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[Glass Joe]

Bitch slap your roommate and take a chill pill. Do NOT respond to the copyright holders (MPAA / RIAA / etc) directly. At this point in time, they don't know who you are, they just have an IP address. The only one that can tell them who's under that IP addy is your ISP. They usually won't give that up without a court order, as "policing the internet" is not in their job description.

If your situation is at the point where your ISP is calling you (usually it's just email forwards), assure them that you've figured out the problem and have corrected it. Usually the worst case scenario is that your ISP may drop you for being a repeat offender (for being a pain in their ass). But usually they value the money they get from you. I haven't read of a single case of this sort of thing going to court. So calm down and take other people's advice in this thread. Make sure you tell your roommate that although he's listed under the IP address with YOUR name, he is equally responsible for what's downloaded at your place and you WILL give him up.

 

[Zenith]

Why sign up to an ISP that's so ready to monitor your browsing habits and turn you over to the lawyers?

 

[Particle Physicist]

Looking for some input regarding a situation which really blindsided me tonight. It deals with a roommate of mine, someone who I generally thought was a standup fellow. Of course, I now have a different perspective of him.

On the 8th of February, I was contacted by my ISP's abuse department. They told me I had violated the 250GB cap in January. I was a bit surprised by this, because while I had downloaded a grip of games from Steam, I couldn't track the rest of the bandwidth.

I speak with my roommate about the incident and he admits to downloading the entire Xfiles series off Bit Torrent. He tells me that it won't happen again.

Flashforward to tonight. I get an email from my ISP notifying me about a claim of copyright infringement from Warner Bros for a DVD rip of Shutter Island which was downloaded and distributed from an IP belonging to my roommate's computer. I'm told that WB's legal department will be reaching out to me within the week.

Of course, I'm furious and immediately phone my roommate. His reaction is nothing less than the single most childish and petulant response I've seen from an adult. He accuses me of attacking his character, but admits to downloading and distributing the movie. I tell him that I've removed his access to the router and he flips out. I then tell him that if I have to pay a hefty fine (because he doesn't have the cash) to prevent legal escalation and criminal charges I will go after him for it.

At this point in the conversation, he tries to play the victim and says "I told you I was sorry! This just goes to show what you really think of me." I cannot even fathom why the fuck he can't grasp the full reality of the situation he has placed me in.

Do I contact a lawyer right now? What the hell do I tell Warner Bros? I'm the account holder, but it's not my IP address!

Out of curiosity, if you guys are behind a router, how did they get his specific IP?

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Fight him to the death. Winner gets control of the internet.

All of the Internet?

 

[gregor7777]

Keep your head down man. It's very likely you'll never hear about this again.

Oh, and your room-mate is an asshole.

 

[shuri]

Out of curiosity, if you guys are behind a router, how did they get his specific IP?

lol exactly!

 

[andycapps]

You're probably overreacting a bit but I did the same thing when I got a letter for the same thing. I immediately stopped downloading movies, and this was actually the only one I'd downloaded. Was District 9 and it ended up being such a crappy rip that I deleted it after the first few secs and decided I'd wait to see it on Blu-ray so I could see it how it was intended to be.

 

[tycoonheart]

Do I contact a lawyer right now? What the hell do I tell Warner Bros? I'm the account holder, but it's not my IP address!

If you guys are sharing one internet connection using a router, both of your external IPs are going to be the same. How are you claiming that it is not your IP when your ISP is not going to see your internal IP (the one that looks like this: 192.168.1.x).

Some of you who are more technical than me, correct me if I'm wrong here.

If he were to erase his hard drive of all traces of what he downloaded, how are yo going to prove to a court that it was actually him who downloaded X-Files and Shutter Island, given that both of you guys have the same IP?


Edit: BEATEN!

 

[Tapiozona]

Out of curiosity, if you guys are behind a router, how did they get his specific IP?

Haha, this whole thread is a lie. Wonder if OP abandons the thread or responds. I'm guessing he abandons.

Same goes for any collection agency: If they call you and you don't pick up and deny existence, they can't do shit.

Except ruin your credit. But hey, it's only 7 years until it goes away.

And if the amount you owe to collections is enough, they can sue you. Don't think not answering your phone is enough to hide either. They'll just have you served with papers.

