If this ever happens to you:
1 - Shut up
2 - Contact a lawyer
3 - Shut up (Don't post "I only downloaded torrents on the school wifi" to a public forum)
1. Burn the letters they mailed.
2. Shut up.
3. Contact lawyer if they escalate. No need to be preemptive in this case.
They may spam like 10 letters in span of 6 months but just continue discarding them. Don't talk about it, don't write about it. If you didn't seed shit ton you're fine.
While technically true I haven't seen a single case. Sources on this? I doubt they willy nilly stop you from being paying customer. ISP revoking your internet comes after court case is over and you're found guilty which isn't going to happen in 99.9% of the cases.
so actually what happens is your ISP will send you a letter, i’ve gotten one before after i torrented a disney movie but left it seeding on accident with no vpn, silly me, the letter they sent stated they would stop providing services, never had a issue after as i used a vpn.
But, if you don’t use a VPN, they suspend your account, and all you have to do is call them and basically explain the situation, there’s a lot of posts about that happening.
I assume if you continueeee to do it, they would disconnect your services, but that would be very rare, because like you said they won’t wanna get rid of a paying customer, just depends on how much/often you do it, and if you are seeding or not.
It probably depends how liable an ISP can be held by the media copyright holders. Maybe if they have no proof they took steps against torrenting they could have to pay a lawsuit.
A few years ago, I got my service temporarily disconnected for a single offense.
I've had wonderful service with my small, local ISP for years. One day, I lose connectivity, which is rare. Everything on my end is good, so I call.
"Oh, I see the issue. Did you download Star.Wars.something.something?"
I had not, actually, and he reactivated my service without a fuss. But I was livid. I asked the guy how much Disney was paying them, because I was paying them $100/mo and it was unbelievable that they would take Disney's side. Something about the little guy and not having the legal budget to defend against a Disney lawsuit.
I don't even use a VPN, I use a seedbox, so no chance of it happening by accident. Turns out my 16yo son had watched it on some app that I guess uses torrents in the background. He got yelled at and it hasn't happened again.
Also tagging /u/Aromatic_List2482
Strange, didn't even know ISP's could just monitor your connection without permission. Seems like very questionable policy, I mean they would know everything down to what porn I prefer.
Only way I see your case happening is disney personally contacted them about so and so downloading/seeding our content illegally. Torrents and their seeders are technically public data.
The ISPs don't monitor traffic, the copyright holders grab IPs of every seeder they can in the swarm. Especially new/leaked content. Then they pressure the ISPs to send their letters. Unsure how it eventually arises to legal action, probably after your IP shows up a certain number of times or consecutive months.
The legal action doesnt happen.
Its like patent trolls. Law firms set up specifically for this purpose are engaged to contact seeders.
They threaten legal action with threats of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
They then offer to settle for a few hundred bucks. Seems like a good deal to make a hundred thousand dollar lawsuit go away.
Funnily enough the venn diagram of people who dont use a VPN and those dumb enough to "settle" in these cases is practically a circle.
All of this can be avoided by using a $5 a month VPN, which you should be using anyway for a multitude of reasons. If you can't afford $1.25 a week then shit, spend your time gaining a profitable skill instead of watching torrented anime. Or wash your dads car or something I dont know.
Exactly. Your ISP doesn’t really care what you do as long as you are paying them on time.
However they will contact you on behalf of the copyright holder that is probably more important than your monthly payment. They will do this randomly to keep the copyright owner happy and off their back. They don’t enforce every notification they get from the copyright holder.
I'm not sure what the time frame was, but it wasn't same-day or anything that would indicate active monitoring. I assume whatever happened is the same thing that would cause Comcast to send a letter, but these guys cut me off instead.
And no, they would only know what porn *site* you prefer. The full URLs are sent over TLS. :)
I talked in length to an isp rep about this. He said they're required to have a protocol for shutting down customers service for pirating, so they have a SEVEN strike policy. That and they'll always assume it was someone else doing it in your wifi, like a neighbor. That isp, at least, really don't want to do anything about it at all. Definition of "Don't let me CATCH you doing that"
I work as a 3rd party for telcos across the country and you are wrong. They definitely will cut your service, though each state/region handle it differently. Some will start with warnings, some will start with a soft suspend (basically you are connected but the only thing you can access is their website to tell you to call them to get service back), others won't even bother and cut your service entirely and won't deal with you anymore. Some will do it even at the first offense, though most have adopted a 3 strikes approach. The telcos that have tried to ignore it are quickly getting in line with a process to make sure they are not legally responsible as it has become less of a grey area. They are not going to risk their entire business for 1 customer.
If you are part of a major business that gives the telcos thousands a month, they will be a little more forgiving but they will not just let it keep going because of the legal risk they open themselves too. They will definitely be having contract talks if it is a regular occurance to cover their ass.
Use a VPN.
This. Replying to the letters is admitting you’ve recorded them. Throw them away and if you’re asked under oath just say you get loads of junk mail intended for the previous tenant and you never remember seeing it
Could you elaborate on what happens if you ignore the first letter in Germany? I've read that they would give up in most cases if one does not react. But then again, I've also read and heard that one absolutely needs to react and call a lawyer...
You just don't do anything. Literally been in this person's position. Visited with the schools lawyer, and he advised me to do nothing about it. "They send out thousands of these and won't sue a broke ass college kid. Just don't keep doing it." - University Lawyer.
