I got a Copyright Infringement Notice from UTV Internet

BrokenSpiral · 27-05-2009 02:14PM #1

I got an email this morning from my ISP, which is UTV internet, telling me that I had been identified as distributing material which infringes copyright law!

Anyone else get this?

********************************************

Recently your broadband connection was reported and identified as
distributing material which is infringing Copyright Law. As a customer of
UTV Internet you have agreed to the terms and conditions of the service
during registration as laid out at the following web address:

http://www.utvinternet.com/Residential/ClicksilverBroadband/legal_informatio
n.asp

We are obliged to inform you of this and to ask that you remove any material
which contravenes copyright law.
We also ask that such activity is stopped and does not continue in future.

In the event that such activity does not stop, your broadband connection may
be suspended by UTV and/or you could face further action by the owner of the
copyrighted material.

********************************************

vibe666 · 27-05-2009 02:36PM

personally, I'd plead innocence and ask them to prove it and see where it ends up.

don't admit anything!!!

WillieCocker · 27-05-2009 02:37PM

Are you using torrents?

Dublin_Gunner · 27-05-2009 02:59PM

Someones been down/uploading DVD's / music / games etc

Stung.

Zascar · 27-05-2009 03:01PM

Shock Horror! Someone on the internet is downloading copyrighted material! I have never heard of this happening before. Someone call the Feds! I wonder if there is anyone else on the Internet doing this?

meditraitor · 27-05-2009 03:03PM

Ask them to prove it was YOU doing the downloading. It could have been your ma;) She didnt sign any contract

Dublin_Gunner · 27-05-2009 03:04PM

It wasn't me your Honour. I swear....................

I think its absolutely disgraceful that ISP's are now being turned into internet copyright police. Its none of their business.

Are Eircom gonna send out letters if someone can hear your music from the other end of the phone line?

If the record companies want to check up on this, they should be doing it, not the ISP's.

WillieCocker · 27-05-2009 03:05PM

meditraitor wrote: »

Ask them to prove it was YOU doing the downloading. It could have been your ma;) She didnt sign any contract

It's probably his ma he's worried about.
Bet teh internets is in her name.:pac:

Cabaal · 27-05-2009 03:21PM

I'm on UTV as well, I got nothing
But then I don't use any public P2P sites or download copyright material for that matter

chopperbyrne · 27-05-2009 03:36PM

There is nothing illegal about downloading copyrighted material, only uploading it or providing a download for it yourself.

BrokenSpiral · 27-05-2009 03:40PM

I'm using eMule.

I've just been through my downloads and I have no movies, mp3's or games downloading, just TV series!!!!

My guess is that they've seen my 50 gig's of traffic in the last month and have just sent it out to everyone with high usage trying to scare us!

I can't imagine that the TV company in the states are worried about my downloading of Lost and Prison Break!!!!!!!!

How could the ISP, or anyone else for that matter, actually know what specific files I was downloading?!

the_syco · 27-05-2009 03:41PM

chopperbyrne wrote: »

There is nothing illegal about downloading copyrighted material, only uploading it or providing a download for it yourself.

Erm... you don't seem to understand the word "copyright"... :rolleyes:

CiaranC · 27-05-2009 03:42PM

Cabaal wrote: »

I'm on UTV as well, I got nothing
But then I don't use any public P2P sites or download copyright material for that matter

Bully for you old chap

poindexter · 27-05-2009 03:42PM

when you download try make sure you're not seeding. it's the uploading you'll get in the **** for

watty · 27-05-2009 03:43PM

A common misapprehension.

If the right's holder didn't make it available to you, under Irish law you can be infringing copyright. (Civil offence)

Also if you defeat any kind of service access protection to access Copyright Material one is commiting a Criminal offence, "Theft of service". Lower fine

Also aiding/enabling "theft of service" or "copyright infringement" or blocking investigations of the same are also offences.

Obviously downloading copyright material you paid for or the rights holder makes available to you is OK.

