# Anyone got in trouble for piracy?



## Icarus (Dec 22, 2007)

Alright, I'm sure most of you fed up with these kind of topics but this is going to be different. What I'm looking for is "real people" who got in trouble here in GBATemp, or close friends that you know. *DO NOT GIVE ME ANY NEWSPAPER ARTICLES OR ANYTHING*, I want to hear from the "first perspective", not from the media. Also, *DO NOT REPEAT THE "PIRACY IS ILLEGAL, GET OVER WITH IT" CRAP*. We all know it, I just want to know if they're really enforcing these laws in practice. Piracy includes anything from downloading music, porn, movies to playing roms, fake games etc. 

As for me, I haven't gotten into any trouble except for the emberrasment when you try to explain it to you friends[since none of them pirates stuff like I do]


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## Sonicslasher (Dec 22, 2007)

sorry I couldn't resist


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## FAST6191 (Dec 22, 2007)

Aside from a sideways glance during high school (I actually had a halfway competent teacher at one point) and a letter from my old ISP saying we want to "upgrade" you but you are a filthy downloading punk so when you do clean up your act I am clean.

I recall some people around here getting ISP letters for more specific stuff but real life for me has nothing.


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## Harsky (Dec 22, 2007)

Got into trouble giving a dvd movie I burned into a disc when I was in school. Funny thing was that the "punishment" was, "we're now confiscating the movie. If you want it back, you have to jump through hoops just to even touch it". Yeah... I'm really gonna miss one burned DVD. 

But the real fear was if they contacted my parents more than getting a fine from a big company.


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## Sinkhead (Dec 22, 2007)

My parents are REALLY anti-piracy. They don't really know why I keep receiving packages and stuff, but they respect my privacy because they understand if anything happens, it will all be my fault and I will take the blame.

- Sam


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## nintendofreak (Dec 22, 2007)

Just about everyone I know does it. We all download games, movies, music. "I want to play [game name]" 
"Check if its on [download source]"
"ohh yeaaahhh"

My parents pretty much dont know about it. They are not very knowledgeable  about computers, so they only know what I tell them. I dont think they would see it as "stealing", it would be kind of weird to "steal" something that isnt really physical in their eyes.


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## sekhu (Dec 22, 2007)

got an e-mail from my isp once about downloading something from a public torrent site, that was a while back, since only using private sites and the like, i haven't received a mail since.

i'm quite paranoid though and think i'll get another email saying the same thing again. it was specific in what i downloaded at what time etc etc. I just wrote back to my isp and told them it won't happen again, haven't had an email since

ftp is the best way to go if you can, they don't really monitor that traffic


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## Law (Dec 22, 2007)

Not really, just the odd email from my ISP.

And to all of those with Anti-Piracy parents, let me say this one thing.

My father is just as bad as I am when it comes to piracy.


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## Icarus (Dec 22, 2007)

What's with the letters from ISPs in England? I've never received any letter from mine here xD


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## jargus (Dec 22, 2007)

Aside from a few friends calling me cheap, nothing has come of my DS "archiving."


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## silverspoon (Dec 22, 2007)

.


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## Psyfira (Dec 22, 2007)

QUOTE(Icarus @ Dec 22 2007 said:


> What's with the letters from ISPs in England? I've never received any letter from mine here xD


It's more about evening out the bandwidth usage so they can provide a better service to all their customers than an anti-piracy measure. It's all about this thing called a "fair usage policy", if one person's hogging the bandwidth other users on the same ISP experience slowdowns because of it. One person doesn't make a lot of difference, but multiply that up to all users on the network and it's a nightmare. When ISP's notice high upload traffic they guess what you're doing because sharing large files back out to the rest of the internet is the only way someone could generate that much traffic. They can't tell whether the files are legal or not but send the letter anyway. So in effect they're tackling two problems at once, although combatting piracy is a side-effect rather than their main intention.

I only know this because my old ISP introduced a scheme after we signed up where if you went over a particular monthly download/upload limit they'd throttle your bandwidth for the rest of the month and that was how they justuified it. They kept changing those limits throughout the year, I was sharing a house with 5 other computer-using people and towards the end they dropped the limit to below what our computers would do under normal usage without downloads. 512kb/s ADSL shared between 5 is not fun.


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## Mewgia (Dec 22, 2007)

iirc SpikeyNDS got a letter from his ISP about grabbing SOCOM for the PSP, he said something about it on a podcast I believe.

I myself have not gotten any warnings but I don't download much. As for family and freinds, well, my dad pirates music, my mom knows jack about computers, my friends pirate, nearly all teens pirate music anyway.


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## bobrules (Dec 22, 2007)

got email from isp from ESA.For using torrenting a ps2 game.


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## .::5pYd3r::. (Dec 22, 2007)

I haven't received anything about my pirating and anyway most of people around me encourage pirating. Like at school we sometimes get to watch movies and i brought in a pirated movie and also on the second last day of school we were allowed to play our DS's and when my teacher found out you could pirate DS games with an R4 he wanted one for his kids.


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## Bruinbaard (Dec 22, 2007)

Yeah I helped like 2 or 3 people to an R4 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




.
Before me they didn't know about it.
I never ever bought a DVD or music only some games.


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## Beware (Dec 22, 2007)

I got a letter threatening to suspend my friend's internet access for trying to get DreamWeaver once.  That's the most that has ever happened (AFAIK).