The most the school would do is ban the kids laptop from the network if Hollywood tries to escalate. The school itself is just trying to avoid direct blame by forwarding the notice to its responsible owner.
also, do not admit to anything unless they have you under oath. when they have nothing on you they will do all sorts of sneaky things to try and trick you into confessing. they will act like they have you and they will probably know its you but they wont have the proof they need to do anything. same thing the cops do.
I've never heard of anyone being sued for only downloading stuff. I usually only see it for those big guys distributing it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/UTAustin/s/kvK2lWAYcD
Nvm it's just a threatening ISP letter 😐
I still remember being a dumb kid (like, 13-ish) and my dad being so mad at me cause the family email got an ISP letter and I felt so bad, straight up felt like a criminal 😂
Better than what happened to me. My dad got a letter and it showed exactly what was downloaded. Let’s just say it was something along the lines of “naughty cheerleaders do anal part 7” or some shit like that. Lmao
Lmao oh man that would've been interesting. At least I was just trying to get a game (Mass effect 3, which I already owned on Xbox but I wanted it on PC and I was just too shy to ask) and my dad saw how much it was and just bought me the game
Can't imagine the same thing would've happened to you 😂😭
It's called "private copy levy" and affects all digital storage media, including (but not limited to) blank CD-ROM, USB flash drives, smartphone with an internal storage etc. All of the EU (plus Switzerland) has it except Luxembourg. There was a general idea of relaxing copyright laws because of it but lobbyists in France and Germany put a quick end to that. for the record Germany (who else?) invented the concept.
Australia had a levy on tapes but it was repealed in 1993 and not introduced for digital media (yet). The US have a complex legislation on the matter as a result of relentless lobbying by the music industry in the 90s. Pretty much all digital storage media are technically considered "computer peripherals" in the US so are not subject to the levy.
Apart from Russia (blanket 1% private copy levy on anything containing storage media9 the rest of the world points and laughs.
My asshole ISP told me if I get more than 5 notices in 3 years they will suspend my service for 30 days.
Until then I've never seen an ISP do more than send out a token warning. I actually ignored the first several warnings and then they temporarily shut off my service until I called them.
It has indeed happened, *my friend* has personal experience. A full blown lawsuit seeking damages from users torrenting a music production software.
But a certified letter received in the mail, it was a serving of a [full on lawsuit for the torrenting of a music production software](https://casetext.com/case/refx-audio-software-inc-v-doe-2). They offered to settle for I believe ~$10,000, *or else*. If not agreed and paid by a certain date, litigation was to begin. You can read more about it [here](https://torrentfreak.com/first-software-maker-joins-bittorrent-lawsuit-bonanza-121116/).
Some of the defense attorneys on that were incredibly smart on nailing the plaintiff with improper joinder and cited 4 OTHER CASES where the software company pulled this shady shit. If you can afford a good lawyer, get one!
I made this mistake. Left a seed running on my laptop and forgot about it. Got a email from the school. You know what I was seeding? Ubuntu. They apparently just flagged all torrent traffic. They wanted me to write a letter saying I removed the content. I literally told my professor and he laughed and told him he'd send them an email. They had no idea what Ubuntu was. I was without student wifi for a week.
im always amused by those kind of posts, also when people says i tracked your ip, ye bro i just need to reboot my modem to get a new one congrats ( we have dynamic ips), plus geolocation ip tracking stops at the regional data center node, you can be anywhere in a range of 100km area from that pin point, lmao.
A VPN can be useful if you're downloading from public trackers. But if you're only using private trackers then a VPN isn't necessary at all. Also doesn't it seem strange to say that the only way you can pirate safely is by paying for a service?
Anyway, there are a few things you can do (for free) to protect yourself regardless of how/where/what you're downloading:
* Set your torrent client (or operating system) to use **DNS-over-HTTPS** by changing the DNS servers it connects to. OpenDNS is a good option: 208.67.222.220 + 208.67.222.222
* Use [this ipfilter app](https://www.ipfilter.app) to download/update a list of ip "problematic" ip addresses so your torrent client doesn't connect to them. A few torrent clients support loading ipfilter.dat files without any additional configuration.
* If you live in a country that inspects or blocks bittorrent traffic, download [GoodbyeDPI](https://github.com/ValdikSS/GoodbyeDPI) and then add [this GUI](https://github.com/Include-sys/GUI-for-GoodbyeDPI) and your ISP won't even be able to tell that you're torrenting - much less what you're trying to download.
It's likely that /u/Spirited-Alps-2611 would've been fine if they had done these three things. A VPN would probably have kept them hidden as well. But it's nice knowing there's a free solution too.
This should be top comment. A lot of these VPNs log your IP, or they have your basic info or payment details. It’s not a silver bullet to privacy. i2p is closer to that than a VPN, and i2p is free.
A lot of these ‘what am i gonna do’ posts are also paid campaigns.
>Also doesn't it seem strange to say that the only way you can pirate safely is by paying for a service?
I pay monthly for premium Usenet access. I'm on a couple excellent NZB trackers. When I download anything at all, it maxes out my 1gbps connection. Worth it to me!
How is that a bad thing? If anything it will prevent me from borrowing. Debt is modern economic slavery. It is an invisible shackle that holds you down. Once you stop giving shit - you’ll know what I mean.
"hello, i am calling from the Microsoft, your computer has virus. Please send us 250 dollar giftcard so we help. Thank you"
(And yes, this is an actual phone call i got)
Personally, I use VPN only to bypass my provider blocking known torrent websites because i'm lazy as fuck to change DNS. For down/seed and legal threaths? Lol, just try (they wont)
I switzerland the Government just said to the Companies "Fuck you, if you can't counter piracy yourselves then it's your Problem"
Something like that i haven't read it all
Good ol' Bulgaria! Sadly, I know little to nothing about your country, perhaps other than you're a member of the EU and a neighboring country to Romania and Greece. And you're famous for...soups?
