[CrazyLou]

I used to D/L music and movies 24-7. Hard drives full, the whole 9yds..

I was sent a letter from my ISP, attached with a letter from FOX alerting them someone with my IP had downloaded a movie, etc. This was over 1.5 years ago. I never heard from them again so I'm assuming they didn't bother to follow up on it.

Since then I've cleaned my computer of any P2P like a pussy, and haven't downloaded any torrents or songs either. I had never received a warning from music though, only when using the movie/software torrents. Am I safe to resume using things like Limewire?

[AgainstAllOdds]

In that letter....did you miss the APRIL FOOLS at the bottom?

[Crayzee]

i heard limewire was not good to use anymore
i was told the thing i use was pretty safe-
bitlord

knock on wood

[MJFtheGenius]

they sued me for all I got

[CrazyLou]

Originally Posted by AgainstAllOdds

In that letter....did you miss the APRIL FOOLS at the bottom?

I wish. It was basically a cease and desist letter, warning me that if they are given a court order to release my physical address they would be obligated to comply. So they were telling me, in not so many words, to stop the illegal downloading.

I am done with the movies, just wanted to know if anyone else got a similar warning or disciplinary measure as a result of their music downloading.

[BadNina]

I saw an interview this past week about a student at the University of Alabama who was sued from using limewire. She settled out of court with them.

[CrazyLou]

Originally Posted by BadNina

I saw an interview this past week about a student at the University of Alabama who was sued from using limewire. She settled out of court with them.

They can't go after everyone, but they try to make examples out of some people. It's not clear how they choose them, perhaps a name is picked out of a hat. Everybody does it, I've simply opened a few umbrellas indoors in life so it's my luck to take the fall.

[Justin7]

Tons of people got these letters. If there was good evidence, many were presented with a demand for about $3k for copyright infringement. In Copyright law, the loser pays the winner's legal fees. Most of these people paid.

This caused such a shit storm (and negative publicity) that this was stopped. I don't remember who was the suing party, but there were several articles about it in WSJ.

[CrazyLou]

Originally Posted by Justin7

Tons of people got these letters. If there was good evidence, many were presented with a demand for about $3k for copyright infringement. In Copyright law, the loser pays the winner's legal fees. Most of these people paid.

This caused such a shit storm (and negative publicity) that this was stopped. I don't remember who was the suing party, but there were several articles about it in WSJ.

Thanks for the information. I do use iTunes and have purchased some songs for .99 each that way, but I wanted to crank out a few different albums tonight and didn't feel like paying for them.

[thegreatdiatchi]

From various sources there is a much higher risk legalwise to downloading movies than there is music.

I got a scare one time when "someone" called me with a warning. However, after flipping out at the person he called me back & it turned out to be a bud I just didn't talk to in a long time. I felt dumb but he was laughing his ass off. I own almost 800 cds so I really have no need to download music but when I do I usually get the cds via friends.

There are other ways to get free music besides p2p or torrents as well but the selection may be somewhat limited (if you have a myspace account there is a way to download every song on my playlist - if you have the realplayer download software or another client that can steal mp3's from the site).

Getting music via friends is the safest way to go but if you are going to do any form of downloading do music only downloads from torrent sites.

[louisvillekid]

i used to try and use napster and limewire and some others i can't think of right now, but that was when i had dial-up, it took forever for one song. i have never used a torrent and i haven't used a P2P service in years, i just grab links for music of forums that are for rapidshare or other places like that, but i still don't do it much, cause i don't want some letter either, saying i'm getting sued for some astronomical amount for a handful of albums.
i remember reading in the local paper a couple years ago about some 12 year old girls parents getting sued for like 20 grand, she had downloaded like a total of 100 songs from various artists, somehow a bunch of different records companies singled them out and i guess tried to make an example, i don't remember what came of it, but i don't need a headache like that just cause i download someone's album to basically check it out.
you can find a bunch of links for music in the forums at Drunkenstepfather dot com and at rslinksforum dot com

[mofome]

who is downloading music? are they a company? what would they sue you for?

[thegreatdiatchi]

Honestly, while I'm about supporting the bands I don't like what the record labels are doing with alot of bands. For example, the Dropkick Murphys recent album was originally released and then re-released with additional tracks. If I had known that additional tracks were coming out I wouldn't have purchased the original cd.

For reasons like that, as well as the fact that I like more music than I can afford to buy and my current cd collection takes up too much space, I will be switching to downloading most music. I'll keep my favorites and I will still buy an album of a band I'm in love with here & there but I expect to cut at least half of my collection by the end of the year - maybe even more than that.

[Helmut]

I got sued for buying satellite theft equipment.

2K down the shitter.

[mundane]

a lot of ways of getting movies and music off the internet that can not be easily tracked by the f3dz or at least would be harder. limewire and torrent sites are NOT the safest route to get them. these 2 are too public and in the off chance that they wanna make an example of ur ISP, then more than likely u'll get a letter.

if ur not dat internet-savvy, it's safer to borrow cd and make a copy. if u do know how to get around the internet, i'll mention some words here and up to u if u can make something out of it. --- IRC, forums which allow link posting for passworded archives (rar files), FTP, usenet! those are the ones i used. still not safe but at least harder to track.

it is ILLEGAL to download copyrighted materials!