Most people don't know jack about computers.  Everything they know, I've told them.  I, single-handedly, introduced DS and PSP hacking to everyone in my school (except for the couple of new kids who just got here this year who have R4s).


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## jkdog855 (Dec 22, 2007)

I was a member on EliteTorrents when they were taken down for releasing Star Wars Episode 3. The FBI didn't do a thing to any of the people that downloaded the stuff. Only the people that ran the site and uploaded the torrent got in trouble.


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## Icarus (Dec 22, 2007)

QUOTE(jkdog855 @ Dec 22 2007 said:


> I was a member on EliteTorrents when they were taken down for releasing Star Wars Episode 3. The FBI didn't do a thing to any of the people that downloaded the stuff. Only the people that ran the site and uploaded the torrent got in trouble.


Which is weird because all torrent sites states that the files aren't hosted on their site and they're not responsible for them.


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## noONE (Dec 22, 2007)

My dad got a letter from his ISP a year or 2 ago , telling him that he had illegally downloaded "the day after tomorrow"(which was brand new then) and some other movie. this was all during a big "raid" of piracy in Sweden.  So now we can't download anything..(illegal) (well I ain't allowed anymore by dad :/ )  which is quite sad, since we just got 100/10Mbit connection >_<
and he downloaded as much as me before that.


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## nintendofreak (Dec 23, 2007)

It seems to me that the US has the most relaxed policies when it comes to illegal software downloads... 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 I wonder why...


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## Jaejae (Dec 23, 2007)

I have never had anything from my ISP regarding downloading, apart frm when I was with my old IPS, we were on an unlimited bandwidth plan, and I downloaded like 200GB one month, and they said if I kept doing it, they would throttle our bandwidth.


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## El-ahrairah (Dec 23, 2007)

I never really got in trouble with the law, but when I was in high school I used to steal cable. Literally steal it. I would sneak in apartment complexes and yank the covering off the little green cable box in the backyard and snip the descrambling tubes and run like hell.

When my mother found out she started ranting and raving about how I shouldn't take them. Once I screwed a few tubes into the back of the TV and she instantly had free Cinemax, Showtime and Disney, she never mentioned it again.

I made a killing selling those things at school, too.


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## King Zargo (Dec 23, 2007)

First time in my life I read about ISP sending letters to customers. Almost every single person I know is pirating movie's, music or software. Nobody has  ever gotten into trouble. My school even demands that every single student has Microsoft Office installed on his or her own personal computer. 

Reading this makes me kind of paranoid. Maybe some day the cops will grab me and all my friends. Do Dutch users receive letters from ISP?


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## Hiratai (Dec 23, 2007)

I got threaten by Indians to take away my internet service for downloading like...12 movies in a day.

Next day, they made a casino with the same name as my ISP. No lie.

But it is a fib.


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## .TakaM (Dec 23, 2007)

nah closest I've got is when I was with one of my friends at EBgames
and he'd been looking for some monkey ball game for xbox, he finally found it at that store, second hand for $90
I think it's a first gen xbox game, so it was like 3-4 years old, second hand also.
and I was like fuck that man, I'll just download it at home
and the clerk was like " but tahts illegol"

that fuckin pricetag should be illegal


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## jaxxster (Dec 23, 2007)

never here and it really doesnt bother me, i doubt the police or major companies here are going to bother filing a lawsuit for downloading a few games and movies and albums.


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## Bourbanog (Dec 23, 2007)

QUOTE(.TakaM @ Dec 23 2007 said:


> nah closest I've got is when I was with one of my friends at EBgames
> and he'd been looking for some monkey ball game for xbox, he finally found it at that store, second hand for $90
> I think it's a first gen xbox game, so it was like 3-4 years old, second hand also.
> and I was like fuck that man, I'll just download it at home
> ...


Hahaha, I lol'd.


Me, I've never gotten into trouble for piracy. Evar.


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## MaHe (Dec 23, 2007)

Nope, never. European Union even decriminalized piracy for personal use.


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## JPH (Dec 23, 2007)

Weapon XXX got his house raided by the fucking feds (there was a topic on it).


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## MaHe (Dec 23, 2007)

QUOTE(JPH @ Dec 23 2007 said:


> Weapon XXX got his house raided by the fucking feds (there was a topic on it).


He never said it was about piracy, though.


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## Mewgia (Dec 23, 2007)

QUOTE(nintendofreak @ Dec 22 2007 said:


> It seems to me that the US has the most relaxed policies when it comes to illegal software downloads...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Not really, it's just that US ISPs tend to have better bandwidth than a lot of other countries so people get letters about using too much bandwidth less often...


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## kellyan95 (Dec 23, 2007)

QUOTE(Mewgia @ Dec 23 2007 said:


> QUOTE(nintendofreak @ Dec 22 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > It seems to me that the US has the most relaxed policies when it comes to illegal software downloads...
> ...



I think you have it backwards


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## User200 (Dec 23, 2007)

i got one ridicules letters then they capped me. its really easy to get out of. I fained ignorance and blamed it on my nephew i don't have. luck for me the guy who answered the phone also had kids and went through the same shit i been through


actually it was 2 letters now that i recall correctly. One from Fox and the other from the creators of Doom 3


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## Cermage (Dec 23, 2007)

Funniest Situation: Torrenting FEAR at school 

anyway, i dl'ed a few games and my ISP capped without warning.