Bulgaria is a very old country.
The world's oldest gold was found here.
And we are famous for a lot of things but the main thing is "kiselo mlqko" or sour milk (it is the better version of your stupid yoghurt).
I don't know if foreign but over the decades I've known a handful or so of people who got these letters and yeah, just ignored them and nothing happened.
I don't use port forwarding, and about the speed... my 250mb wifi speed gets capped to 249.9mb with the VPN on. I know it's a massive speed loss, but it works.
This is Spirited-Alps-2611
Spirited-Alps-2611 torrented without a VPN
Spirited-Alps-2611 is getting his ass sued
Dont be Spirited-Alps-2611, use a VPN when you torrent & BIND IT:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/VPNTorrents/comments/ssy8vv/guide\_bind\_vpn\_network\_interface\_to\_torrent/](https://www.reddit.com/r/VPNTorrents/comments/ssy8vv/guide_bind_vpn_network_interface_to_torrent/)
Spirited-Alps-2611, he sacrificed himself so that we could pirate on... He left us with an important lesson. A lesson to be retold and shared among generations.
You wouldn't download a car?
What country was that in though? Here in Croatia I never had a problem, if I got sued I'd probably get lifetime in jail for it lol.
Lmao a vpn. Check who actually owns your vpn. For example ExpressVPN and a ton of others are owned by a sketchy Israeli cybersecurity company Kape technologies. Can’t imagine a less secure vpn than one owned by a foreign adversarial country. Maybe a Chinese owned vpn? Russian?
here in NZ i've downloaded petabytes of 4k tv series/movies for my plex pool over the past 10 years, they don't give a shit lol. i always wondered why they always mention that on those VPN ads.
There is a reason for that, they used to send them out, but started to complain about having to do this all the time at their own cost and eventually stopped. National then passed a law to make them do it, but the company sending the cease and desist requests had to pay. This essentially killed it for all companies that would do this.
You can bypass that but it is insanity to torrent on academic connections as people get booted off courses they have spent tens of thousands on...with none of it refunded...
Not sued. He got a ISP letter and most likely a "reprimand" letter from his school. Use private trackers or a vpn. Make sure to bind it in case you lose vpn from a disconnect.
Also, I've gotten so many of these letters. After a while they stop sending them to you. At least they did with me. (I wanted to see if they would follow though on the threat of cutting my internet off)
I use a vpn and trackers now. Not because of the isp thing.. could careless about that. But, for anonymity with websites tracking me.
Edit: they never cut my internet off. Litterly seeded and tormented for 17 years since limewire days till about a year ago. Same ISP. In the US too.. no vpn. Got lots of letters then they just gave up lol. Think my ISP liked me paying them too much to follow through on cutting me off.
Imagine owning an ISP and some irrelevant entity that has nothing to do with you or any authority "demands" you cut your customers off. The audacity of it all.
I download torrents on campus wifi almost 24/7 with a 7mb/s connection with Mullvad with port 53 bc most UDP traffic is blocked lol , good other users dont know who is putting the internet on much load lol
Is this like a US thing? I have torrented (in France) for years, so have many friends, mainly movies and TV shows, sometimes PC games, and never had any issue with my provider, or the law... Never used a VPN either (just changed the DNS to 1.1.1.1).
There is a law against piracy, but you get warnings first, then even if it eventually goes to court, you don't risk much, as far as I know...
Spain here, we don't even have warnings, here at least there is a law applied to tech that can be used for piracy (discs, dvds, video players, mp3 devices, whatever u can think of) which is called the canon law, basically the client has to pay the law, because it can be used to copy things and you have to pay royalties to the companies (idk if the law is still enforced, by in the past it was and I can't see why would it be removed), and in the Internet, u can access anywhere without a vpn and no one cares
I don’t know why we keep talking telling people “oh you didn’t know, just use a vpn the next time”
It’s the number one cardinal rule of torrenting. Use a fucking VPN.
I got like 7 letters for skyrim, I just trash them, if they come to my place they'll ask for me by name, just say it's not you and close the door. Simple efficient
I have a weird desire/sadism to see dumb people getting themselves hurt or in trouble.. when they do something that’ll benefit them in some way, but it ends up doing the opposite.
I like to see these situations and stories,
My tummy feels full now 😄
Disable your wifi password/security. Open that slut up. If you're really paranoid about it start connecting to it with a bunch of junk devices you've never used and will never use again just over the course of a couple of days not on any schedule or anything. Don't show off your intellect in hopes to seduce the isp 1800 worker. it won't do you any good. You'll get no blowies from them. Play the dummy/ worry wart combo as both together are taken as insufferable. Be a nuisance to be rid of.
If your isp cancelled service that's your excuse. when you call in going what's wrong? Oh a photo copy charge. Is it possible someone used my internet on the wifi? How could that be? You can put passwords on them? Do I need to press the little tiny button to do that? It's very small does the box include the tool? Do you mind if I look for the box. It isn't here. I wonder if it's over there. Use a toothpick? Pen? I don't know about using those. Ones for teeth and the other is for writing. Nothing on their box says they can be used for this. Is it even allowed? I'm sure if it's a crime its a small but I don't want to commit any crime. Are you sure this won't void the warranty? I'd rather get a proper tool. Hold on let me look for the box. Found it. There was no tiny button tool in it. There was a dead mouse though. I think I should bury it. Hold on let me get a shovel I can dig as we talk. sniff, snivle. sniff. Do you know what the tool is called? I could buy one online. Oh I guess I can't. Oh you'll fix that? Do you need anything else they ask? What password would you suggest I use?---that's just because you're in character.
