Anyone else had a "Copyright Violation Notice" mail from F2s?

[Jumpin_Jon]

I got one this morning, which is fair enough - I did download an old movie that was still sitting in my P2P download folder and therefore continuing to be shared.

I called F2s who confirmed what this was all about...

This is a "scheme" they are part of, where Warner Bros. (and possibly / probably others) are monitoring P2P networks for copyrighted works; logging the IP addresses of anyone sharing those works; checking the RIPE records for those IP addresses and contacting the relevant ISP. F2s are not giving out personal details of the offender -- they'd only do that if the UK Police requested it -- but are passing-on the violation notice.

F2s told me it is a "2 strikes and you're out!" policy - no questions; you are disconnected and your account terminated.

Just thought it would be worth passing this on, and I'd be interested to hear any further details of the scheme from one of the F2s representatives here.

JJ

[aboleth]

We live in a world of doublethink. Probably the main driver of speed increases is the downloading of music, movies etc, and a big proportion is pirated. ISPs sell connections based on this traffic, but must act within the law. I wonder how many people would bother with fast connections if P2P was blocked?

[John R]

Moral of the story.....
Don't use p2p....

[Deva]

Jon,

If i was u i would strongly suggest using an ip blocker like Peerguardian or Protowall.

PeerGuardian
Protowall

Stu.

[sergiu.panaite]

What Deva said really. Or use a client that isn't as easy to "detect" or you can stop uploads on it. I mean, I'm just repeating what someone from a different, unnamed ISP told me, I am an angel

[g__p]

Is this a common policy with ISPs? I came across something similar on the Zen forums:

As far as copyright infrigements on p2p networks go - we sometimes receive notifications about aledged infrigments from copyright enforcement agencies in the USA. We duely pass on the warning to the customer who's IP address was in the report, but at no point do we provide any personally identifiable information back to the complainant. The only circumstances where it is legal for us to do so is where the request comes from the UK police.

http://forum.zensupport.co.uk/shwmes...id=6017#bm6086

No mention of "2 strikes and you're out" there though, which sounds a bit extreme to me. Not to mention off-putting.

[sergiu.panaite]

Well, a friend of mine got a notice from Zen, and when he phones them he was told that it was "two strikes then you're out", but they might've changed their policy - kinda doubt it though, this was about 15 months ago and things haven't really improved since then in that area!

[g__p]

I wonder exactly what this 'scheme' is? Who came up with it? Perhaps the "2 strikes..." thing is just to try and scare you. Wonder if anyone has actually been kicked off because of this.

[John R]

I think most users are scared off by one strike..... In fact at a guess most getting the email will have no idea about what others are doing on their connections....

[Commando]

There is no need to use P2P to get what you want, Newsnet is one of the oldest parts of the internet but has the best coverage, very few virius's. There are providers who have secure encrypted connections as well as retentions of posts for 30+ days and no need for you to share your hard drive. In short total security from prying eyes behind your firewall.

[donegal]

<F2s told me it is a "2 strikes and you're out!" policy - no questions; you are disconnected and your account terminated.>

That is a policy that has been implemented by f2s then. Warner Bros. or any of the other RIAA mob, or copyright police can't enforce it.

The beginnings of ISP censorship methinks...........

[artee2]

Note to self:

The downloading of Bugs Bunny is verboeten

[John R]

Originally Posted by artee2

Note to self:

The downloading of Bugs Bunny is verboeten

Now you see Bob THIS is where you are wrong......
Lets the dog lose and he will find that pesky rabit......

100% legal provided by good ol'e uncle sam..

[3xH]

I've seen letters like this from BT and Warner Bros addressed to my friend. He had to switch providers cos BT cut him off eventually. Never seen an email though.

[donegal]

Originally Posted by 3xH

I've seen letters like this from BT and Warner Bros addressed to my friend. He had to switch providers cos BT cut him off eventually. Never seen an email though.

There is actually a gain if isp's do the entertainment industry's policing and punishment for them.

Movies, music, albums, tv series, large applications, are big files aren't they? Cut all that out and you would free up a hell of a lot of bandwidth. Just a thought....

[DKTronics]

Movies, music, albums, tv series, large applications, are big files aren't they? Cut all that out and you would free up a hell of a lot of bandwidth. Just a thought....

Yes, lets all go back to 56k, and send each other text files

Whats the point of broadband if you can't download anything ?
If I get such a letter, then I'm off, simple as that. No ISP tells me what I can and can't download. Christ, it's not as if it's child porn, or how to build a bomb.

