ROM Hack Question AT&T no piracy?

[Owenge]

hey so quick question, I was downloading a..... “completely legal” file and got sent an email from AT&T saying they know about it and I have a strike, what should I do?

Edit: I understand I was stupid for not using a vpn, but I understand my mistake, and I know what I have to do about it. Thank you for the ones that informed me of this.

 

[Xzi]

Use PeerBlock and/or a VPN when downloading, otherwise you'll receive more of those e-mails until they cut off your service.

 

[PanTheFaun]

What can you do? You downloaded something you weren't supposed to and got caught. Deal with the outcome.
Next time use a VPN such as Express VPN.

 

[masagrator]

Nothing. You have six strikes in total to use. First is just a warning.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Alert_System
CAS is no longer developed, but ISPs still are using it.

Next time download through VPN in country where Nintendo doesn't exist officially (through partners or at all).

 

[TheZoc]

Use PeerBlock and/or a VPN when downloading, otherwise you'll receive more of those e-mails until they cut off your service.

For completely unrelated reasons (My country seems to don't give a shit about anything like this, apparently... sadly...), mind explaining to a newbie how peerblock works and how to use iblocklist.com stuff?

 

[Lacius]

hey so quick question, I was downloading a..... “completely legal” file and got sent an email from AT&T saying they know about it and I have a strike, what should I do?

How did you download the file? Was it a direct download, or was it over the BitTorrent network? If it was the latter, a VPN is recommended.

Use PeerBlock and/or a VPN when downloading, otherwise you'll receive more of those e-mails until they cut off your service.

Studies show PeerBlock doesn't help at all. It's a false sense of security.
Edit: Blocklists' inefficacy explained

 

[Xzi]

For completely unrelated reasons (My country seems to don't give a shit about anything like this, apparently... sadly...), mind explaining to a newbie how peerblock works and how to use iblocklist.com stuff?

Sure, it's not that difficult. You just download PeerBlock, then open it up and go to 'list manager,' then 'add.' That's where you'll be pasting each of the update URLs from iblocklist.com. The level1, level2, and level3 lists work pretty well, but you can also sign up for a subscription at $10/year that will give you 'premium' lists. I've had a subscription for about four years now and it's always worked great for me, even without a VPN.

After adding and updating all your lists, you just run PeerBlock before running your torrent client of choice, and close it when you're done downloading.

 

[spotanjo3]

LOL. In Portugal, they don't care about it. No wonder America is so strict and mean. Yikes!

 

[Owenge]

It was direct and I was using a Linux device left on over night to download it (that night I download 2 games, 1 wii, and 1 switch) and I only got a notice for the Wii game :/

 

[Mythical]

The safest thing to do would' be to stop. Might not seem fun, but more often than not you're just wasting hard drive space. I know several "collectors" and more often then not they get download crazy. Don't get stuff you won't use atleast. Also Express VPN ftw

 

[Xzi]

Studies show PeerBlock doesn't help at all. It's a false sense of security.
Edit: Blocklists' inefficacy explained

As I said, I've used it for about four years and haven't received a single copyright strike since I started. I downloaded terrabytes worth of stuff over those years, too. I can't speak to the effectiveness of free lists or other services, but I can personally vouch for PeerBlock. A VPN in addition to that is never a bad idea, though. I'm just lazy and don't have the desire to set one up every time I wanna download something.

 

[Cubuss]

Sue them for spying on you,

 

[Mythical]

As I said, I've used it for about four years and haven't received a single copyright strike since I started. I downloaded terrabytes worth of stuff over those years, too. I can't speak to the effectiveness of free lists or other services, but I can personally vouch for PeerBlock. A VPN in addition to that is never a bad idea, though.

Sometimes it's just a roll of the dice for who gets a notice and who doesn't. The odds of getting caught are always about the same. That doesn't change over time either. Not to say that any one service is golden (I can personally only vouch for the vpn I use like many others).