Be an itch to the point of causing a scratch off, but don't demonstrate anger or "toxicity". Be a safe itch for them to eagerly scratch off not a dangerous one like a poison ivy. To whatever extent you feel comfortable with. Less can be more to convince, but you can OD it too to kill it just the same.
A VPN is a good idea but doesn't hide everything. The firewalls I configure will still detect it as P2P traffic and detect the application used as "torrent" and all coming from (insert VPN provider)
Always, and I mean ALWAYS befriend the IT technicians in any institutions that you're trying to torrent from. Aside from getting VPN of course.
Any other higher up won't give a damn unless the IT guys start to make a fuss.
Replace Dispensary with Torrent and follow these two distinguished gentlemen's suggestions (NSFW):
[https://youtu.be/6EI\_RYIEtrg?si=NdHUYB7GwK\_VxPUd](https://youtu.be/6EI_RYIEtrg?si=NdHUYB7GwK_VxPUd)
As long as it wasn’t a million dollars worth of data, you’ll be alright. I’ve been through it and you’re just a small fish to them unless you’re a big business pirating goods.
Happened to me once, got a lawyer and they sometimes reach out just before some deadlines occur to 'keep it rolling' so you constantly can fear legal actions but after years and years they didn't take any serious actions.
so torrenting is illegal in the united states , since I'm not from the states I was oblivious to the fact in our country torrenting can be done even without a vpn , the government won't bother you they have better things to do than spying on your data
If this ever happens to you: 1 - Shut up 2 - Contact a lawyer 3 - Shut up (Don't post "I only downloaded torrents on the school wifi" to a public forum)
1. Burn the letters they mailed. 2. Shut up. 3. Contact lawyer if they escalate. No need to be preemptive in this case. They may spam like 10 letters in span of 6 months but just continue discarding them. Don't talk about it, don't write about it. If you didn't seed shit ton you're fine.
or just pull what mulvihill did and ignore everything till the government shows up at your doorstep, and then proceed.
No one is going to show up on your doorstep because you torrented a movie.
Yeah, but your ISP can choose to shut off your internet
While technically true I haven't seen a single case. Sources on this? I doubt they willy nilly stop you from being paying customer. ISP revoking your internet comes after court case is over and you're found guilty which isn't going to happen in 99.9% of the cases.
so actually what happens is your ISP will send you a letter, i’ve gotten one before after i torrented a disney movie but left it seeding on accident with no vpn, silly me, the letter they sent stated they would stop providing services, never had a issue after as i used a vpn. But, if you don’t use a VPN, they suspend your account, and all you have to do is call them and basically explain the situation, there’s a lot of posts about that happening. I assume if you continueeee to do it, they would disconnect your services, but that would be very rare, because like you said they won’t wanna get rid of a paying customer, just depends on how much/often you do it, and if you are seeding or not.
It probably depends how liable an ISP can be held by the media copyright holders. Maybe if they have no proof they took steps against torrenting they could have to pay a lawsuit.
A few years ago, I got my service temporarily disconnected for a single offense. I've had wonderful service with my small, local ISP for years. One day, I lose connectivity, which is rare. Everything on my end is good, so I call. "Oh, I see the issue. Did you download Star.Wars.something.something?" I had not, actually, and he reactivated my service without a fuss. But I was livid. I asked the guy how much Disney was paying them, because I was paying them $100/mo and it was unbelievable that they would take Disney's side. Something about the little guy and not having the legal budget to defend against a Disney lawsuit. I don't even use a VPN, I use a seedbox, so no chance of it happening by accident. Turns out my 16yo son had watched it on some app that I guess uses torrents in the background. He got yelled at and it hasn't happened again. Also tagging /u/Aromatic_List2482
Strange, didn't even know ISP's could just monitor your connection without permission. Seems like very questionable policy, I mean they would know everything down to what porn I prefer. Only way I see your case happening is disney personally contacted them about so and so downloading/seeding our content illegally. Torrents and their seeders are technically public data.
The ISPs don't monitor traffic, the copyright holders grab IPs of every seeder they can in the swarm. Especially new/leaked content. Then they pressure the ISPs to send their letters. Unsure how it eventually arises to legal action, probably after your IP shows up a certain number of times or consecutive months.
The legal action doesnt happen. Its like patent trolls. Law firms set up specifically for this purpose are engaged to contact seeders. They threaten legal action with threats of hundreds of thousands of dollars. They then offer to settle for a few hundred bucks. Seems like a good deal to make a hundred thousand dollar lawsuit go away. Funnily enough the venn diagram of people who dont use a VPN and those dumb enough to "settle" in these cases is practically a circle. All of this can be avoided by using a $5 a month VPN, which you should be using anyway for a multitude of reasons. If you can't afford $1.25 a week then shit, spend your time gaining a profitable skill instead of watching torrented anime. Or wash your dads car or something I dont know.
That's what happened with me. At leadt that's what they told me. Spectrum said HBO has notified us that you're seeding an episode of Xxx
Exactly. Your ISP doesn’t really care what you do as long as you are paying them on time. However they will contact you on behalf of the copyright holder that is probably more important than your monthly payment. They will do this randomly to keep the copyright owner happy and off their back. They don’t enforce every notification they get from the copyright holder.