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## User200 (Dec 23, 2007)

QUOTE(Incomplete @ Dec 23 2007 said:


> Funniest Situation: Torrenting FEAR at school
> 
> anyway, i dl'ed a few games and my ISP capped without warning.



Don't they usually cap you for uploading too much? I never had a problem with the downloading part.. minus the 2 honey pot stings which were basically, if you download our shit again we "might" do something about it.


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## mkoo (Dec 24, 2007)

QUOTE(silverspoon @ Dec 22 2007 said:


> When my online friend from Canada downloaded a whole PC game from torrent, The ESA sent a warning email to his ISP and then his ISP emailed him and warned about it. He 's been looking for the proxiesÂ


Isn't it illegal to ISP monitor your net usage?  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



As for me my favourite game shop (pirated of course) got raided. 7000 cds/dvds was destroyed.


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## Cermage (Dec 24, 2007)

QUOTE said:
			
		

> Don't they usually cap you for uploading too much? I never had a problem with the downloading part.. minus the 2 honey pot stings which were basically, if you download our shit again we "might" do something about it.



Here in ausland we have a thing called download limits ==" we download over our limit = instant capping, unless you find the loophole and continue downloading even after you went past your limit without stopping, it maintains usual speed.


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## BannedEpisode (Dec 24, 2007)

You guys just need to get Qwest. They honestly dont give a shit.


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## Waddle Dee (Dec 24, 2007)

Nothing happens to me, and I pirate as many DS games as possible XD Well, my parents do't know it's illegal, they know I can download games off the web and play them on my DS, but they must think it's like homebrew or something. Also, no ISP problems here.

If my ISP is capped, I'm screwed. My mom is a travel agaent and works from the comp. Damn government.


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## HyoImowano (Dec 24, 2007)

I've pirated tons of stuff for the last ten years and I've never heard anything of it.  When I lived with my parents they just turned a blind eye and enjoyed the free stuff.


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## modshroom128 (Dec 24, 2007)

20th century fox sent me an email...

i didint realy get arrested or anything


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## Rayder (Dec 24, 2007)

About 5 years ago, my ISP (which has since went through many name changes) sent an e-mail stating that we were hitting a high-water mark (to use their words) on the bandwidth.

We got that once.....well, yeah, we had a P2P program going 24/7 for about 3 weeks at that time, so.....


But we've never received any more such EM's since, and I've DL'd lots of stuff.


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## hanman (Dec 24, 2007)

i've gotten four letters from Comcast saying copyright holders had contacted them about such and such movie/tv show i had downloaded, at least one of which was from a private tracker.  since i stopped using torrents a year ago, i've not had any more letters.  of course, they could just be building a case agianst me.


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## Waddle Dee (Dec 24, 2007)

really, ROMs are no problem if you use the right source. Comcast hasn't banned me for bandwith, I don't know why they would. All because I download more shit than you could think of, you would think they would contact me. Ah well, I'm having fun, right?


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## Deleted User (Dec 24, 2007)

The copyright holders of Casino Royale contacted my ISP to warn me about downloading that movie via bittorrent.  That didn't stop me from downloading movies though.


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## Anakir (Dec 24, 2007)

Quick question, they were able to track down the E-mail you regularly use right? Like your hotmails and stuff? Just wondering 'cause I lost my E-mail from my internet host long ago so if I ever get any E-mails in that account, I'm pretty much screwed.

So, back on to topic, this was way back then when Napster was free. My friend's internet company actually called her instead of E-mailing her. They told her to stop downloading because what she is doing is considered illegal. She got scared and never downloaded music again for another 3 years. But she's okay with it now.


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## MaHe (Dec 24, 2007)

QUOTE(Mewgia @ Dec 23 2007 said:


> QUOTE(nintendofreak @ Dec 22 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > It seems to me that the US has the most relaxed policies when it comes to illegal software downloads...
> ...


I don't think this theory holds any water. True, technology-wise, USA is ahead of rest of the world in many, many ways, except for telecommunications. Especially Scandinavian countries have quite high bandwidth, but their users also seem to get 'warnings'. On the other side, people in Eastern Europe and Asia rarely ever seem to receive any warnings at all.

P.S.: My English grammar sucks, sorry.


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## Ktaro (Dec 24, 2007)

I think it's ironic how some game collectors act as if they have a stick in their ass when they know you download games (like my friend) when I later browse through his 30gb+ music foldier. Downloading music and games is basicaly doing the same thing although they act as if they're so much better


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## moozxy (Dec 24, 2007)

Huh over the last 6/7 years I've been with two different ISP's and they've never contacted me for pirating..
Mr Cow's been contacted for some psp game though hasn't he? Was on tempcast.


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## zarcon6 (Dec 24, 2007)

I got a letter from my isp for downloading a Dora gba game for my little girl off bittorrent. I just started using newsgroups and irc again and no more problems


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## Switchy (Dec 25, 2007)

I'm starting to realize how nice it is that our provider was asked the names of people downloading illegally and they didn't want to share.

Never ever received any calls or emails.
But then again, how much can you download with a 15Gb limit, right?
(We don't even have to THINK about sharing and uploading)


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## RayorDragonFall (Dec 25, 2007)

Got told of for hacking into my mums school wifi and using it to download anime. And then using my mums laptop to download music and tv series with usenet.