[3xH]

Originally Posted by DKTronics

Yes, lets all go back to 56k, and send each other text files

Whats the point of broadband if you can't download anything ?
If I get such a letter, then I'm off, simple as that. No ISP tells me what I can and can't download. Christ, it's not as if it's child porn, or how to build a bomb.

Exactly, and its only ilegal to upload/share files anyway, cos providing you own something, there is no reason why you cant downlaod a backup copy if your disc breaks etc.

[ItsMe]

I first heard of this more than a year ago, so its not new.

If you are using p2p, you are sharing, you are (or have the potential to) upload, making copyrighted material available for download is illegal in the UK.

Downloading is not illegal – yet!!. No action can be taken for downloading; it’s up to the copyright owner to pursue a civil case. They need to prove breech of copyright first.

Most if not all ISPs T&C state you can’t use your connection for illegal activities, therefore F2S would be quite within their rights to boot you straight away.

The easy answer is P2P is BAD, don’t use it……find another way

[plesbit]

Originally Posted by 3xH

Exactly, and its only ilegal to upload/share files anyway, cos providing you own something, there is no reason why you cant downlaod a backup copy if your disc breaks etc.

Well firstly the OP pointed out that he was, in fact, sharing the downloaded file, so therefore he was in breach of your definition of legal. Secondly, don't be so sure about backup copies. As it stands the law in this country actually makes it illegal to backup anything to which you do not hold the copyright in this way. That means even ripping your own cd's to MP3 on your own computer is technically in breach of the law, as is copying a disc so you can keep one in the house and one in the car.

Fortunately, even the grubbers at the record companies are prepared to overlook most of that but if you want to go down to technicalities, you'll lose.

[donegal]

Originally Posted by DKTronics

Yes, lets all go back to 56k, and send each other text files

Whats the point of broadband if you can't download anything ?

I agree. My point was tho, that the richest corporations in the world (the entertainment industry) are getting isp's to do their dirty work at no cost to themselves. The isp is not only the policeman but the judge jury and executioner on behalf of vastly wealthy companies who are stuck to know what to do.

[3xH]

Originally Posted by plesbit

As it stands the law in this country actually makes it illegal to backup anything to which you do not hold the copyright in this way. That means even ripping your own cd's to MP3 on your own computer is technically in breach of the law, as is copying a disc so you can keep one in the house and one in the car.

Fortunately, even the grubbers at the record companies are prepared to overlook most of that but if you want to go down to technicalities, you'll lose.

Since when I awlways understood anyone had the right to backup something which they had purchased

[plesbit]

Originally Posted by 3xH

Since when I awlways understood anyone had the right to backup something which they had purchased

You'd have thought - and I certainly agree that you [i]should[i]. But, there was something on TV about a couple of months ago when there was a programme looking into this sort of thing. Technically, as it stands in this country (others are different) unless otherwise stated you hold the right to own a single copy of anything you have purchased. If you copy a cd, say one for the car, one for the house, you have two copies - but you've only paid for one and have therefore exceeded your entitlement.

The same goes for ripping to MP3 from a cd you own. You have not paid for the right to own the song in that format (i.e. MP3) therefore you have broken the UK copyright law by doing so.

Of course for the record companies to insist that every song we own on cd must be bought and paid for again to have as MP3 is a level of madness even though are not prepared to contemplate and most seem to have accepted, even encouraged, the move to the new format. Take, for example, hospital radio stations. We are now being asked to pay a one off fee for holding a database of around 5000 songs in MP3 format on our systems (most stations started using computer playout systems long ago). They don't care how we got hold of the songs, and they know damn well we didn't buy them, just as long we as cough up this once they'll stay off our backs in the future. The condition attached to that is that we do not expand the database being 5000 songs in the future, though it doesn't have to be the same 5000 songs so we're free to keep updating the system as new music comes out.

[akzah]

This is worrying, I may change isp if I ever recieve a email.

I am not a hard core downloader, however I do download the occasional epsisode from America of Smallville as the UK is a year behind. I still watch it when it airs in the UK later on and I also buy the DVD. So I don't see the harm.

Smallville is made by WB and the last few episodes have had a lot bad ips monitoring them.

[plesbit]

But if you're not sharing that episode once you've downloaded it then you're unlikely to receive any action from the ISP.

[akzah]

thats the confusing part, I use Bit Torrent so you are sharing as soon as you start to download and it seeds the parts you have.

A lot Bots have been getting on these tracker links and either taking everyones ip or just flooding the network with empty bad packets.