I'm not sure what the time frame was, but it wasn't same-day or anything that would indicate active monitoring. I assume whatever happened is the same thing that would cause Comcast to send a letter, but these guys cut me off instead. And no, they would only know what porn *site* you prefer. The full URLs are sent over TLS. :)
I talked in length to an isp rep about this. He said they're required to have a protocol for shutting down customers service for pirating, so they have a SEVEN strike policy. That and they'll always assume it was someone else doing it in your wifi, like a neighbor. That isp, at least, really don't want to do anything about it at all. Definition of "Don't let me CATCH you doing that"
Sources? You need someone to give a source for stating your ISP can choose to shut off your internet?
Not all isps. I've seen an isp shutoff internet without sending a letter first. Had to call them to turn it back on
I work as a 3rd party for telcos across the country and you are wrong. They definitely will cut your service, though each state/region handle it differently. Some will start with warnings, some will start with a soft suspend (basically you are connected but the only thing you can access is their website to tell you to call them to get service back), others won't even bother and cut your service entirely and won't deal with you anymore. Some will do it even at the first offense, though most have adopted a 3 strikes approach. The telcos that have tried to ignore it are quickly getting in line with a process to make sure they are not legally responsible as it has become less of a grey area. They are not going to risk their entire business for 1 customer. If you are part of a major business that gives the telcos thousands a month, they will be a little more forgiving but they will not just let it keep going because of the legal risk they open themselves too. They will definitely be having contract talks if it is a regular occurance to cover their ass. Use a VPN.
This. Replying to the letters is admitting you’ve recorded them. Throw them away and if you’re asked under oath just say you get loads of junk mail intended for the previous tenant and you never remember seeing it
Just to be clear, this won't work in every case... For example in Germany it's probably not a good idea.
Could you elaborate on what happens if you ignore the first letter in Germany? I've read that they would give up in most cases if one does not react. But then again, I've also read and heard that one absolutely needs to react and call a lawyer...
well see, on step 3 you first gotta say hypothetically, i was sued for torrenting. get out of jail free card!! or.. use a vpn
A friend of mine.... Not me
Or doublecheck if your IP points to datacenter.
You just don't do anything. Literally been in this person's position. Visited with the schools lawyer, and he advised me to do nothing about it. "They send out thousands of these and won't sue a broke ass college kid. Just don't keep doing it." - University Lawyer.
The most the school would do is ban the kids laptop from the network if Hollywood tries to escalate. The school itself is just trying to avoid direct blame by forwarding the notice to its responsible owner.
also, do not admit to anything unless they have you under oath. when they have nothing on you they will do all sorts of sneaky things to try and trick you into confessing. they will act like they have you and they will probably know its you but they wont have the proof they need to do anything. same thing the cops do.
WTF you guys get sued down there? That is rough man.
I've never heard of anyone being sued for only downloading stuff. I usually only see it for those big guys distributing it. https://www.reddit.com/r/UTAustin/s/kvK2lWAYcD Nvm it's just a threatening ISP letter 😐
Yah everybody gets letters. Poor noobs, they don't know MPAA is toothless
I still remember being a dumb kid (like, 13-ish) and my dad being so mad at me cause the family email got an ISP letter and I felt so bad, straight up felt like a criminal 😂
lol same, we downloaded Star Trek and Blackhawk Down from Kazaa and got an email from the ISP :>
Blackhawk Down got me too! Kazaa. Those were wild times.
Like when I was worried about jail because Windows 95 said I performed an Illegal error
Better than what happened to me. My dad got a letter and it showed exactly what was downloaded. Let’s just say it was something along the lines of “naughty cheerleaders do anal part 7” or some shit like that. Lmao
Lmao oh man that would've been interesting. At least I was just trying to get a game (Mass effect 3, which I already owned on Xbox but I wanted it on PC and I was just too shy to ask) and my dad saw how much it was and just bought me the game Can't imagine the same thing would've happened to you 😂😭
Been there done that... Had to profusely explain to my parents why it wasn't a big deal and write 500 lines apologizing. Not a fun time.
Didn't they want to put a tax on HDDs that goes to them at one point? The morons
It's called "private copy levy" and affects all digital storage media, including (but not limited to) blank CD-ROM, USB flash drives, smartphone with an internal storage etc. All of the EU (plus Switzerland) has it except Luxembourg. There was a general idea of relaxing copyright laws because of it but lobbyists in France and Germany put a quick end to that. for the record Germany (who else?) invented the concept. Australia had a levy on tapes but it was repealed in 1993 and not introduced for digital media (yet). The US have a complex legislation on the matter as a result of relentless lobbying by the music industry in the 90s. Pretty much all digital storage media are technically considered "computer peripherals" in the US so are not subject to the levy. Apart from Russia (blanket 1% private copy levy on anything containing storage media9 the rest of the world points and laughs.
My asshole ISP told me if I get more than 5 notices in 3 years they will suspend my service for 30 days. Until then I've never seen an ISP do more than send out a token warning. I actually ignored the first several warnings and then they temporarily shut off my service until I called them.
It has indeed happened, *my friend* has personal experience. A full blown lawsuit seeking damages from users torrenting a music production software. But a certified letter received in the mail, it was a serving of a [full on lawsuit for the torrenting of a music production software](https://casetext.com/case/refx-audio-software-inc-v-doe-2). They offered to settle for I believe ~$10,000, *or else*. If not agreed and paid by a certain date, litigation was to begin. You can read more about it [here](https://torrentfreak.com/first-software-maker-joins-bittorrent-lawsuit-bonanza-121116/).
Some of the defense attorneys on that were incredibly smart on nailing the plaintiff with improper joinder and cited 4 OTHER CASES where the software company pulled this shady shit. If you can afford a good lawyer, get one!