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## Doomsday Forte (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE(nintendofreak @ Dec 22 2007 said:


> It seems to me that the US has the most relaxed policies when it comes to illegal software downloads...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


And yet we're the people with the ESA and the RIAA and the MPAA and the CIA and the DRM.  Well, maybe not so much on the last one.  

I haven't gotten any warnings,  but there was a big RIAA lawsuit against at least seven people from my school about downloading music.  I try to be careful, but if anything I probably have more games than music at least twice over.  Oops.


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## amptor (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE(MaHe @ Dec 23 2007 said:


> QUOTE(JPH @ Dec 23 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > Weapon XXX got his house raided by the fucking feds (there was a topic on it).
> ...



that's because the USA is a free country, not a government run prison like other countries.  Plus they don't have time, room, or money for this stuff and it is too widespread.

Also I've run into situations before, some I'll just not mention because they were too weird.

Funny thing, my friend wanted the Comanche Addon pack and it was christmas break so he asked if he could meet up with me at EB in the mall and get it from me there.  Basically after we stepped out of EB, I gave him the floppies.  My god that was such an awesome game too.

Anyway, back on topic 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




  I talked to a guy in the same mall after it changed to EBgames and moved to one of the outer wings of the mall.  The guy asked me if I ever heard of Portable Monopoly, so I was like yeah you can get it at the same sites that sell flash carts and stuff.  Then he got real angry with me and gave me some stupid lecture about PSX mod chips so I left and swore to never buy anything at EB again.  However I do buy from there when it is a real good deal which is pretty rare lol.  I got my PS2 there with extra controller (online shop tho) and I got a Gamecube official memory card used the clerk told me I could bring it back if there's any problems so like 2 minutes later I took it back and she literally ripped open a brand new package and handed me a new card with no problems.  The one I returned looked like someone took a razor blade to it and cut it up but of course it'd still work.

My ISP took my connection offline for about a week because I downloaded over 300 gigs under their 'ulimited internet' bs plan.  So they haven't done that again since.  I told the guy at security 'what, I thought I downloaded over 400 gigs'.  Arrrrr  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




   I have no idea how much I normally get now but it's stupid since now I know when security is closed if I need to grab a lot of ... home movies off of friends.

Anyway that's about all.  I read about The Ghetto bust in BBS days, I've been on there before and heard about SNES/N64 busts on irc but never saw any of it.  It's nonsense to worry about it anyway.


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## adgloride (Dec 26, 2007)

Only letter I've ever received was when I was on AOL.  They changed over from time warner to the carphone warehouse.  They introduced a FUP and I got a letter for downloading too much.  Never had a problem with the 7 years I'd been with them.  After my contract ran out, I switched to virgin media.  If you keep away from doing silly things like using bittorrent, downloading from school/work, downloading off websites or selling pirated stuff.  I stick to usenet these days.  Its pretty difficult to get caught.  The only way your 100% safe is not to pirate at all.


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## BoneMonkey (Dec 26, 2007)

i spent three years in a vietnamese tiger cage for pirating bootleg hello kitty dolls


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## Javacat (Dec 27, 2007)

A few years ago one of my friends received a letter from their ISP saying that some people had been in touch because he was caught downloading Star Trek: Nemesis and that he had to stop downloading movies. He was more pissed off that he had been caught downloading a crap movie than that he had been caught 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



Anyway, he changed his ISP, started using Peerguardian and all was well.


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## sasuke_kun12 (Dec 27, 2007)

I don't think ISP's in Australia really care about what they're customers are downloading. As long as its not child porn.


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## .::5pYd3r::. (Dec 27, 2007)

QUOTE(Incomplete @ Dec 24 2007 said:


> QUOTE said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I used to have that  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 . Our limit was 10gb but it never slowed down 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 but now after 12gb it slows down until the last day when everything speeds up and i torrent like hell! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



EDIT:Too many


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## PBC (Dec 28, 2007)

I've remarked for quite awhile how I stopped paying for most things a long time ago. I was running an emulation and roms distrubuting site for awhile off of angelfire/virtualave/geocities/.....free websites and I never got messages...but that was before n64 emulation was solid and the industry hadn't really been cracking down yet. When napster was in its glory I used the hell out of that...then switched to morpheous...limewire...bearshare...took a stab at all those guys. Never a letter. Remember downloading a CAM version of south park movie...was about half a gig ....so far all of this is over 56k modems. At this time I was also discovering new download queing programs so i was downloading 311 bootlegs off of websites all night, every night. No letters.....but I lived in a rural part of maine, I doubt my ISP gave a hoot. These days I don't download so much music, I NEVER got into torrenting (which is how most people get caught in my opinion) and I stream all the movies that I want to watch from websites like nabolister. The only illegal downloads I do these days are of DS back-ups.  

Only time I know of someone getting caught is a friend I had on Long Island (near NYC). He torrented a movie which had not even been released in theaters and got a letter from his ISP. He may have been sharing the movie as well....I was one of those people who never had their files shared.

Honestly I still buy things that I like. I own movies, Cds and games. I just own alot less of the shitty ones because now I have access to them before I can buy them.


