good sites that have release announcements? Is there a good all in one release site?

Pretty odd then since I've been cranking away steady for 8 years without any problems.

How much would you say you download, or upload in a week, or month?

[lion7718]

What State is this..I know they were doing testing in Texas...

[evilmegaman]

What State is this..I know they were doing testing in Texas...

*off topic* hey lion!!! haven't seen you around forever. where do you hang out mostly now?

[lion7718]

*off topic* hey lion!!! haven't seen you around forever. where do you hang out mostly now?

I'm at The Consortium (http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.php?) still..I did take about an 8 month break last year though..I was just burned out & decided to do some new/other things. How are things with you..??

[El Comandante]

See, that's the thing. I am, as you say, pretty normal about it. uTorrent might get fired up every other week or so to download a little this and that, yet I got this message.

It's basically a lottery. You can download for years and never get hit. Aside from the minimal protection PG2 and/or ipfilter.dat provides, you can try to stay away from high risk content ..such as music... and then stay away from stuff such as the latest Rihanna or Britney Spears album. If you try to get that stuff on a public tracker you are just asking for trouble. That's not to say that old shit is not monitored too... there really is no way to be 100% safe... as they said in the movie Heat "Assume they got our phones, assume they got our houses, assume they got us, right here, right now as we sit, everything. Assume it all."

[baksteen]

i have a small question, as you have probably noticed the uk and the isp schemes and stuff.

my question is, what if you download a lets say a tv show, onto a server (seedbox) and then transfer it onto your home computer.

now i know that is still illegal, but would you still get done for it? and can the isp still pick up that your sharing files illegally?