Small talk & Chit chat

[Dicehunter]

So I found out while I was at work yesterday my cousin who was staying with me for a few days visiting, Now gone home, Decided to obtain the 1st and 2nd episodes of Game of Thrones on my PC, Apparently he stopped the download as soon as it was finished but that still leaves me worrying with an ever growing amount of anxiety if I'm going to get a legal document in the post demanding thousands off me and/or possible jail time because of someone else's stupid action.

This is why I want to live in the middle of nowhere away from people.

 

[Greenback]

So I found out while I was at work yesterday my cousin who was staying with me for a few days visiting, Now gone home, Decided to obtain the 1st and 2nd episodes of Game of Thrones on my PC, Apparently he stopped the download as soon as it was finished but that still leaves me worrying with an ever growing amount of anxiety if I'm going to get a legal document in the post demanding thousands off me and/or possible jail time because of someone else's stupid action.

This is why I want to live in the middle of nowhere away from people.

If I recall you live in the UK so the worst you'll get is a letter saying you've been a naughty boy and to not do it again, but most lightly you're worrying about nothing because nothing will happen, the site your cousin used will go on a list that the government will try to block ineffectually

 

[Dicehunter]

If I recall you live in the UK so the worst you'll get is a letter saying you've been a naughty boy and to not do it again, but most lightly you're worrying about nothing because nothing will happen, the site your cousin used will go on a list that the government will try to block ineffectually

AFAIK he used the bay which is heavily monitored in the UK, I wouldn't be too worried if he would've used a VPN, I wouldn't be too happy but at least I would've had less to worry about.

 

[Greenback]

AFAIK he used the bay which is heavily monitored in the UK, I wouldn't be too worried if he would've used a VPN, I wouldn't be too happy but at least I would've had less to worry about.

Honestly I wouldn't worry about it, if I recall laws were brought in that stopped companies sending huge bills and the best they can do is send you a cease and desist letter which for only 2 episodes of GOT is hardly worth the effort, you'll give yourself an ulcer worrying over nothing you are small fry compared to others I know that get games films and tv shows that have never used a vpn and have been doing it for years and nothing as happened

 

[Dicehunter]

Honestly I wouldn't worry about it, if I recall laws were brought in that stopped companies sending huge bills and the best they can do is send you a cease and desist letter which for only 2 episodes of GOT is hardly worth the effort, you'll give yourself an ulcer worrying over nothing you are small fry compared to others I know that get games films and tv shows that have never used a vpn and have been doing it for years and nothing as happened

Really appreciate the response, Helps put my mind at ease.

 

[looz]

The burden of proof is solely on them, even in the unlikely scenario of an angry letter just don't do anything. Even if your IP downloaded bits from their honeypot, you might have had unsecured wifi or just a vulnerable router, allowing someone else to download using that IP. In Finland there were some examples of people paying after receiving the troll letters, so they just sent another one demanding more cash from gullible people. One case was escalated to court and the letter senders lost.

 

[Dicehunter]

The burden of proof is solely on them, even in the unlikely scenario of an angry letter just don't do anything. Even if your IP downloaded bits from their honeypot, you might have had unsecured wifi or just a vulnerable router, allowing someone else to download using that IP. In Finland there were some examples of people paying after receiving the troll letters, so they just sent another one demanding more cash from gullible people. One case was escalated to court and the letter senders lost.

The problem is I worry, I told this to my dad and my aunt and they said "You're worrying why ?" It seems as I get older I worry more and more, Last night I didn't sleep due to the worry and my heart was beating nearly out of my chest.

 

[grec]

Yeah British ISPs are only allowed to send educational emails(Once every 20 days max) now, but I know a lot of students who torrent all the time without VPNs on Virgin Media or Sky and don't even get the educational emails.

In the UK it's no longer acceptable to use IPv4 addresses to claim a person or household did something, they're not unique and so it's not legally admissible.

 

[Dicehunter]

Yeah British ISPs are only allowed to send educational emails(Once every 20 days max) now, but I know a lot of students who torrent all the time without VPNs on Virgin Media or Sky and don't even get the educational emails.

Aren't there copyright trolls that scour these torrent places and send out threats to downloaders for large sums of money though or is that a long gone practise ?