My parents have kinda known about my piracy....considering I sit them down to see movies which they know are still in the theaters. As long as its something they wanted to see they end up not caring =P Or if I download an album for from. Or if I'm amusing my neice and nephew with the latest NDS games...then they don't mind.


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## WeaponXxX (Dec 28, 2007)

QUOTE(JPH @ Dec 23 2007 said:


> Weapon XXX got his house raided by the fucking feds (there was a topic on it).


Yea the feds didn't raid my house *FOR *piracy however they did confiscate all of my pirated goods as they saw it as contraband. As of yet I am not in trouble for the piracy ... they will probably just destroy all my discs my lawyer says. I also got a C&D for a public distro I once ran but that was nothing major....not like having 5 armed federal agents come in your house while your wearing nothing but long johns lol.


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## sirAnger (Dec 28, 2007)

I used to host roms on the IRC site, until I got a simple C&D. I stopped, and haven't heard anything since.


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## pimpyT (Dec 28, 2007)

QUOTE(sekhu @ Dec 22 2007 said:


> got an e-mail from my isp once about downloading something from a public torrent site, that was a while back, since only using private sites and the like, i haven't received a mail since.
> 
> i'm quite paranoid though and think i'll get another email saying the same thing again. it was specific in what i downloaded at what time etc etc. I just wrote back to my isp and told them it won't happen again, haven't had an email since



I had the same thing here in the States.  It made me so paranoid to see that they knew exactly what file and exactly what time.  Ironically, it was for an HBO special I wasn't really that into.


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## amptor (Dec 28, 2007)

QUOTE(WeaponXxX @ Dec 28 2007 said:


> QUOTE(JPH @ Dec 23 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > Weapon XXX got his house raided by the fucking feds (there was a topic on it).
> ...



how? i didn't see you doing anything, you seem more underground than most people.  shit I almost got in trouble for bringing a copy of office 2003 to work but the dipshit that found the cd gave it back to me.  so I threw it out.  nobody bothers me with that shit any more because it doesn't matter, everyone has access to it on the internet.

but now it's like being out of stuff for so long gives me a lot more freedom and I don't gotta worry about these things.  I mainly like to tinker with hardware now and do other things.


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## Defiance (Apr 13, 2008)

Yeah about 2 months ago I got in trouble for downloading Twilight Princess.  Cable company sent an email saying they would shut down my internet if I did not delete it!  I think (hope) it is because I forgot to turn on encryption when downloading that one, because I usually keep encryption on in uTorrent when downloading something...  

I am still too afraid to download anything to this date...  But I will make sure encryption is enabled and I will also use PeerGuardian.


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## Hitto (Apr 13, 2008)

Using peerguardian, tor, or any other kinda cloaking device is even worse, it raises the heat. A quick phone call to your isp and you'll see how anonymous you really were.

Just try not to be their biggest target. And keep it OFFLINE.


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## superrob (Apr 13, 2008)

I never had one single warning or word.


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## Defiance (Apr 13, 2008)

PeerGuardian protects unwanted IPs.  I do not see how can  "raise the heat."


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## CockroachMan (Apr 13, 2008)

Never had any problem.. but ISPs over here don't really care about it, at least not for now

The brazilian police  is concerned about pirate cds and dvds being sold on the streets, saw a lot of people being arrested for it.. but I've never heard about anything happening to people downloading stuff..

My mom buys a lot of pirated movies on the street.. I tell her to stop doing that, since she can get a lot better stuff for free downloading it, and that way, at least no one is getting profit from it

Edit: Actually, I saw this thread just today.. before reading it, I had no idea that in other countries, people got warned by ISPs for downloading illegal stuff.. I think the number of people who does this kind of thing over here is still very limited, broadband started to get cheaper not long time ago, I know very few people that have a connection higher than 1Mbps and a lot of people still use dial-up.


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## Twiffles (Apr 13, 2008)

I never did, but last year when I was visiting my cousin in America he got a letter mail from the government to stop illegally downloading movies.


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## Linkiboy (Apr 13, 2008)

I never have, it seems my ISP even encourages piracy as it doesn't throttle BT and gives free unlimited Usenet for the high-speed package


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## HyoImowano (Apr 13, 2008)

I've never gotten any kind of warning or anything.  A guy who works at my local EB actually helped me mod my old XBox, granted they're trying like hell to get rid of XBox games now, but I've also had people who work there ask me about DS Flashcarts and PSP Modding.


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## ojsinnerz. (Apr 13, 2008)

After about 5 years, nothing yet.


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## FireEmblemGuy (Apr 13, 2008)

Over the past 3 years my family has literally downloaded thousands of movies, TV shows, music, e-books, and games illegally over dial-up. However, due to the fact that dial-up ISPs don't really monitor anything, neither of the ones we've had during that time period has ever done anything.


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## fischju (Apr 13, 2008)

I only use private sites, plus PG2, never have gotten a letter, email, anything.


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## xcalibur (Apr 13, 2008)

FireEmblemGuy said:
			
		

> Over the past 3 years my family has literally downloaded thousands of movies, TV shows, music, e-books, and games illegally over *dial-up*. However, due to the fact that dial-up ISPs don't really monitor anything, neither of the ones we've had during that time period has ever done anything.



Wait, what?
If you were downloading over dial-up, I don't think its THAT much of a loss to them...


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## FireEmblemGuy (Apr 13, 2008)

It's slow as hell, but we manage.

