There’s nothing like getting home at 7:30 in the morning from Party! Super Party! and having your mom greet you with a letter indicating that you have “stolen” “copyrighted” “material”. That’s silly law lingo that you common folk wouldn’t understand.
This is the letter that I got and lots of other people got it too, so I am basically stealing the scan of the letter from some other angry Cablevision customer. If you’re not from New York then you should understand that there are two cable companies and you have to go to the one that is in your area. There is Time Warner and Cablevision and you are only allowed to use your zoned one. Cablevision also provides an internet service so we use that as well.
My problem is this: I know I am a piece of shit. We are all pieces of shit. We all borrow steal “copyrighted” “materials” of various sorts and forms. Are we ever going to stop? No. Of course not.
But what is annoying is the blatant fact that Cablevision is monitoring the way I use my internet, moreover they are the only company that I have ever heard of sending out such letters and that are very much willing to give away their customer’s information to the people who want to sue them.
Good thing I haven’t been looking at kiddie porn?
Obviously, you shouldn’t be doing anything illegal, but I don’t think I should be monitored. However, I honestly don’t care THAT much if I am being monitored, but I realize this is a personal preference and there are things wrong with this kind of invasion or privacy. Of course the Patriot Act is wrong and is a clear violation of the Constitution and that is fundamentally wrong for many reasons, etc.
I just think it’s odd and annoying because I thought all of us as a society agreed that we can’t find and sue every individual person who downloads illegal materials, that we can only hold accountable the people that choose to distribute these online materials, ie. Pirate Bay, Mininova, Textbook Torrents, TV-Links, etc.
This idea that seems to be widely accepted, creates a distortion of what is acceptable for the individual at home on a computer. Kind of how, everyone in the history of ever smokes pot, no one ever really gets arrested for it, but we all know it’s illegal and how you’re not allowed to butt secks in Texas or where-ever-the-fuck.
One company violating this social contract just seems kind of douchey, no ? So, amirite? Or amiwrong?
Do you think I should stop torrenting (I honestly, hardly do it)? Is this actually anything to worry about? The most I’ve heard of is them blacklisting you and turning off your account, but who knows if that is just propaganda?
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You told me that you torrented Zenon.
Zenon is critically important. What if something as super duper important as it comes and you have to torrent it? But, you can’t because you’ve sworn it off? Don’t stop torrenting. If not for me, if not for yourself, then for Proto Zoa . Damn it…
Or I could be monumentally wrong and you should stop. Who knows?
Over here in the UK, the biggest cunts are Virgin Media and British Telecom, two internet providers who have teamed up with spyware dickwads Phorm.
So instead of a free internet experience, we get to enjoy a barrage of “no stealin teh internets” and “we’re watching u, lol”. Fucking great, ain’t it?
BTW, I’ve visisted Maggots and Tenderloin a few times now and I’m fucking loving the experience. Keep up the awesome work.
You need to protect yourself if you’re going to torrent. Use Peer Guardian (http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/) when torrenting, just make sure you turn off the option in Peer Guardian to monitor http. Let me know if you need help.
I had that letter sent to me before from Cox cable. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I’m not sure what your cable company’s policy is, but Cox has a three strikes rule. After that, they kill your connection. Lately though, they’ve blocked all torrent traffic. I just switched over to using Newsgroups and now everything is peachy again.
We know it’s wrong to steal this shit. We do it anyway. But that doesn’t mean we don’t know it’s wrong/illegal or we wouldn’t try to justify it all the time. It’s like weed in the sense that yeah, people do it, but they don’t walk down the street smoking a joint. If you torrent enough some ISP’s will bust you, just like if you buy enough weed eventually you might get busted.
As in the case of weed it’s simply best to find a provider you can trust, even if it costs more.
Also, state bans on consensual sodomy no longer exist after Lawrence v. Texas (2003), and the right to privacy you seem to be reading into the Constitution is fundamentally weak. It’s not enumerated, and is based primarily in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)’s penumbra provision. Privacy doesn’t extend everywhere, and the Patriot Act has been found constitutional.
Honestly, it sounds like a mass mailing scare tactic. If it was serious they would have mentioned particulars and projected restrictions and/or penalties. And followed it up with lawyer mailings.
Of course, if you choose to torrent, do it smart. You know the right people to give the proper advice. It’s not that hard, they really are going after professional bootleggers. Which, sad but true, is epidemic. The Thieves in the Industry hate competition.
Again brush your shoulders off, straighten up and don’t worry. Keep politic and just say no to bullies.
I gave up on privacy ages ago.
I Stumbled this for you.
Merry Christmas and thanks for the ad!
I think you are thinking like sukrat, but I think you should cover the other side of the topic in the post too…