Who are these people?

signs

The ma' pulled me aside today and asked about downloading music etc from the internet. I replyed why do you ask and she said that two guys arrived at the door on wednesday evening and started to ask questions regarding broadband/internet. They said they were from a company begining with the letter "I", and couldn't remember the name.

She said that they asked about the antenna on the roof (IBB antenna), and that they had to think about what it was, one saying that was it for tv and the other one stepping in and saying it was probably for broadband access.

They asked about downloading from the net and she said that she thought I used it for work, etc. They also asked if I used the phone line for internet access, which I found weird.

Does anyone, or has anyone come across anyone like this, as I work late most evenings, and am weiry of someone calling again about this.

OMcGovern

Sounds like someone local who just wanted information about how you connect to the net and if you'd recommend it to be honest.

If it were to do with internet piracy, then the laywers would probably have to get a court order to force your internet provider to release your name and address which is associated with your IP address.
Anyway, the music/film industry is focusing on those who upload music and films, not downloaders. The bittorrent seeders.
A guy in Hong Hong got sentanced to 3 months for uploading films recently.

Cabaal

OMcGovern wrote:

Anyway, the music/film industry is focusing on those who upload music and films, not downloaders. The bittorrent seeders.
A guy in Hong Hong got sentanced to 3 months for uploading films recently.

Of course if your using Bittorrent EVERYBODY is a uploader technicaly speaking

christophicus

Im not sure how bittorrent work but if its the same as p2p couldnt you just keep downloading files and onece they are downloaded remove them from your shared folder and put them somewhere else?this way you will not be uploading files which is illegal,while downloading them which is not.

Alvis

It's truly a pain in the arse to download stuff on BitTorrent without uploading anything.

DingChavez

christophicus wrote:

while downloading them which is not.

eh....yes it is....

Alvis wrote:

It's truly a pain in the arse to download stuff on BitTorrent without uploading anything.

Damn right. It's bad enough with this crappy 128 upload that Eircom can't move away from.

Skud

you can throttle it to 1kb/s or whatever but its still uploading...

ricey

Ya but that would just be leeching, now thats
just not right.

philologos

christophicus wrote:

Im not sure how bittorrent work but if its the same as p2p couldnt you just keep downloading files and onece they are downloaded remove them from your shared folder and put them somewhere else?this way you will not be uploading files which is illegal,while downloading them which is not.

its totally different bittorrent depends on sharing pieces with other people and generally works faster than p2p

1huge1

christophicus wrote:

Im not sure how bittorrent work but if its the same as p2p couldnt you just keep downloading files and onece they are downloaded remove them from your shared folder and put them somewhere else?this way you will not be uploading files which is illegal,while downloading them which is not.

or just click on the button that says dont share any files

Drapper

1huge1 wrote:

or just click on the button that says dont share any files

thats sad ! p2p is named p2p becuase YOU SHOULD SHARE !!

bloody leech !

Cuddlesworth

signs wrote:

The ma' pulled me aside today and asked about downloading music etc from the internet. I replyed why do you ask and she said that two guys arrived at the door on wednesday evening and started to ask questions regarding broadband/internet. They said they were from a company begining with the letter "I", and couldn't remember the name.

She said that they asked about the antenna on the roof (IBB antenna), and that they had to think about what it was, one saying that was it for tv and the other one stepping in and saying it was probably for broadband access.

They asked about downloading from the net and she said that she thought I used it for work, etc. They also asked if I used the phone line for internet access, which I found weird.

Does anyone, or has anyone come across anyone like this, as I work late most evenings, and am weiry of someone calling again about this.

Mate sounds like somebody was scouting out your house. Do you have deadbolts on your door and was there any valuble objects in sight of the door? They ask themselves in just inside with bad excuses to see how hard it is to break in

Irishpimpdude

Yeah this is what it sounds like... just make sure you have something done about this... like install an alarm or something

signs

Irishpimpdude wrote:

Yeah this is what it sounds like... just make sure you have something done about this... like install an alarm or something

I already have a monitored alarm system and a digital cctv system installed, so should be okay there. But I don't know of any other companies/agencies begining with the letter 'I'.

Adey2002

signs wrote:

I already have a monitored alarm system and a digital cctv system installed,

They'd probably nick that too. The problem is having a wireless broadband antenna on your roof is like sticking a sign in the front garden saying "expensive computer inside." If it happened during the day, they were probably knocking on the door to see if some one answered before they went round the back and took out a window. When your mum actually answered the door they had to think of a quick reason why they were knocking and came up with that crap.

kaizersoze

signs wrote:

But I don't know of any other companies/agencies begining with the letter 'I'.

IRMA:D
My advice would be to report them to the Gardai. They might have received reports from others in your locality.

Nick_oliveri

kaizersoze wrote:

IRMA:D
My advice would be to report them to the Gardai. They might have received reports from others in your locality.

Them arriving at your house, gandering at your aerial or having any contact with you without a court order is a farce.

Without a proper court order and information (protected under the Data Protection Act) from your ISP, those fockers must be joking.

Back up yo Mp3'z onto a DVD or extra HD and hide it good if your worried. And if your really paranoid you might consider not uploading at all and using a proxy server.

They are watching us.

Cabaal

No need to be paranoid about anything, however in other unrelated news the RIAA has starting promoting new posters in schools & colleges in the USA

mad m

Is Peerguardian any use in these cases to block IP checks?

signs

Adey2002 wrote:

They'd probably nick that too. The problem is having a wireless broadband antenna on your roof is like sticking a sign in the front garden saying "expensive computer inside." If it happened during the day, they were probably knocking on the door to see if some one answered before they went round the back and took out a window. When your mum actually answered the door they had to think of a quick reason why they were knocking and came up with that crap.

They actually had id's around there neck, suits etc, and as we get alot of idiots from Eircon, Eatsh!t BT etc calling all the time to offer more crap, she propably didn't even look at the id's properly. I also asked my neighbour if he got a call on Wednesday evening, and he said no, which is even more strange as just as my mum, was closing the door they were going up to his door.

gline

in future always ask to see ID. TBH i doubt very much wether they were from any piracy agency..nearly non existant in ireland, and i have never heard of them doing spot checks. If they were theyd have no premission to go into your house. if you are worried, keep a magnet safe to wipe ur hdds if they come a knocking, HAHAHAH. ah though serious i wouldnt worry about it being a piracy agency in ireland.. I'd say it was bas***ds wanting to rob your place, probably scoping it out, make sure it is pretty secure and a baseball bat handy too

Cuddlesworth

Wow for once everybody agrees with me!

watty

Maybe they were from "Imagine" and wanted to sell their service or doing Market Research.

watty

INFACT is the antipiracy agency.

You can get reward of up to 5000 Euro for identifying larger SW pirate users.

There is raids also for cable TV, film and music piracy. It is theft under Irish Law.