And that's my point, I don't get caught because they don't care.


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## blue99 (Apr 13, 2008)

Never got any warnings downloading stuff from public or private torrents here in Canada. Also never got in trouble by my parents.


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## Bob Evil (Apr 13, 2008)

Years ago ... and I do mean years ... about 12 or so ... I used to have a good sideline, selling copies of things ... all kinds of things ... and you'd be amazed at how many people who bought from me were cops.

And, they were happy to pay what everyone else was paying, too.

I knew a guy who was selling games and movies on the markets over here, whilst on the dole, and some cops pulled him over one day, for working and signing on ... they told him they wanted free movies and games, and he'd hear no more about it.


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## Tigerstar (Apr 13, 2008)

If you know the right forums to read, my ISP actually _warns_ its users ahead of time what companies have been contacting them about illegal downloaders, therefore giving everyone a chance to avoid or stop downloading certain things and thus minimise the risk. Which I think is jolly decent of them. Plus they don't throttle or port block, and give you clearly-defined (and generous) download allowances which you can check from day-to-day on their site.


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## Agjsdfd (Apr 13, 2008)

Nah...
Besides Anime/Hentai I dont have anything downloaded from the net.
I mostly buy music.
And the only pirated software I use is Zone Alarm Security 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





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## tomqman (Apr 13, 2008)

got my school computer account banned for having a few movies on there and about 300gba roms 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 and about 6 series of south park the funny thing is that they didnt delete any of it.(told teachers that i was being bullied and people was going on porn on my account. so they unblocked it lol)


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## superrob (Apr 13, 2008)

I just download games and so on with my laptop on my schools awesome connection


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## moozxy (Apr 13, 2008)

I once got into trouble for pillaging my neighbouring village and raping their women


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## Awdofgum (Apr 13, 2008)

My school is retarded, they got all pissed off at me for turning automatic updates on. I got caught using a proxy one time and they weren't too happy but i talked my way out of it.
Oh and if there's someone on their email an alarm goes off and some lady comes running in like someone's got a weapon, it's pretty crazy.

But anyways, i've never heard of someone getting arrested for pirating, but i saw someone steal a DVD before, lol the FBI says it's the same thing.


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## XodiacMt (Apr 13, 2008)

Hm, well im over in Canada, so thats a no.

I probably wont get in trouble for piracy for a very long time to come.


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## coolbho3000 (Apr 13, 2008)

A lot of my friends torrent/usenet on my school's 80mbit+ connection. Absolutely awesome when there is no load, but I have no external HDD to transfer files and the Emacs there don't have any DVD burner 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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## amazingnoob (Apr 13, 2008)

My isp only emailed/called me because one of my many computers has a "virus".
Other than that, they leave me alone (and I never got in trouble for pirating)


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## Artheido (Apr 13, 2008)

Everyone I know in school does it (that's about 60%) and none of them got in trouble.

Well... One of them has a brother who got caught. He was warned at first, then suspended and finally they came to his house and cleaned his hard drive with a fine. I was like 'wtf?!' but apparently it was part of the ISPs contract.

I also heard the warn/suspend/ban thing for piracy is turning/ has turned into law. Read it somewhere in BBC News.


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## Bob Evil (Apr 13, 2008)

All they ever do in the UK is confiscate/delete and/or fine ... maybe some community service ... if someone gets jail time, it's for something else, that they turned up at/around the same time.

If someone claims that they, or someone they know, in the UK, got jail time for piracy, they are lying ... they just don't want to admit what they got busted for, on the side lol ... usually it's working and signing on, or porn.


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## Harpuia (Apr 13, 2008)

Nothing. I've downloaded hundreds of gigs of stuff, and all I can say is I am a cheapass pirate! Woot.

My parents don't care about it.


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## drock360 (Apr 13, 2008)

I have never gotten any emails for piracy.  I usually just use rapidshare for all my downloads though.


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## Chief_Second (Apr 13, 2008)

in england there's no legislation to encourage isp's to give a shit - they don't lose out by not cracking down on illegal downloaders.

there's also no english legal definition of copyright material download as when you go on 'www.bbc.com' for example you're effectively downloading copyright material through the browser onto pc for viewing sites. 

my advice, keep it modest ad there's no problem - take the piss and there all over us


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## Defiance (Apr 14, 2008)

So I'm the only one whose life sucks?


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## Awdofgum (Apr 14, 2008)

Nin10doFan said:
			
		

> So I'm the only one whose life sucks?



What the hell did you do?
lol did you advertise that you were selling pirated software/movies/games?


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## Defiance (Apr 14, 2008)

awdofgum said:
			
		

> Nin10doFan said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




TOTALLY!!!... No.   
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Uh, I'll try and find it.

Here it is!

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=69553&st=60
Scroll down.


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## rudedoggx (Apr 14, 2008)

I got a C&D notice from Comcast, that scared me off for good.


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## tinymonkeyt (Apr 14, 2008)

sorry for being a complete noob
but whats a C&D?


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## Bob Evil (Apr 14, 2008)

Cease & Desist : a fancy way of saying 'Stop'.


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## Rock Raiyu (Apr 14, 2008)

I've never got mail from my ISP for pirating but then again, I don't really use my torrent for pirating. I use things like Megaupload or DDL places cause my connection is fast enough to download a 1GB file in at least 3-6 hrs.


