Canadian ISP warns Bit Torrent users

Canadian ISP warns Bit Torrent users
It seems that Cogeco, a Canadian ISP has begun sending its users warnings about their activities on P2P networks. The strange fact is, the warnings appear to be under DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) laws, which are U.S. laws, not Canadian laws. The BT tracker that seems to be gaining attention is the Swedish suprnova.org tracker. The emails also encourage the ISP's to limit users from accessing suprnova.org.

These actions can be compared to those taken in European countries for about the past year. Basically, someone affiliated with the MPAA or other anti-piracy organizations would begin a download on a P2P network, then record all the IP's it downloads from. After recording all the data it needs, it would continue to send the information the ISP, hoping that they will deal with the issue. However, there are some complications too. For example, some networks like the donkey network, trade files in small parts and in no particular order. In other words, you may be downloading the end of the file first. Whether you have the full file or not, as long as you have just one part, your client will be able to upload to other users. So would the MPAA ever take you to court for sharing a part of a movie, that is only a couple of MB's and pretty much completely useless without all the other parts?



The MPAA hasn't been taking the same road as the RIAA in its fight against piracy and even stated they had no plans to sue P2P users. However, it is understandable that the P2P networks themselves are a major target. These letters of warning are another attempt to reduce the numbers of P2P users. Whether or not it will actually have any effect will depend on the actions taken by the ISP's. It seems that in past cases, ISP's just preferred to forward the email to the user, with maybe a small warning. Some ISP's however, have kicked users off their service for receiving these letters or emails.

Source:
P2PNet


Written by: James Delahunty @ 30 Aug 2004 20:09
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  • 17 comments
  • Toiletman

    Quote: ISP's just preferred to forward the email to the user, with maybe a small warning. I think that about sums it up. They don't really care about the MPAA's intentions. After all, they're getting money from us, why would they care? =D

    31.8.2004 08:20 #1

  • Ne007

    If people can't do what they want with their internet connection.....who needs their ISP?

    31.8.2004 09:15 #2

  • sdifox

    actually, the ISPs can't be happy about p2p. It eats up a lot of the bandwidth for them. But since we are paying a media levy, I guess piracy is paid for already. You want to come down on people who download mp3s, fine. But you gotta get rid of the media levy first. You can't have both.

    31.8.2004 19:58 #3

  • IgniteNet

    Hate to bring up a boring old point but it's not 'YOUR' internet connection unless you own your ISP and everything between it and you. You 'rent' your connection not 'own' it?

    So if people can do what they want presumably you have no probs with child porn and grooming of children for underage sex?

    1.9.2004 01:21 #4

  • Dela

    Thats rediculous (the child porn comment) you could make the same argument for VCR's or Camers which could be linked with child porn, or even Yahoo or Google! Every new technology has its bad sides because people decide to use it for certain things, its not the technology's fault and it wouldnt be right to take down the technology over it!

    1.9.2004 07:59 #5

  • IgniteNet

    Hey hey hey I'm not saying anything for or against P2P or how right or wrong it is, I'm just saying that someone who thinks they can do what they want with 'their' internet connection is in fantasy land, we all rent capacity none of us 'own' it unless we owned our ISP and/or our telco / cableco!

    1.9.2004 08:04 #6

  • thegood

    I just spent a half hour on the phone with cogeco. I was inquiring about there security protocol. I disconnected during a transfer(how conveniant). What I was told is they only send letters out if the copyright holder complains to the ISP. e.g. Warner Bros.,Fox, etc... at which point a letter is sent to remove the item in question off of your computer.
    this goes for all p2p programs not just Bit Torrent.

    4.9.2004 10:56 #7

  • Toiletman

    Quote: the at which point a letter is sent to remove the item in question off of your computer. Could you mind putting that in more understandable terms for idiots like me =D I don't really get what you're saying.

    Everyone is entitled to their own true opinion. Either respect that or don't.

    4.9.2004 11:04 #8

  • thegood

    Sorry for being vague.
    What was meant by the item in question is any material
    that has been downloaded that you do not own the licence to use or copyrights to. Cogeco said you would be contacted via email and told to remove the download from your computer.This is only after the licence holder has made a formal compaint. Cogeco said it will not divulge the the names or IP addresses of its customers to the licence holders. Cogeco's customer list is held in the highest confidentiality. I hope this clearifies matters.

