Caught torrenting game. Cox temporary disabling internet. Advice/help?

KevinLSX

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I was torrentibg a game and then my internet just shut off. I would get a page saying giving me a reference number for Cox and that the game i was downloading was the reason why they shut it off. I deleted the file and called to get my internet back up. This has happened a couple of times and I was wondering how are they finding out what I'm downloading and if there's a way to hide it. The page from Cox said to turn off any peer to peer downloading programs. I assume they meant BitTorrent which was what I was using. Is it safer to download from mega,mediafire,etc? From what I can remember, this has only happened when I use torrents. What are they looking for in downloads so that they can shut it off. I downloaded games in iso format and can get away with it, but with the files in separate rar folders or downloading the all the files themselves, I get shut off.

Any help
Thanks
 

KevinLSX

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They can see what your DLing with Torrents unless you use private trackers. Mega/Mediafire etc are ssl secured. For the most part, they can see you are DLing something, but not what.

Your ISP will be fine with downloading from websites but they can see if your using a torrent to download and they can block that


Thanks. I appreciate the help.
 

KevinLSX

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yeah I learned that (how many strike emails you got?) I have 2 (same company) since then havent used torrents not even for legal downloads like linux



They aren't emails for me. Every webpage would redirect me to a Cox page with their support number with the files name that I need to have removed and then call Cox. Bad thing is this has happened multiple times. I can recall at least 6 times but I'm sure it's been more. On the phone call they said I'm now kinda like on a watch list and if it were to happen again I will get into legal trouble. Possibly get fined
I'm going to avoid torrents for now.
 
Last edited by KevinLSX,

godreborn

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you also have usenet. I've never once gotten a letter using usenet. however, they're falling like torrent sites due to anti-piracy groups (mostly RIAA). like anyone would be downloading today's music. ;)
 
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That's weird. Never known the ISP as the ones actively monitoring for "illegal" activity. Usually it's one of those companies that copyright holders hire to find IP addresses off of torrent swarms. Usually ISPs don't care what you do as long as you're paying the bill.
 
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jDSX

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That's weird. Never known the ISP as the ones actively monitoring for "illegal" activity. Usually it's one of those companies that copyright holders hire to find IP addresses off of torrent swarms. Usually ISPs don't care what you do as long as you're paying the bill.
Yeah they would forward it to OP's ISP then his ISP cox would tell him about the letter they got.
 
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godreborn

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while I was in college, they sent a mass email saying that they had received over 10,000 complains of people downloading illegally. they set up a three strikes rule. I was using usenet, and I never got in trouble.
 

Joom

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ISPs can still see content from file lockers like Mega and Mediafire. The best thing to do is to rent a cheap VPS (I recommend Kimsufi), setup a web based torrent client, download all files to a web facing directory, and download everything locally from there. Either that or get it over FTP. I've been doing this for a decade or so and have never gotten a C&D. Or, you can just shell out for a commercial VPN and hope they have your privacy in mind.
 

sarkwalvein

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You could also pay for a private VPN service, that is, if you still want to torrent no matter what.
I myself XDCC or direct download if I need to, mostly just anime, though you could also find games there.
 

wormdood

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They aren't emails for me. Every webpage would redirect me to a Cox page with their support number with the files name that I need to have removed and then call Cox. Bad thing is this has happened multiple times. I can recall at least 6 times but I'm sure it's been more. On the phone call they said I'm now kinda like on a watch list and if it were to happen again I will get into legal trouble. Possibly get fined
I'm going to avoid torrents for now.
i got this message once from Time Warner Cable while using bittorrent . . . i called them they reset my connection i then got a different torrent client (frostwire) that i only use if i need to torrent but i still avoid torrents for the most part. i dont know if frostwire has a built in vpn but i haven't got the peer to peer message after and i have torrented many romsets like this
 

nl255

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Get a no-logging VPN such as Mullvad (I used PIA in the past and while it is still good I think Mullvad is better since it supports obfs stealth and forwarding multiple ports, as far as I know PIA has no stealth so your ISP can tell you are using a VPN) and get a bittorrent client like Vuze that can be set up to only go through the VPN (Vuze has a VPN plugin that automatically detects PIA or Mullvad and handles port forwarding).

Oh, and by the way there is no need to delete anything, just moving it is more than enough. But seriously, spend the $3-6 a month on a VPN with port forwarding and no logging, it's worth it.

Just be sure to set up your bittorrent client so that it only goes through the VPN (check the settings for binding to a specific interface) and don't rely on any killswitch function provided by the VPN software.
 
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jDSX

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Get a reputable VPN that doesn't keep logs or throttles you with killswitch (not 100% safe but still is a must) like airvpn or nordvpn they might cost a bit more but I've been using airvpn since 2015 with no problems.
 
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