It's simply more serious to make it available.

BrokenSpiral · 27-05-2009 03:50PM

My point was that initial focus of action against the P2P networks and their users was from the music labels, then the studios started chasing pople for pirate DVD's etc

I can't understand why they'd be interested in my downloads so I think it must be just a scare tactic!

Has anyone else got this email or something similar from their ISP's??

Think I might just move to rapidshare instead as it's one way, no uploading!!!

BrokenSpiral · 27-05-2009 03:56PM

And yes downloading of TV shows without expressed written copyright is illegal and I regularly beat myself with a club to punish myself for this awful crime! :-)

And yes I do believe that my ISP may cut me off which is why I've turned off my downloads. :-(

Zascar · 27-05-2009 03:59PM

I'd say they just send out those mails just to scare people. They look at the top downloaders - and chances are they are not only downloading Linux distro's.

Downloading is totally illegal but you are far far more likely to get screwed if you are sharing.

Johnboy1951 · 27-05-2009 04:13PM

I suggest a reply stating that you were unaware of any copyright infringements and respectfully request sufficient information from them so that you can ensure that any infringements do not occur in the future.
You can assure them that such information will enable you to block such actions in the future, but without the information you have no idea what you should do to ensure compliance.

That may elicit some information from them which will enable you to know what exactly it was that caused their letter.

Give no info and admit nothing, just request info to allow you to become compliant.

That puts the onus on them to help you to become compliant.

The response should be interesting ...... No IANAL!

watty · 27-05-2009 07:56PM

Zascar wrote: »

I'd say they just send out those mails just to scare people. They look at the top downloaders - and chances are they are not only downloading Linux distro's.

Downloading is totally illegal but you are far far more likely to get screwed if you are sharing.

Downloading may be illegal or legal depending on the status of the content.

I'm sure I download about 8G of files a month, usually in a couple of days. All legal.

hightower1 · 27-05-2009 08:30PM

What your doing is illegal, plain and simple. No matter who actually did the downloading it was through your connection and its your responsibility to make sure that no one does that.

The contract you signed does say your not allowed do this... you signed it and breached the contract by doing so. Common sense would indicate that they will monitor all high use customers and then look closer at those logs.
P2P users would put a lot more strain on their network so its in their best interest to conduct their investigation like this.

Requesting the information on the download in question would only be a case of accessing your packet request log, filter it by size/destination ip address etc., printing it off and mailing it out.

As more and more customers turn to torrents and push network strain up ISP will start setting up specialized departments like this in greater size. As of right now not a lot of ISP's have very well staffed departments to cover copyright fraud and in fact are mostly done by tech departments as side duties. If you look at it from an ISP's point of view and a particular area is causing trouble with people seeing slow speeds, dropping connections etc. the options are to invest and increase the network there or use the contracts and tools already in place to reduce the load instead of investing to increase capacity.

Nothing is a greater driver of policy than cost saving, so letters , actions and departments like this are going to become more and more common place. Its perfectly legal to monitor the data stream given valid reasons and anyone signing to have a broadband connection agreed to this by putting down their signature.

27-05-2009 10:05PM

BrokenSpiral wrote: »

I'm using eMule.

I've just been through my downloads and I have no movies, mp3's or games downloading, just TV series!!!!

My guess is that they've seen my 50 gig's of traffic in the last month and have just sent it out to everyone with high usage trying to scare us!

I can't imagine that the TV company in the states are worried about my downloading of Lost and Prison Break!!!!!!!!

How could the ISP, or anyone else for that matter, actually know what specific files I was downloading?!

Emule!

You were asking for it, probably the most unsafe p2p protocol there is. you ip can be seen by almost anybody connecting to you.

1st of all get peerguardian which blocks out knows government, fake p2p and anti copyrights ips.

