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

**Stinkfinger75** · January 4th, 2008, 07:45 PM

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/white...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...ileshare.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** · January 4th, 2008, 08:32 PM

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** · January 4th, 2008, 08:46 PM

Road Runner is owned by Time Warner.

**cheapprick** · January 4th, 2008, 08:48 PM

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** · January 4th, 2008, 09:25 PM

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** · January 4th, 2008, 10:01 PM

Originally Posted by Midnight's Children

...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** · January 4th, 2008, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by Stinkfinger75

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** · January 5th, 2008, 12:08 AM

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

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** · January 5th, 2008, 01:43 AM

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** · January 5th, 2008, 01:48 AM

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

**baksteen** · January 5th, 2008, 04:55 AM

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

**Andrew110** · January 5th, 2008, 06:25 AM

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

**DigitalJunkie** · January 5th, 2008, 12:59 PM

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** · January 5th, 2008, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by cheapprick

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** · January 6th, 2008, 10:39 AM

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