    4.9.2004 14:30 #9

  • Toiletman

    It does indeed! Seems like Cogeco is a good ISP after all. But then with raids and the new "Induce" piracy law, it might not help much against the fight in these babbling lawyer babies.

    Everyone is entitled to their own true opinion. Either respect that or don't.

    4.9.2004 20:24 #10

  • WhatUp

    I live in Canada and no Cogeco should not act under the DMCA Act as it is a US Law and not enforcable in Canadian Territoy period.

    This have already being try and lost in court here, please feel free to correct me on this.

    Furthermore in USA they have given so much power to the DMCA Act that now the Fair Use mean nothing.

    5.9.2004 13:41 #11

  • thegood

    Toiletman could you please contact me.You being a senior member, you must have access.

    10.9.2004 21:38 #12

  • Toiletman

    Access to what? I'm confused now! Actually, I think I like being confused. It brings a certain randomness into life which I usually generate.

    Everyone is entitled to their own true opinion. Either respect that or don't.

    11.9.2004 09:34 #13

  • thegood

    sorry once again. I thought you may have access to my e-mail address. I don't really want to post it.

    11.9.2004 15:14 #14

  • Toiletman

    Oh no, heheheh... Senior Members don't have any sort of access apart from what you have =D

    And even if I did, I'm not the kind of guy who would be prying around other people's details. =D

    Everyone is entitled to their own true opinion. Either respect that or don't.

    12.9.2004 09:30 #15

  • lostboy77

    There is a new war in the trenches between the consumer and the makers of music, movies, software, and the governments of the day which are pro-business all the way. In this war the consumers have found a way to check out movies, music, and software before they buy it. It is called P2P sharing: not P2P Ripping off. If we are stealing then we have been victims of a huge corperate heist for years.

    Ok you are going WTF is he talking about but here is the deal. In Canada a supreme court Judge testified that Libraries have photocopiers right in their facility. We go in see something we like and photocopy it usually for free. This is not considered copyright infringment and still the items are usually protected or owned. We also share CD's with friends, taped movies off cable companies with them giving us instuctions on how to. I have seen people standing in the back of seminars with video cameras and nothing is done about it. But man if you download a song, movie, or software you are up against the polititions that are funded by big business, and get your ass sued off.

    Now I would like to talk about the corperate rip off of consumers. I go out shopping and decided to buy Windows Vista bring it home load it on my computer and register it. I soon realise that this product was released not working, none of my perinials work as the drivers are wrong, my computer crashes on a constant basis. So I reload my older XP which still isn't finished by microsoft 5 years after it release. Vista is crap so I decide to take it back only to be told that they cannot take it back as it is open. So i phone to ask if I could sell it to a enemy of mine and was told it is registered in my name, "NO". So now I am out $245.00 and pissed off.

    This goes with movies, music cd's and any software. They tell me there are demos on the internet that I can try. Example: I download spyware doctor or something like it run the scan find out I have 300 errors in my registry. Trusting that this is right (I am never sure) I click on the repair button only to get a message that I need to purchase the license before I can fix it. Have you ever bought a cd with only one good song on the damn thing. I bought a Star Wars box set and the damn disks were damaged? The store would not take them back. The list could go on...

    One more thing for years I used to put all my records albums on cassette tape so the vinyl would last longer nobody threatened to take my children then. Could you imagine buying a car and the salesperson telling you once you open the door no refund or you have to wait for a patch to get it started. I still buy movies and music as I love the quality. I just don't buy the ones I now know are crap now and to find out if they are crap I go to my friends house and watch and listen.

    Please do not let this get out as I do not want him to go missing. God Bless the consumer as they are now called pirates but I ask you to think about who the real pirates are. A lot of artist are following Madonna and others moving away from the big corps. I think we should all stop buying period...but then that is me...

    26.10.2007 06:58 #16

  • bam431

    Makes me wanna run for the Pirate Party of Canada more so then I already want to.

    http://www.pirateparty.ca/
    Xbox Live: Rogue Jello - PSN: bam431 - IGN: bam431
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    i5 760, P7P55D-E, Vapor-X HD5770, 8GB DDR3, 1TB HDD,

    27.2.2011 20:31 #17

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