[CrazyLou]

Originally Posted by mofome

who is downloading music? are they a company? what would they sue you for?

They're the kinds of people who would show up at your doorstep and strangle you with cassette tape. This is why I no longer download music illegally.

[topcat]

Originally Posted by Helmut

I got sued for buying satellite theft equipment.

2K down the shitter.

you must be talking about a black box for the big dish.our dish was around 1,900,and the black box was around 500.we had the cards with direct tv,and the receivers with dish.those were peanuts though.if you are telling the truth iam surprised they didnt confiscate your tv ,fine you 500,000,and arrest you on the spot for piracy.i know someone that this happened to.

[BrentCrude]

Right in my area court they prosecuted the first person for doing this awhile back.She was a young woman from Brainerd,Minnesota in her 20's who practically has no money.The judgement against her is huge and she has no way of ever paying any of it back.It was a total joke how they singled her out and all it was,was a signal that no one is safe from the minnows up to the king pins who do it.They picked on her because they knew they could steam roll over her public defender.

[BadNina]

Originally Posted by mofome

who is downloading music? are they a company? what would they sue you for?

the story I saw mentioned that several students had received letters. When they took the letters to an attorney they were advised that if they took it to court, chances were they would lose and the judgments would probably be near 7 figures from all royalties and such. Which made the settlement offers of $3000 a great deal.

[WileOut]

Antigua is about to fix this problem for all of us. At least that is what they said they were gonna do.

[FreeFall]

yes I'm a CSC major so feel free to ask me questions and I can tell you all about it.

as far as getting caught the deeper you go with protecting yourself the less the chances occur of them finding you. Limewire is flat out foolish to use. It's asking to be caught. You need to find private torrent sites and get invited to them. IRC is probably alright too, but that doesn't mean they(FBI) can't simulate a room with there own bots, but I doubt they would do that.

[mofome]

Originally Posted by crazyl

They're the kinds of people who would show up at your doorstep and strangle you with cassette tape. This is why I no longer download music illegally.

[jjgold]

If they pursue it you cannot win and will clean you out $$$, music and movies a huge money industry and anyone stealing their money is not good. I would be careful.

[Nivypaype]

My TV bill is out of control. In my house we have 3 TVs, each with cable tv service. We get about 65 channels, but no HD programming. My husband really wants HD for his sports. Baseball season is coming and he is anxious to get it. For what I consider limited service I pay $200 a month . Does that seem way too high? What is a better idea if I wanted HD??

[bobbyfk]

get this piece of software if you download, i use P2P and BearShare, run it while downloading:
http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/

called PeerGuardian 2, it blocks movie/music places to see your IP while your downloading

[bbyhill]

check out The Pirate Bay

[bbyhill]

Originally Posted by bobbyfk

get this piece of software if you download, i use P2P and BearShare, run it while downloading:
http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/

called PeerGuardian 2, it blocks movie/music places to see your IP while your downloading

Use to use BearShare it works good.

[TPowell]

anybody use ares?

[Brock Landers]

i get each and every CD i want and import them to itunes thanks to the library, thy have, or can get EVERYTHING and its FREE AND LEGAL. Not an album i've ever wanted that i don't have.

[Boner_18]

My lawschool assists the relevant authorities and they routinely bust students using p2p on the schools network. The kids are never charged but they usually settle and pay a fine. Many schools do this.

Brock what you do is what I would do (or borrow friends entire cd collection) but make no mistake about it, it is not legal to keep the ripped albums on your computer if you do not own the CD.

[louisvillekid]

Originally Posted by Boner_18

but make no mistake about it, it is not legal to keep the ripped albums on your computer if you do not own the CD.

how can they prove i never owned the album at one time and lost it or sold it at a yard sale.

I got a bunch of old 90's thrash and speed metal that i DL'ed and now don't have the CD's cause people have borrowed them and never gave them back (i.e. some cunt i worked with last summer) or lost them or sold them or whatever.

[Boner_18]

It's not a question of used to own, you must currently own the album in order to own the rights to back it up digitally. You sell the record you are supposed to delete the electronic back up. I'm not sure about lost. They don't have to prove anything either, you must produce the album once they have met the burden of persuasion that you have pirated material.

It wouldn't be difficult at all to subpoena library records and match the time stamp on electronic files to when the music was taken out at the library.

[louisvillekid]

Originally Posted by Boner_18

It's not a question of used to own, you must currently own the album in order to own the rights to back it up digitally.

damn, i have never heard of such a thing. I wonder how much money the music companies lobbied for that to be included into some law

[Brock Landers]

Originally Posted by Boner_18

It's not a question of used to own, you must currently own the album in order to own the rights to back it up digitally. You sell the record you are supposed to delete the electronic back up. I'm not sure about lost. They don't have to prove anything either, you must produce the album once they have met the burden of persuasion that you have pirated material.

It wouldn't be difficult at all to subpoena library records and match the time stamp on electronic files to when the music was taken out at the library.

will never ever be an issue, impossible for anyone to find out about it, and Itunes is facilitating this bigtime.

[Boner_18]

Naw. It's the same as any copyrighted intellectual property. You can't reproduce a movie, book, even a single mother goose poem if you don't own the work itself. The laws have been around long before the RIAA.

They are never really enforced that is why you don't really know about them. I mean, who has been sued for copying a poem or book or something?