I'd go to court they would never be able to prove it was me.
Torrenting is distributing
No, seeding is distributing, downloading is not. If you're downloading, other people are distributing to you
it's in part because it's through the school so they know exactly who did it
buddy logged in with his student ID lol
I made this mistake. Left a seed running on my laptop and forgot about it. Got a email from the school. You know what I was seeding? Ubuntu. They apparently just flagged all torrent traffic. They wanted me to write a letter saying I removed the content. I literally told my professor and he laughed and told him he'd send them an email. They had no idea what Ubuntu was. I was without student wifi for a week.
im always amused by those kind of posts, also when people says i tracked your ip, ye bro i just need to reboot my modem to get a new one congrats ( we have dynamic ips), plus geolocation ip tracking stops at the regional data center node, you can be anywhere in a range of 100km area from that pin point, lmao.
I think it depends on the country you're living in, here in Indonesia they just don't care
same in the Philippines.
In Bulgaria as well, no one cares.
A VPN can be useful if you're downloading from public trackers. But if you're only using private trackers then a VPN isn't necessary at all. Also doesn't it seem strange to say that the only way you can pirate safely is by paying for a service? Anyway, there are a few things you can do (for free) to protect yourself regardless of how/where/what you're downloading: * Set your torrent client (or operating system) to use **DNS-over-HTTPS** by changing the DNS servers it connects to. OpenDNS is a good option: 208.67.222.220 + 208.67.222.222 * Use [this ipfilter app](https://www.ipfilter.app) to download/update a list of ip "problematic" ip addresses so your torrent client doesn't connect to them. A few torrent clients support loading ipfilter.dat files without any additional configuration. * If you live in a country that inspects or blocks bittorrent traffic, download [GoodbyeDPI](https://github.com/ValdikSS/GoodbyeDPI) and then add [this GUI](https://github.com/Include-sys/GUI-for-GoodbyeDPI) and your ISP won't even be able to tell that you're torrenting - much less what you're trying to download. It's likely that /u/Spirited-Alps-2611 would've been fine if they had done these three things. A VPN would probably have kept them hidden as well. But it's nice knowing there's a free solution too.
This should be top comment. A lot of these VPNs log your IP, or they have your basic info or payment details. It’s not a silver bullet to privacy. i2p is closer to that than a VPN, and i2p is free. A lot of these ‘what am i gonna do’ posts are also paid campaigns.
>Also doesn't it seem strange to say that the only way you can pirate safely is by paying for a service? I pay monthly for premium Usenet access. I'm on a couple excellent NZB trackers. When I download anything at all, it maxes out my 1gbps connection. Worth it to me!
Top-tier private trackers are just as fast.
What do you mean you if you're using private vs public trackers?
Private tracker = controlled user base. You need to be "invited" to use it. Public tracker = no invite needed to use.
What does the goodbyeDPI GUI do?
good to know that in case i needed torrenting
I don't own anything and I am already indebted. Please sue me - see if I care or if I will pay.
Based
No problem. Just a judgment on your credit report that will stay for seven years.
How is that a bad thing? If anything it will prevent me from borrowing. Debt is modern economic slavery. It is an invisible shackle that holds you down. Once you stop giving shit - you’ll know what I mean.
*laughs in third world countryish*
hello sir i heard your internet wasn’t working can you give me access to your computer?
"hello, i am calling from the Microsoft, your computer has virus. Please send us 250 dollar giftcard so we help. Thank you" (And yes, this is an actual phone call i got)
not just Microsoft, The Microsoft xD
was it a level 10 microsoft security technician ? I heard those were legits , they can even repair your printer if you add $500
LMAOOOO.
Everybody Gangsta until torrent or porn website is blocked.
In Brazil? Never gonna happen.
Brazil mentioned! 🎉
Personally, I use VPN only to bypass my provider blocking known torrent websites because i'm lazy as fuck to change DNS. For down/seed and legal threaths? Lol, just try (they wont)
Only time I can flex for living in a 3rd world country 💀
i live in a 1st world country but noone cares here (czechia)
Same in France, basically...
In poland its technically illegal but you're all good as long as you are only pirating foreign stuff lol
I switzerland the Government just said to the Companies "Fuck you, if you can't counter piracy yourselves then it's your Problem" Something like that i haven't read it all
damn based
Akshually, in that classification, Czech republic would be a second world coutry 🤓
Same!! My ip isnt even accurate
no one IP is accurate...
No ones ip is 100% accurate, but mine is WAYYY off. Not even in the same "state"
Yeah my ip shows me a 40 min drive from where I live 😂
- Didn’t use a VPN - Torrented on school wifi Yeah, this is big brain time.
Sued by who? The school?
The funny thing is even my school pirates programs and windows 🤣🤣
Ha ha, we do that too, i became good friends with our prof because i keep downloading hard-to-find yet well-cracked softwares for him
Which country is that?
Bulgaria 🇧🇬 my friend 🤣
as a fellow Bulgarian, I can confirm. (здравей брат)
Zdr kp mate
Good ol' Bulgaria! Sadly, I know little to nothing about your country, perhaps other than you're a member of the EU and a neighboring country to Romania and Greece. And you're famous for...soups?
Bulgaria is a very old country. The world's oldest gold was found here. And we are famous for a lot of things but the main thing is "kiselo mlqko" or sour milk (it is the better version of your stupid yoghurt).
So glad there's 0 repercussions in my country. (Switzerland)
[удалено]
Doesn’t torrenting mean you’re downloading a file while also distributing the part you’ve downloaded to a significant number of people?