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## Awdofgum (Apr 14, 2008)

rudedoggx said:
			
		

> I got a C&D notice from Comcast, that scared me off for good.


Really?, my friend who has Comcast has been pirating ever since he was 10 and i don't think he ever got a warning of any kind. 
I only thought Comcast prevented you from seeding torrents.

@Infinity-X: i can get a 1GB file in 45-min to 1-hour


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## jaxxster (Apr 14, 2008)

Infinity-X said:
			
		

> I've never got mail from my ISP for pirating but then again, I don't really use my torrent for pirating. I use things like Megaupload or DDL places cause my connection is fast enough to download a 1GB file in at least 3-6 hrs.


1gig in 3-6 hours is a sucky connection, most connections give you about 8 gigs just over 3 hours.

I've still not heard anything and dont expect to hear anything, i download a few games n tv shows each week but i dont think it warrants harassing me and going through hassle just to warn me off....anyways isnt it piracy legal now aslong as you dont make a profit from it in the EU?


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## acoustic.digital (Apr 14, 2008)

piracy is a really tricky thing in germany. 3 years ago when i was still a school in my hometown, the police 
pulled off a big raid in our town, about 32 ppl got caught. you don't get a letter first, they cops come straight to you : ) 
one of my schoolmates got caught as well, and they took everything computer-related away. he violated some copyright laws (of course, when you pirated Oo) and he sentenced him to pay a fee about 250000$. because he was not over 18, he didn't have to do it straight away, and the amount got a bit reduced, but i don't know how much he has to pay finally. 
yeah, he was pretty much a hardcore dl'er, he downloaded every movie that was available, day and night. 
in germany you can download as much as you want, but the isp's look around. and if you're suspicious, they'll get you.


now that i'm in australia, i don't have to 'fear' it anymore. i hardly dl anyway, and yes, australia has download restrictions which suck balls. 
internet here is the biggest shit i've ever seen, you pay 40$ for 10gb with a 256kb/s connection (and you actually surf with constant 25kb/s!) i don't have that much money, so i can't really upgrade it. internet  itself here is already a piracy prevention ; p


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## Dylaan (Apr 14, 2008)

QUOTE said:
			
		

> now that i'm in australia, i don't have to 'fear' it anymore. i hardly dl anyway, and yes, australia has download restrictions which suck balls.
> internet here is the biggest shit i've ever seen, you pay 40$ for 10gb with a 256kb/s connection (and you actually surf with constant 25kb/s!) i don't have that much money, so i can't really upgrade it. internet itself here is already a piracy prevention


Wrong, you just have to look around, and do a bit of haggling... (We certainly don't have the best either though) I've got 8mbps 25gb/month with BigPond, I only pay $59 for it!

Never got in trouble off anyone so far, except I got yelled at for using school for warez... (Which is fair enough)


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## acoustic.digital (Apr 14, 2008)

haha thanks for that, but i can't change the isp anyway. our landlord provides us with internet and phone, the costs are included in our rent. 
60$ for internet is still a lot, i paid 60$ for 12mbps with unlimited dl/ul, phoneflat within germany and free cable tv : ) 
i think it will get better when the 3g network is finally upgraded : ) 
since i don't download, its fine for me anyway hehe


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## podunk1269 (Apr 14, 2008)

I got a cease and desist email from metallica's lawyers  in the glory days of napster


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## boblen (Apr 14, 2008)

i'v only goten 2 emails.
1 - Was from downloading a torrent asking me to deletethe TV Show i had downloaded - just emailed them back saying deleted lol.

2 - I uploaded some game onto a fileshareing website - they said they would be calling the feds unless i pay them $20

Nothing from my ISP tho.


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## ~Westside Till I (Apr 14, 2008)

I never got a REAL e-mail from my ISP, however on april fools, I got an fake email from "Universal" about how I pirated over torrent, and that I am in deep trouble and that I must contact them at once at the email address given.  When I clicked that address I got rick rolled...


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## Panzer Tacticer (Apr 14, 2008)

Interesting common theme here, most of you sound like you're teens.

So here's a parent's perspective I guess.

My broadband costs me 45 bucks a month. It's unlimited. What do they think I need 100-200 gigs of bandwidth a month for anyway?

I pay Giga news 30 bucks a month for access to news hosting services. They know how much bandwidth I employ a month.

All this is backed up by credit card records eh.

Then there is how I can go and buy spindles of 100 dvd blanks from Futureshop for 30 bucks a shot. They have piles and piles of 100 disk spindles on sale in stores everywhere. Why exactly do they think joe consumer needs blank dvds in massive quantities for really? It certainly isn't so you can back up your entire computer every single day of the year!

I KNOW the law. I think the laws are idiotic, ineffectual, pointless, moronic and quite a few other things. I also think the industry is either run by fools, or the truth is they just don't care. The MPAA and the RIAA like to occasionally beat up some wretched torrent site online and then claim how great a job they are doing. They are useless really.

As I see it, I am PAYING each month solid good money to use the internet. And Bell Canada and Giga news willingly, and knowingly sell me data which I gladly BUY off of them. You can spin that any way you like. I don't care.
If Nintendo, and Sony, and god alone who knows who else want their money, Bell Canada and Giga news has it.
I haven't done anything I feel bad about. I sleep well and I download.

