are YOU being watched?

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are YOU being watched?

Postby Jasta85 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 11:27 pm

i was chatting with my cousin just now who is also an anime fan, and he told me that he got a call from his cable company saying that they've detected him downloading illegal japanese cartoons on his computer and that there are copyright issues and he needs to resolve them in 48 hours or they will cut service.

now, my cousin does download fansubs (as do i) but he tends to use IRC and bittorrent whereas i use direct download and FTP. the first question that popped into my head is "who the heck is monitering anime downloads and pressuring cable companies to crack down on downloaders?". my cousin also has not downloaded any liscenced anime so there shouldnt be any copyright issues in the first place.

i'm also trying to figure out if this is a one in a million case where they randomly pick a downloader and punish him, or if someone is going to actually try and start doing something about downloaded anime in general.

so, just putting this out, be careful where you choose to get your anime from. someone may be watching.
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Postby Lyrs » Tue Aug 12, 2008 12:17 am

they typically do that when you're using your promised bandwidth with massive downloads (ie bittorrent) but within the limits of what you signed up for. there's a lot of legal issues surrounding this, but given the fact that they are fairly dishonest in how they sell their service and protect their customer's privacy, it'd be best to do your part instead.

tell your cousin to use encryption.
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Postby LeapofFate » Tue Aug 12, 2008 12:37 am

o____O.

Thanks for the heads-up.

What cable company is it?

Just curious.
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Postby Ishbalan » Tue Aug 12, 2008 12:45 am

That exact thing happened to me last year.
We ended up just apologizing and saying that it wouldn't happen again.

I then switched to uTorrent, which auto-encrypts the files. No problems since.

Time Warner Cable
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Postby 76 » Tue Aug 12, 2008 11:02 am

That can't happen with wireless....can it? O.O


Utorrent all the way! (If I can get around my admin to forward the ports...>_>)
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Postby Sukunai » Tue Aug 12, 2008 11:38 am

To my knowledge, an invasion of privacy trumps any form of digital theft in Canada.

And unless they have usurped your right to privacy in the case of Canada, how precisely they would be able to know what you were doing online is a good question.

Which is a good example of how the US is not always the most free place on the planet.
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Postby LivingFlame » Tue Aug 12, 2008 4:21 pm

From what I hear, Time Warner is notorious for this sort of thing. I've never gotten such a call and I use BitTornado (PC) and Transmission (Mac) over Verizon FiOS.
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Postby 76 » Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:18 pm

Streaming sites FTW?

This sort of thing reminds me of that police department that used a keylogger to catch a pedo. Though I can't remember any details -I remember that there was allot of controversy over it.

I wonder why this is just coming to light if others have already experienced it. Or is it not as new to you as it is me?
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Postby LivingFlame » Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:16 pm

The concept itself is not very new to me. I mean, just look at the RIAA's history. =\
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Postby NelTu » Tue Aug 12, 2008 11:33 pm

Wow that suck but I dont think they are allowed to spy on your cuz like that.
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Postby Be_gone77 » Wed Aug 13, 2008 3:13 pm

I have used Utorrent for a long time, and bit torrent long before that, I have got no call yet.


I do live in a kinnda small city though so that might have something to do with it
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Postby BasharOfTheAges » Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:26 pm

"I'm sorry - my unsecured wireless network must be attracting lots of traffic from the neighbors or something."
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Postby BasharOfTheAges » Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:29 pm

Also, a phone call rather than a written notice (unless they admitted to recording the call and could verify the recipient was who they claimed to be) sounds rather fishy to me - like someone's pulling a prank. Cease and desists need a paper trail if they're going to legitimately threaten any legal action.

But, yea, what everyone else is saying - encryption ftw.
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Postby Jasta85 » Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:40 pm

talked to my cousin again, he said it's not time warner, it's a small local company and they basically said "you've been downloading illegal japanese anime with bittorrenent, dont use bittorrent anymore at all". it's all complete BS but he's going to college in a few weeks anyway so he just said ok, doesnt want to screw his parents out of their cable. he still has irc for now anyway.
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Postby Purge » Thu Aug 14, 2008 4:59 am

BasharOfTheAges wrote:"I'm sorry - my unsecured wireless network must be attracting lots of traffic from the neighbors or something."


x2

get off my interwebs you damn teenagers
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