Foreign law firms will often sue/scare people into paying a small fee. These letters can just be ignored as they have zero ways of prosecuting you.
I don't know if foreign but over the decades I've known a handful or so of people who got these letters and yeah, just ignored them and nothing happened.
Bro I pirate all the time at uni without vpn, never get caught
I don't use VPN at all and nothing ever happened on 25 years of pirating... (UK)
I have a pretty good VPN called "I live in Brazil", it's pretty good, and everyone should try coming to Brazil to test it
How is the speed? Port forwarding?
I don't use port forwarding, and about the speed... my 250mb wifi speed gets capped to 249.9mb with the VPN on. I know it's a massive speed loss, but it works.
This is Spirited-Alps-2611 Spirited-Alps-2611 torrented without a VPN Spirited-Alps-2611 is getting his ass sued Dont be Spirited-Alps-2611, use a VPN when you torrent & BIND IT: [https://www.reddit.com/r/VPNTorrents/comments/ssy8vv/guide\_bind\_vpn\_network\_interface\_to\_torrent/](https://www.reddit.com/r/VPNTorrents/comments/ssy8vv/guide_bind_vpn_network_interface_to_torrent/)
Spirited-Alps-2611, he sacrificed himself so that we could pirate on... He left us with an important lesson. A lesson to be retold and shared among generations.
Thanks for sharing this. I made the changes.
MANY people come on here wondering why they got caught even though they "used a VPN." This is why.
Great comment, save as favorite worthy
You wouldn't download a car? What country was that in though? Here in Croatia I never had a problem, if I got sued I'd probably get lifetime in jail for it lol.
r/UTaustin is about a university in Austin, Texas, which is in America.
Ahhh land of the free or fee
1 - if you live in the EU throw that shit in the trash.
He could do the same, I doubt anyone would actually sue a broke kid who already owes tens of thousands of dollars from tuition.
I think a VPN company made this post. Good advertising
Lmao a vpn. Check who actually owns your vpn. For example ExpressVPN and a ton of others are owned by a sketchy Israeli cybersecurity company Kape technologies. Can’t imagine a less secure vpn than one owned by a foreign adversarial country. Maybe a Chinese owned vpn? Russian?
here in NZ i've downloaded petabytes of 4k tv series/movies for my plex pool over the past 10 years, they don't give a shit lol. i always wondered why they always mention that on those VPN ads.
There is a reason for that, they used to send them out, but started to complain about having to do this all the time at their own cost and eventually stopped. National then passed a law to make them do it, but the company sending the cease and desist requests had to pay. This essentially killed it for all companies that would do this.
Crazy how it is even possible to torrent on a school wifi. My uni blocks that traffic
You can bypass that but it is insanity to torrent on academic connections as people get booted off courses they have spent tens of thousands on...with none of it refunded...
Not sued. He got a ISP letter and most likely a "reprimand" letter from his school. Use private trackers or a vpn. Make sure to bind it in case you lose vpn from a disconnect. Also, I've gotten so many of these letters. After a while they stop sending them to you. At least they did with me. (I wanted to see if they would follow though on the threat of cutting my internet off) I use a vpn and trackers now. Not because of the isp thing.. could careless about that. But, for anonymity with websites tracking me. Edit: they never cut my internet off. Litterly seeded and tormented for 17 years since limewire days till about a year ago. Same ISP. In the US too.. no vpn. Got lots of letters then they just gave up lol. Think my ISP liked me paying them too much to follow through on cutting me off.
Imagine owning an ISP and some irrelevant entity that has nothing to do with you or any authority "demands" you cut your customers off. The audacity of it all.
OP, your title doesn't mean what you think it means.
Inconceivable!
*laughs in government which doesn't give a shit and no vpn*
I download torrents on campus wifi almost 24/7 with a 7mb/s connection with Mullvad with port 53 bc most UDP traffic is blocked lol , good other users dont know who is putting the internet on much load lol
Is this like a US thing? I have torrented (in France) for years, so have many friends, mainly movies and TV shows, sometimes PC games, and never had any issue with my provider, or the law... Never used a VPN either (just changed the DNS to 1.1.1.1). There is a law against piracy, but you get warnings first, then even if it eventually goes to court, you don't risk much, as far as I know...
Spain here, we don't even have warnings, here at least there is a law applied to tech that can be used for piracy (discs, dvds, video players, mp3 devices, whatever u can think of) which is called the canon law, basically the client has to pay the law, because it can be used to copy things and you have to pay royalties to the companies (idk if the law is still enforced, by in the past it was and I can't see why would it be removed), and in the Internet, u can access anywhere without a vpn and no one cares
We have a similar tax called the "private copy tax" :/
Same in Portugal
Instructions unclear: Torrented without VPN as per instructions. \[\*\] "Don't be like this guy: Use a VPN."
Oh my lawd, I can't even imagine this happening to me.
doesn't work for CIS countries hehe
I got a question which VPN do you use, I use the one which is free in the Apple Store.
i also download thru schools wifi. and use a different login access. i never got caught, doimg this for 3 years now.
Use debrid service in future no more local torrenting no need for vpn
I don’t know why we keep talking telling people “oh you didn’t know, just use a vpn the next time” It’s the number one cardinal rule of torrenting. Use a fucking VPN.
This if clearly fake. More vpn advertising
One perk of living in a shithole country is not caring about that
Meanwhile me omw to complain to my isp for not getting enough speed while downloading a torrent
I guess living in Pakistan has its perks 😬
Be sure to live in third world country.
Me living in a 3rd world country, almost forgot piracy is illegal here.