If your going to use anything use torrents or newsgroups with SSL encryption to make your traffic nearly anonymous.

vibe666 · 27-05-2009 10:15PM

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Give no info and admit nothing, just request info to allow you to become compliant.

ditto.

if they cannot provide proof that you were doing anything illegal then you have nothing to answer for.

you don't see the courts locking potential criminals up because they look a bit shifty. they have to prove a crime was committed.

all the letter writing and finger waving doesn't change the fact that unless they can show you proof that you infringed copyright (say for instance tracking your IP address to posts here for example where you have admitted already it:rolleyes:) you have no crime to answer for. the burden of proof is on them to show that you (or someone using your internet connection, which you still hold some responsibility for) commited a crime.

GerardKeating · 27-05-2009 11:10PM

BrokenSpiral wrote: »

I've just been through my downloads and I have no movies, mp3's or games downloading, just TV series!!!!

TV Series are copyrighted, belive it or not...

seanybiker · 27-05-2009 11:14PM

poindexter wrote: »

when you download try make sure you're not seeding. it's the uploading you'll get in the **** for

Ya big dirty leecher ya lol. I always seed for a little bit. Its my way of saying thanks for scabbing the movie.

JohnC. · 27-05-2009 11:21PM

What you are downloading isn't really relevant. They are after people sharing, ie. uploading, be it via torrent, emule or whatever p2p network people choose to use. The nature of p2p means that you will be uploading as well as downloading, unless you specifically stop it sharing, which can cause other issues regarding usability.

Keith186 · 27-05-2009 11:25PM

watty wrote: »

Downloading may be illegal or legal depending on the status of the content.

I'm sure I download about 8G of files a month, usually in a couple of days. All legal.

Look at Mister High & Mighty. I'm sure you pissed on a toilet seat in your time, not illegal but a negative on society in general.

So what if he downloaded Lost or Prison Break, he paid his TV licence at least (I hope anyway!).

JohnC. · 27-05-2009 11:31PM

Keith186 wrote: »

So what if he downloaded Lost or Prison Break, he paid his TV licence at least (I hope anyway!).

Can you show us where it says paying the TV licence gives us permission to download whatever we want? Thought not.

BaconZombie · 27-05-2009 11:34PM

Following that logic:

This Image which contains a copyrighted logo is on UTV's homepage so when you visit there homepage you are downloading the copyright image without the consent of the owner.

watty wrote: »

A common misapprehension.

If the right's holder didn't make it available to you, under Irish law you can be infringing copyright. (Civil offence)

Also if you defeat any kind of service access protection to access Copyright Material one is commiting a Criminal offence, "Theft of service". Lower fine

Also aiding/enabling "theft of service" or "copyright infringement" or blocking investigations of the same are also offences.

Obviously downloading copyright material you paid for or the rights holder makes available to you is OK.

It's simply more serious to make it available.

lickarse2 · 27-05-2009 11:38PM

If you're looking for plausible deniability, unsecure your wireless network.

Might have other issues, but no-one can prove it was you.

vibe666 · 27-05-2009 11:41PM

Keith186 wrote: »

Look at Mister High & Mighty. I'm sure you pissed on a toilet seat in your time, not illegal but a negative on society in general.

So what if he downloaded Lost or Prison Break, he paid his TV licence at least (I hope anyway!).

that's not really a very constructive reply to a post with a valid point.

it's something watty happens to know a lot about, he's just pointing out the legal side of it, nobody is accusing anyone of anything.

paying your tv licence does not entitle you to make illegal copes of copywrite material and distribute it, which is what you are effectively doing when you download a torrent. you download and you upload, therefore creating a copy for yourself and distributing parts of what you downloaded to other people to allow them to do the same.

plenty of people do it, but it doesn't make it legal, no matter how you try and justify it. much better to just come to terms with being a lawbreaker like I have.

lickarse2 wrote: »

If you're looking for plausible deniability, unsecure your wireless network.

Might have other issues, but no-one can prove it was you.

that's not going to help you either, you still have a responsibility to keep your network secure. ignorance is not a valid defence.

I got a Copyright Infringement Notice from UTV Internet

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