Where i live in a non BT area we are only allowed to use Karoo, which is Hulls own broadband service, this is not the (MOD EDIT: PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO GET AROUND THE SWEAR FILTER) up part. My friend lost his net connection and was told that he had a trojan, which was spaming someone elses email acount and brought down a site. So they said get rid of your viruses and then we will reconnect you, fair enough. He finally got reconected yesterday, and downloaded Serenity using Bitlord, i think, Today he trys to check his email and it says Invalid username and password when he trys to dial. So he rings the helpline which said "well get back to you", they did and said "did you download a film called Serenity?" "well were gonna send you a letter to sign" He said that on his internet, properties/connections/setting he had a proxy turned on. Surely its a breach to check what someone is downloading? Is this legit?
Depends on the contract. What your friend is doing is illegal and if the contract says the ISP can check up on downloads then yes they can. If it does not say it in the contract then what the ISP is doing is illegal. However if your friend reports the ISP to trading standards, your friend will also be stuck in the law as what he is doing is also illegal. So either way your friend loses unfortunatly.
Most ISP's try not to so that they can claim that they can't when the gov asks them to. Its a way of getting out of spending lots of money, lots if work, and customer backlash. They simply haven't implemented the technology to do so, as it is of no use to them personally. However when it is a small ISP things change a bit as they don't have to look after so many people and it is generally a captive audiance., so they aren't that worried and it is an easier task to implement. I would say that your mate doesn't have much ground to stand on as what he was doing is illegal. Nice film BTW <EDIT> Dam you wonka you must be on speed to get those replys in so fast
yep my isp here in the states cut me off 3 years ago becuase they could see that on my computer there was a kazaa shared folder. Once I provided them with proof it was gone they said they would reconnect with in three days.
Yarly, the ISP is providing the service and so they've got a right to check what they're sending you. Customers expect the ISP to filter out spam from their email accounts and protect them from the nasties of the interwibble, yet start getting on their high horse when the ISP notices them downloading illegal content. Hmmm... <A88>
He's not done something illegal if he owns the film already. Personally I'd rather deal with security issues myself than have my ISP vetting my every move.
Well it's very unlikely he's already got the film to be honest. And would you rather have the record/film industries trying to sue the pants off you when they find out about your illegal activity or have your ISP ask you to delete it and let the problem go no further? <A88>
So you reckon that you should be able to do whatever you want with your connection, and if the MPAA sues your ISP, they should just suck it up and do nothing towards you? The way this usually works is that someone in America (usually the MPAA or the production house that owns the film) will be on the active torrents for their film, and they can see the IP addresses of the entire swarm (or at least the ones they're connected to, and they have good enough connections that that's likely to be a lot of users), and with IP addresses they can send an angry letter to your ISP demanding that something be done. Your ISP usually doesn't have a choice in the matter, it's either cut you off/reprimand you somehow or get sued for something that wasn't their fault (they have responsibility for everything you do on the Internet, and no comeback from you apart from disconnecting you). I doubt very much that they personally care about what you do with your connection, unless it's getting them in trouble.
julianmartin is wrong anyway, it is NOT legal to download something you already own (cd's, dvd's etc) thats like saying its ok to steal a copy from hmv because you already own a copy.
making a copy and downloading a copy from someone else are totally different it is illegal to make a copy anyway. check out the uk copyright, designs and patents act of 1988 that makes even copying for personal use/backups illegal
That's a bit of an inaccurate analogy - taking a copy from hmv means people lose money, nobody loses money if you buy a copy then download another. I know it's not legal to download something just because you have a proper copy, it's just that that analogy was flawed
Different? How? Yes, i'll plow through that right away. Seriously, i might take a look... What he said Not if they already have a copy...
That was what the rather than part was about. On the illegality front i thought that there was a precedence set for fair use of material that you have bought.
but if you want two, hence a copy and you cant legally make a copy or download one you would be purchasing one. but instead you copy/download so someone is missing out on money. anyway this is irrelevant. you can not copy/dowload any cd/dvd you already own legally end of.
Phantom losses... If i was forced to buy another copy instead of downloading it i wouldn't do it. end of. I'm still curious about why you say copying is different from downloading, both will end up doing the same thing, the same way.
its different because, its covered by different sections of the law. one way you are downloading information through your isp the other your just using your machine anyway, tangents and all
All of which is completely irrelevant to US Citizens as long as a copy is owned by the downloader; for backup purposes, it is completely legal to create or acquire a copy. You just cant use the original and backup at the same time