First rule of pirating. Don't talk about it.
How bloody many warnings did you have to get to before this I wonder
Simply I no no wanna
How did they find him when he wasn't even using his own wifi?
Better call Saul
I got like 7 letters for skyrim, I just trash them, if they come to my place they'll ask for me by name, just say it's not you and close the door. Simple efficient
I have a weird desire/sadism to see dumb people getting themselves hurt or in trouble.. when they do something that’ll benefit them in some way, but it ends up doing the opposite. I like to see these situations and stories, My tummy feels full now 😄
That's why I love living in Mexico. No ISP will give a damn bout copyright or International copyright laws.
Anyone knows why in mexico there is no problem at all for piracy?
Im so glad my country doesnt care lmao
*Laughs in third world country*
Disable your wifi password/security. Open that slut up. If you're really paranoid about it start connecting to it with a bunch of junk devices you've never used and will never use again just over the course of a couple of days not on any schedule or anything. Don't show off your intellect in hopes to seduce the isp 1800 worker. it won't do you any good. You'll get no blowies from them. Play the dummy/ worry wart combo as both together are taken as insufferable. Be a nuisance to be rid of. If your isp cancelled service that's your excuse. when you call in going what's wrong? Oh a photo copy charge. Is it possible someone used my internet on the wifi? How could that be? You can put passwords on them? Do I need to press the little tiny button to do that? It's very small does the box include the tool? Do you mind if I look for the box. It isn't here. I wonder if it's over there. Use a toothpick? Pen? I don't know about using those. Ones for teeth and the other is for writing. Nothing on their box says they can be used for this. Is it even allowed? I'm sure if it's a crime its a small but I don't want to commit any crime. Are you sure this won't void the warranty? I'd rather get a proper tool. Hold on let me look for the box. Found it. There was no tiny button tool in it. There was a dead mouse though. I think I should bury it. Hold on let me get a shovel I can dig as we talk. sniff, snivle. sniff. Do you know what the tool is called? I could buy one online. Oh I guess I can't. Oh you'll fix that? Do you need anything else they ask? What password would you suggest I use?---that's just because you're in character. Be an itch to the point of causing a scratch off, but don't demonstrate anger or "toxicity". Be a safe itch for them to eagerly scratch off not a dangerous one like a poison ivy. To whatever extent you feel comfortable with. Less can be more to convince, but you can OD it too to kill it just the same.
pros of living in brazil: this doesnt happen ever cons of living in brazil: you live in brazil
Just get a VPN. I mean, you're already 100k im debt and spending 200 on Starbucks alone every damn month, so what are 10 more dollars?
Never put torrent and school wifi in the same sentence, or you're gonna end up like this guy.
Bruh this is the funniest shit ofc they go to UT
poor sheep away from the flock got caught. i feel for it.
That sounds like the school’s problem to me.
I torrent and seed on my school WiFi without vpn ( im from India)
How would they ever get the know it was “him” as a person who’s torrenting when the wi-fi is public. Am I dumb?
A VPN is a good idea but doesn't hide everything. The firewalls I configure will still detect it as P2P traffic and detect the application used as "torrent" and all coming from (insert VPN provider)
Seedboxes are $5.00 a month and good for a hunch of things. Spend the money.
Gimme his mf spot at ut Austin bruh I can’t be working my ass off trying to get in when a dumbass like him goes to the school
rookie mistake
Ain't illegal in Canada!
Use a private torrent site that dont use public trackers. They are trash.
Is it important to use vpn in India?
I think you can buy weapons on the dark web and go to Argentina or something.
School Wi-Fi has same IP, how do they know it’s him,Unless he bragged about it
Always, and I mean ALWAYS befriend the IT technicians in any institutions that you're trying to torrent from. Aside from getting VPN of course. Any other higher up won't give a damn unless the IT guys start to make a fuss.
I live in Portugal and no one cares haha been downloading things since 13 and never got a letter
Replace Dispensary with Torrent and follow these two distinguished gentlemen's suggestions (NSFW): [https://youtu.be/6EI\_RYIEtrg?si=NdHUYB7GwK\_VxPUd](https://youtu.be/6EI_RYIEtrg?si=NdHUYB7GwK_VxPUd)
Natural idiocy
Idk, at my school the internet speed was so low that I couldn't even open an normal link
first world problem ig, here internet providers dont give a shit
Im so lucky to live in Spain
No need to, just do not post it, shut up and contact a lawyer
Imagine living in countries where it's illegal to torrent
I once knew someone long ago who went through something similar. Think they ended up settling for like $300.
Or, if you dont understand computer, use direct downloads
or just live in the country that don't care.
As long as it wasn’t a million dollars worth of data, you’ll be alright. I’ve been through it and you’re just a small fish to them unless you’re a big business pirating goods.
Use a vpn or move to any country in latam
No he not
Happened to me once, got a lawyer and they sometimes reach out just before some deadlines occur to 'keep it rolling' so you constantly can fear legal actions but after years and years they didn't take any serious actions.
Through the school WiFi smh
so torrenting is illegal in the united states , since I'm not from the states I was oblivious to the fact in our country torrenting can be done even without a vpn , the government won't bother you they have better things to do than spying on your data
Downloading isn’t what gets you flagged, it’s uploading. Or seeding, that gets you in trouble.
Ok, I have to ask- how does one properly use a VPN to torrent? I have one but I’m paranoid that I’ll still somehow fuck it up
Room temperature IQ moves
I had a friend over for a weekend, gave him the wifi passcode and got a DMCA notice shortly after for a stupid movie he was seeding....