Thus, my son is not hassled by me when he does the same (unless he downloads junk that makes me need to sort out his computer for him 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




).

I've never met or heard of anyone getting in trouble though.
But recently Bell Canada has elected to throttle the ability to use torrents. It's really got a lot of users irate. It's also costing them a lot of customers.


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## ozzyzak (Apr 14, 2008)

Panzer Tacticer said:
			
		

> Interesting common theme here, most of you sound like you're teens.
> 
> So here's a parent's perspective I guess.
> 
> ...




Holy crap.  I wish you were my parent when I was growing up.  If I had gotten in any serious trouble, I would have been in deep shit.  Not that I completely blame my parents, especially when you end up seeing what these companies can do to you financially.  There were a few times I probably could have gotten my parents in a lot of trouble.

Hopefully nothing bad ever comes your way in that regard....and keep on keepin' on.


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## Hitto (Apr 14, 2008)

Nin10doFan said:
			
		

> PeerGuardian protects unwanted IPs.  I do not see how can  "raise the heat."



Probably my paranoia acting up. I grew up in a time when pinging a range of IPs got you a visit from the military... My point is, peerguardian is useful for blocking ads and spyware, sure, but blocking the cops MEANS inviting them, or inviting the ones who are hired to "search deeper" when nothing has been found, when flying under the radar would be so much simpler.


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## Defiance (Apr 14, 2008)

boblen said:
			
		

> i'v only goten 2 emails.
> 1 - Was from downloading a torrent asking me to deletethe TV Show i had downloaded - just emailed them back saying deleted lol.
> 
> 2 - I uploaded some game onto a fileshareing website - they said they would be calling the feds unless i pay them $20
> ...




Wait, what the difference between an email asking you to stop and an ISP?


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## Prime (Apr 14, 2008)

it was when i found out about Bit Torrents. i thought i'd give it a go.

Downloaded about 4 movies (not all at once), got a little letter from my ISP. Got in trouble from my mum (i was only 14 years old). Stopped doing it for a while.

I still download movies and especially romz.


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## xalphax (Apr 14, 2008)

a close friend got in deep trouble, so that i reconsidered my whole attitude concerning piracy.

now i buy what i like.


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## CrEsPo (Apr 14, 2008)

Being in Canada I can't get in trouble for piracy. I got some emails a ways back, but I safely ignored them because they don't enforce anything.

I still buy what's good though. There's a lot of crap out there so I "test" it first by downloading and if I'm a fan of it I'll buy it. I just counted and I only have 14 bought movies. That's pretty low 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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## Panzer Tacticer (Apr 14, 2008)

CrEsPo touched on a valid detail.

When reading the comments, make sure to look at the flag of the person posting to keep track of the relevance.

Here in Canada, if I was caught downloading, I have just had my privacy violated. In a court, I likely win more money suing them for violation of my privacy. That's a very significant detail.

It might seem stupid when you try to reason it out logically, but it's still significant to remember, my privacy is more important than your copyright.

Right now Bell Canada is playing with fire interfering with the downloading of torrents. Because to do so they must actually invade my privacy to accomplish anything.

Now in other nations, it's a whole different ball of wax. I heard you can get in serious trouble in Singapore just being caught with an R4 in your possession. They beat people there 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Most of the greatly varied wordings on things like films coming out of the US, and all those FBI warning etc etc etc, you have to remember, the FBI has no power off US soil. All they can do is hope the other nation is interested in being mutually supportive. You scratch my back I'll scratch yours. But in Canada, Canadian law is all that applies. Thus, US law, written on a film out of the US, has no power out of the US.

That basically applies to any product. It's what keeps lawyers rich and happy. It's a wonderful mess trying to sort it out.
It's why a well known site based in Sweden has so much fun laughing off protests. Swedish rules apply in Sweden.
It explains why a lot of cool web sites, don't exist in some nations.


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## GizmoDuck (Apr 14, 2008)

One of my friends got his internet suspended at UC Davis for downloading Scarface.  As for me, I've never got in trouble for downloading stuff.  I used to be an avid downloader of games, movies, music, and whatever, but lately I've been too busy (and lazy) to do so.  Most of my friends don't mind pirating, except for one strange fella.  He owns a G6 Lite and downloads movies and music, but hates pirating (??).  Basically, he's a hypocrite.  My parents know I pirate, but they don't seem to mind.  In fact, they seem to like it when I burn Chinese movies for them to watch.


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## Defiance (Apr 14, 2008)

Here's my story copied straight from a thread I made:

Well I was downloading a Wii Iso, Twilight Princes, and it was in the uTorrent like usual. I already had Mario Galaxy and Battle Revolution downloaded too. Anyway, my cable company sent an e-mail saying they found me downloading the file and was going to shut down the internet!  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




  This was about 2 weeks ago (Two months ago from now), but I think I realized why I got caught. I didn't put the Encryption one because I was trying to make it go faster.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




  I know now to keep it on, but is there anything I can do to make sure I don't get in trouble again? Someone recommended me PeerGuardian and it seems to be working, but I can't be sure. I'm even afraid to download DS backups.


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## xalphax (Apr 15, 2008)

Nin10doFan said:
			
		

> .... I didn't put the Encryption one because I was trying to make it go faster....



hmm... my isp somehow blocks unencrypted torrent traffic, so i have to ENABLE it to make it go faster


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