 

[Greenback]

Aren't there copyright trolls that scour these torrent places and send out threats to downloaders for large sums of money though or is that a long gone practise ?

there's always going to be people trying to scam the vulnerable, just don't be the vulnerable

 

[grec]

Yeah the government moved to block that kind of stuff in 2016/17, only the person who is infringed on can make a copyright claim in the UK anyways and there's never been a conviction for piracy or copyright infringement here either, the whole system has never had a practical form of enforcement here and has always relied on threats and big talk basically.

Basically if someone really wants you for serious copyright infringements the first thing that will happen is an extradition request to the US.

 

[Dicehunter]

Yeah the government moved to block that kind of stuff in 2016/17, only the person who is infringed on can make a copyright claim in the UK anyways and there's never been a conviction for piracy or copyright infringement here either, the whole system has never had a practical form of enforcement here and has always relied on threats and big talk basically.

Basically if someone really wants you for serious copyright infringements the first thing that will happen is an extradition request to the US.

I have an inkling that over 2 measly GoT episodes I'm pretty safe from that happening

Although I did read about possible 10 year prison sentences but I'm guessing that's for people doing the actual major dispersal of material.

 

[looz]

Aren't there copyright trolls that scour these torrent places and send out threats to downloaders for large sums of money though or is that a long gone practise ?

They need someone to tie the IP address to its owner, and only ISPs have that information. Seems like legislation (and ISPs) have sided with you instead of letter senders in the UK.

 

[Dicehunter]

They need someone to tie the IP address to its owner, and only ISPs have that information. Seems like legislation (and ISPs) have sided with you instead of letter senders in the UK.

Puts my mind at ease at least, Going to power off my rig when I have people staying over and just say "no it's faulty" and remove the PSU cable XD

 

[AlienALX]

The only time I've ever seen a letter was over Nintendo DS roms about 8 years back. That's in the UK. I heard of people in the USA getting slapped with ridiculous fines but that was 12 years ago or more now.

 

[Warchild]

AFAIK he used the bay which is heavily monitored in the UK, I wouldn't be too worried if he would've used a VPN, I wouldn't be too happy but at least I would've had less to worry about.

Its nothing. The biggest targets are those running servers and home databases that run through apps via apple TV etc. People who are seeding constantly or providing their own inhouse streaming services of illegal content.

It would actually cost the government too much money and hassle to target someone like you.

 

[looz]

On another topic altogether, RMA'd my mouse for double clicking. Somewhat lucky to have that problem appear now, 2 months before warranty runs out.


But my replacement mice for the time being are horrific, a partially dead deathadder with broken scroll wheel and a bog standard microsoft wireless mouse, which I found CS impossible to play with. Gave all my half-decent mice away since I felt bad for my friends with garbo mice.

 

[Dicehunter]

The only time I've ever seen a letter was over Nintendo DS roms about 8 years back. That's in the UK. I heard of people in the USA getting slapped with ridiculous fines but that was 12 years ago or more now.

Friend I worked with in 2007 got a fine for £1000 sent to him from a London based solicitors on the behalf of Polish developers that made the absolutely awful game Two Worlds, Why he downloaded it from some random torrent site I'll never know but apparently his lawyer said the case was water tight and he had to pay it or face even bigger legal troubles.

Its nothing. The biggest targets are those running servers and home databases that run through apps via apple TV etc. People who are seeding constantly or providing their own inhouse streaming services of illegal content.

It would actually cost the government too much money and hassle to target someone like you.

Well I'm too paranoid to pirate, I worry about being late to work nevermind worrying about jail time or large fines ^_^

 

[looz]

Its nothing. The biggest targets are those running servers and home databases that run through apps via apple TV etc. People who are seeding constantly or providing their own inhouse streaming services of illegal content.

It would actually cost the government too much money and hassle to target someone like you.

Probably even inhouse is fine, but those sharing to their mates cross the line.


But there's a degree of incompetence required to get caught for that.

 

[grec]

They need someone to tie the IP address to its owner, and only ISPs have that information. Seems like legislation (and ISPs) have sided with you instead of letter senders in the UK.

Even ISPs can't even do that on a technological level anymore without IPv6(For a while really, the idea of using an IP address to track someone or work out someones location is a super dated concept in terms of reliable use), IPv4 addresses nowadays are dependant on Network address translation (NAT) so the same address can and often is reused across multiple people & households, obviously they're also dynamically allocated unless you force a static address so can change all the time randomly anyway.

This is the key reason why ISPs can't send out these letters anymore, the government pointed out their system for determining who carried out the infringement is fundamentally flawed on a technical level(Built on the now-misconception that IP addresses are unique).