 

[kehs]

OP has no roommate and he's trying to digitally cover his tracks while creating an alibi.


shamalaladingdongtwist.jpg

 

[Meier]

Tell him to at least get invited to a private tracker.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Does your roommate not kick in for the internet? If not then ban his ass from it, make him buy his own account.

 

[EB Guy]

As others said, do not contact anyone regarding this. Do not freak out. They will threaten you but if you do not reply, they can't do shit.

Same goes for any collection agency: If they call you and you don't pick up and deny existence, they can't do shit.

You do realize that doesn't work right? The collection agency will sue you and then garnish your pay, and ruin your credit history. Stick by that, let me know how it works out for you.

 

[kehs]

You do realize that doesn't work right? The collection agency will sue you and then garnish your pay, and ruin your credit history. Stick by that, let me know how it works out for you.

A lawsuit must be served in person before anything can be done.

 

[Mr. Sam]

You do realize that doesn't work right? The collection agency will sue you and then garnish your pay, and ruin your credit history. Stick by that, let me know how it works out for you.

Garnish my celery!?

 

[commish]

A lawsuit must be served in person before anything can be done.

That's not exactly a high bar. I would never recommend that anyone just ignore debt colletors, lawyers, etc. You can just close your eyes and hope they disappear.

To the OP, just wait for the letter. I wouldn't be worried too much just yet. If I was in your shoes, I would probably say to them, "okay Warner, go ahead and sue me." They are NOT going to sue you over downloading a single movie. It just won't happen. The economics don't add up, and it'd be a PR mess.

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

This was really the first time he expressed his childishness to you?

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

This was really the first time he expressed his childishness to you?

If the OP goes with my suggestion it should be the last time. lol

 

[Chiggs]

Out of curiosity, if you guys are behind a router, how did they get his specific IP?

They didn't. It just appears that the IP address has changed since the incident has occurred, so when I compared what was in the email to what the computer showed, I thought I was in the clear. I was just talking to a friend who was telling me that there was no way he had a different IP. So there goes that.

Haha, this whole thread is a lie. Wonder if OP abandons the thread or responds. I'm guessing he abandons.

No, not really.

If you guys are sharing one internet connection using a router, both of your external IPs are going to be the same. How are you claiming that it is not your IP when your ISP is not going to see your internal IP (the one that looks like this: 192.168.1.x).

The letter from the ISP is clearly listing a 71. IP address--not the router IP address.

OP has no roommate and he's trying to digitally cover his tracks while creating an alibi.


shamalaladingdongtwist.jpg

Maybe I can make a pitch to Warner Bros when they contact me.

 

[Veidt]

"your best friend is suing you for 600 million dollars"

 

[suffah]

Way back in college I remember hanging out in IRC channels and foolishly hosting a couple of bots with movies.

One of the movies was the first HP movie and yep, WB sent a letter to my ISP and they shut off our internet until I went in and signed a release form saying I would never do it again, etc.

I just checked my shelf and count 6 WB blu-rays so I'm slowly repenting for my youthful transgressions.

 

[T-Matt]

Just when Chiggs thought his roommate was normal, a letter came to turn his world upside down. Tom Cruise as Chiggs stars in "Piracy Report:seed the day"
Sell that to WB and you're in the clear.

 

[Joel Was Right]

I have a router with QoS (Tomato) and I just couldn't come up with a good way to de-prioritize torrent packets only.

Why not just block the port(s) the torrent client(s) used?

 

[MIMIC]

Flashforward to tonight. I get an email from my ISP notifying me about a claim of copyright infringement from Warner Bros for a DVD rip of Shutter Island which was downloaded and distributed from an IP belonging to my roommate's computer. I'm told that WB's legal department will be reaching out to me within the week.

You make it sound like a good thing. =p

When I was in college, I downloaded a movie once and was contacted by the college/movie studio to delete the movie and agree never to do it again. Nothing serious ever became of it.

I took a risk using a public tracker

 

[Ken Masters]

I seriously doubt Warner will make you pay a dime, but they did destroy your friendship

 

[TheRagnCajun]

Sounds like the OP overreacted.

 

[clav]

Three strikes rule.

If they notify you again, your internet may forever be terminated.

You can block P2P activity through your router. What router is it?

 

[See You Next Wednesday]

All of the Internet?

Every single ounce of it.