 

[Lacius]

As I said, I've used it for about four years and haven't received a single copyright strike since I started. I downloaded terrabytes worth of stuff over those years, too. I can't speak to the effectiveness of free lists or other services, but I can personally vouch for PeerBlock. A VPN in addition to that is never a bad idea, though.

I used BitTorrent for more years than that without receiving any copyright notices, and I didn't use blocklists. That doesn't mean that's safe either. Blocklists fundamentally don't work because of how they work.

Some better reading: http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~tpc/Papers/P2PMonitor.pdf

Edit: If you don't want to read, antipiracy groups are looking at the peer lists of a tracker instead of just directly connecting to peers. Blocklists *could* block the latter (about 1/2 to 2/3 of the time according to studies), but not the former.

 

[JoeBloggs777]

LOL. In Portugal, they don't care about it. No wonder America is so strict and mean. Yikes!

Portugal tops the MPA’s anti-piracy league and I thought the UK was bad

https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/portugal-is-europes-least-pirate-friendly-nation-mpa-3657372

 

[Viri]

I used BitTorrent for more years than that without receiving any copyright notices, and I didn't use blocklists. That doesn't mean that's safe either. Blocklists fundamentally don't work because of how they work.

Pretty much this. But the very first time I get one, I'm getting a VPN asap.

I did for a time, freeload off of Nord VPNs free trial exploits, and kept signing up with a different email. But, this was mainly to keep changing my IP to bypass download restrictions. Also, Nord VPN is pretty good, I honestly wouldn't mind paying for them, if I actually needed them.

 

[Xzi]

Sometimes it's just a roll of the dice for who gets a notice and who doesn't. The odds of getting caught are always about the same. That doesn't change over time either. Not to say that any one service is golden (I can personally only vouch for the vpn I use like many others).

For sure. I was receiving copyright strikes just prior to when I started using PeerBlock, so it immediately seemed to have an effect from my perspective.

I used BitTorrent for more years than that without receiving any copyright notices, and I didn't use blocklists. That doesn't mean that's safe either. Blocklists fundamentally don't work because of how they work.

Some better reading: http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~tpc/Papers/P2PMonitor.pdf

Edit: If you don't want to read, antipiracy groups are looking at the peer lists of a tracker instead of just directly connecting to peers. Blocklists *could* block the latter (about 1/2 to 2/3 of the time according to studies), but not the former.

I'd be more worried if I was using lists that were years-old, but the benefit of a PeerBlock subscription is that they're constantly updating the lists. As in, more than once a day sometimes. Multiple lists update every time you open it. I can't say it's a perfect solution by any means, I can only speak to my experience with it, but it's worked flawlessly for me.

 

[smileyhead]

Well, that's creepy.
In Hungary, we have nothing like this. IMO carriers shouldn't tell you what you want to download (although it's their network, so they have the right to monitor and regulate it, but still).

 

[EmulateLife]

Use PeerBlock and/or a VPN when downloading, otherwise you'll receive more of those e-mails until they cut off your service.

If it's his own ISP catching him nothing will work. They will know even if you're using a VPN. Some companies set up departments just to catch pirates.

I used to use Peer Block but I've always heard it doesn't work anyway.

 

[Lacius]

I'd be more worried if I was using lists that were years-old, but the benefit of a PeerBlock subscription is that they're constantly updating the lists. As in, more than once a day sometimes. Multiple lists update every time you open it. I can't say it's a perfect solution by any means, I can only speak to my experience with it, but it's worked flawlessly for me.

If anti-piracy groups are looking at peer lists on trackers for your IP, then the lists have no effect. If they're doing direct connections to get your IP, then the lists probably have a 50% chance of blocking the connection. Using a blocklist is about as unsafe is not using one. Certain torrents are going to be generally safe because nobody is watching, but others aren't so safe.

Also, I didn't know anybody without a VPN used torrents anymore. I didn't know people with a VPN used torrents anymore.