Is file sharing illegal? I just got an email from the higher powers

**jvnmom123** · February 10th, 2011, 04:22 PM

Hi All, I just recieved an email from my internet carrier that said that I have downloaded illegal files from a bit torrent site, etc. etc. I do not know what to do? any help or advice would be appreciated.

**YWD67** · February 10th, 2011, 04:54 PM

Not much info on your part. Who is your internet provider, and what are you accused of do that is in violation of the millenium act.
That is if that is what their are warning you about.

**sygreenblum** · February 10th, 2011, 06:07 PM

It's not the downloading that gets you it trouble. Its sharing part. However, my mother always said to share so who is the government to say my mother's wrong.

**Tranceboy2k** · February 10th, 2011, 07:32 PM

They'l probably ask you for your credit-card details next ROFL.

**jvnmom123** · February 11th, 2011, 08:21 AM

Hi,

My carrier is Comcast and yes they are talking about the violation of the millenium act. It shows the file that was downloaded, etc. I have never seen this before and now I don't know what to do other than never again. Any advice would be helpful

**drtoker** · February 11th, 2011, 08:23 AM

Where was the file downloaded from? A public site or public tracker? A lot of letters are a ploy to get money, but since it is from your provider, I'm not sure about that. Is it from comcast on behalf of some studio or something? If they are asking for money, I would either talk to a lawyer or ignore it. A lot of these companies just send letters hoping for a settlement, with no intention of suing, IMO.

**jvnmom123** · February 11th, 2011, 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by YWD67

Not much info on your part. Who is your internet provider, and what are you accused of do that is in violation of the millenium act.
That is if that is what their are warning you about.

Yes, that is it. I have comcast. It said about the millenium act, etc. It showed the file, my address etc, etc. It was a warning from Comcast. I did not realize that this was Illegal and it was only one file. Now I am not sure what to do but I do know that I will be sure that there is no more downloading on my computer if that is the case.

**jvnmom123** · February 11th, 2011, 08:33 AM

It was from Bittorrent. That is where I downloaded the movie.but the notice came from Comcast. Notice of Action under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. I just don't know what to do or if I should continue my downloading but to be sure it is free, etc. just not sure.

**carpefile** · February 11th, 2011, 08:35 AM

Since its Comcast, they are probably simply furnishing you a notice of infringement complaint as they are required to do by agreement with copyright holders. Usually after you get 3 of these they will threaten to terminate your connection (although I have never heard of them actually doing it).
Your best bet, if you plan on continuing to download copyrighted material, is to use a blocklist. Peer guardian as a stand alone program will work for your entire access, while clients like utorrent and vuze will let you integrate an ipfilter.dat that will just block known bad ips when you use bittorrent.
Either way, you are much much less likely to get another notice, because you won't be connecting to the bad guys anymore.
Nothing is perfect or will give you 100% protection except abstinence, but this will offer some pretty solid defenses.

**jvnmom123** · February 11th, 2011, 08:38 AM

ok, thank you so much for the info. I feel better already.

**drtoker** · February 11th, 2011, 09:59 AM

I would also suggest using newsgroups (mostly not free, but usually < $10 a month and well worth it IMO) or private trackers instead of public ones (invite only) or both. You into movies, music, tv...?

**jvnmom123** · February 11th, 2011, 12:12 PM

Thank you drtoker (smile) for the info. I just download Peerguardian. I am fairly new to this stuff but I get it for free for movies and music. I was going to bittorrent, etc. I do not know about the (invite only) site. Can you suggest a few. Also, can you tell me how to use the peerguardian site. I had to leave but hopefully it is done downloading by the time I get back. Again, I am new to this and did a few downloads and then got that stupid message from Comcast. I am so bummed.... Any help would help

**Signa** · February 11th, 2011, 07:50 PM

You might want to try Peer Block instead. PG2 is kinda broken these days. It's the exact same program, but it actually properly updates itself these days.

Also Carpefile is right, it isn't 100% certain at all. Hell, I've seen evidence to suggest that it's 100% useless, but I still suggest running it because in theory it helps, and anything you can do to help yourself is good. No point in saying "well it probably won't help so I won't run it" if there is a chance it does help you.

**sygreenblum** · February 11th, 2011, 08:54 PM

Originally Posted by Signa

Also Carpefile is right, it isn't 100% certain at all. Hell, I've seen evidence to suggest that it's 100% useless, but I still suggest running it because in theory it helps, and anything you can do to help yourself is good. No point in saying "well it probably won't help so I won't run it" if there is a chance it does help you.

Your absolutely right. Back in the day it was useful but the powers that be wised up and got smart, and to be honest blocking a full range IP addresses is sort of a Nuclear response. Sure there may be a few bad people in a city but there's no reason to go all Nagasaki on everyone's ass.

**jvnmom123** · February 13th, 2011, 08:41 AM

I have another question and hope you can help me. I downloaded Peerblocker. Now what. Is there something I need to do when it is running to make sure that it is blocking. I only do a few movies for my grandkids and not sure of how this all goes. Taught myself and was doing good for a while. So...how does peerblocker work and is there any place I can go to for beginners. I don't know why I got caught only downloading one movie. Thank you in advance.