They ARE watching what you download.

[shaithis]

news group downloads are probably still safe and I haven't used anything else at all recently except when I use Torrents for the latest Hackintosh releases

Newsgroups give me full bandwidth as well (16Mb connection) something that never happened with Torrents or IRC (sometimes came close when you got a DL from a good hub).

[kasavien]

[rant] If i could pay to download my favourite tv programs as soon as they are first aired then i would, until then i'll download them. It sucks that Americans get first chance to see most of my favourite shows, why are they so special! [/rant]

[dangel]

We never once mentioned house prices, Tony Blair or how it was all so much better under Thatcher... but now you mention it....

lol

It's always been the case that you might get caught downloading with P2P apps (bittorrent or otherwise) but the _actual_ probablity of being caught (if your cautious) is slim at best. Personally, when it comes to software, I feel that piracy can be a good thing - if folk find something good for free by pirating it they'll recommend a puchase for the workplace (where piracy isn't really possible) which is where the real money in apps is anyway.

I don't believe anyone if they say they're completely legit at home (expired shareware counts too..) but in the workplace it's a different matter (and that's where the real money is anyway).

[UKMuFFiN]

news group downloads are probably still safe and I haven't used anything else at all recently except when I use Torrents for the latest Hackintosh releases

Newsgroups give me full bandwidth as well (16Mb connection) something that never happened with Torrents or IRC (sometimes came close when you got a DL from a good hub).

Ive just signed upto newsgroups and have a friend who uses them on his works uber-speed connection like 24/7 and he hasn't been in any trouble but surely they're not that much more anonymous than IRC?

[Aurhinius]

it is illegal to download TV shows as crazy as that sounds even when they have been aired.

The stupidity of it all is that said shows are now becoming available on the TV stations website free to watch. If you live in the US of course.

Proxy server anyone?

Seriously the industry will never beat the pirates and they are only tend to be interested in those people who upload content over downloading content.

They don't have the resources to get everyone so they get those who are the biggest threats i.e warez groups and serial uploaders.

The user in question no doubt was doing a hefty amount of uploading along with downloading. The uploading being the important part here.

[redlight]

Yes I hold my hands up to downloading all the last series of The Sopranos I just could not wait. I would have paid a fair price to download if I was given the option and I watched the whole lot again when it was aired in the UK and I buy the DVDs. So why try to stop me it is obvious that fans want the latest episodes of their favorite shows as soon as they are aired(although I could have done without the last episode). Yes i know its money but surely they would generate as much advertising revenue if they were aired at the same time as across the pond. Or give me a chance to pay for them. I can download my DVD rentals if I want to. Oh I wish! FUP and connection speed limit most people anyway.

[Mike Fishcake]

I'm interested in this quote:

"Pipex stated that if this wasn’t rectified within 7 days then it may terminate our reader's connection. "

In what way could it be "rectified"?

[directhex]

HEXUS can report that BitTorrent traffic is being monitored. We know that this isn't new to some of our USA readers. The difference here is that we have had a report that a user of UK ISP Pipex has been contacted over downloading “unlicensed copies of copyrighted computer programs”...

Read more in this Headline.

t'is true though

when i was a student, our isp's abuse department received a number of complaints about our downloading, listing specific movies.

our isp's abuse department happened to live in the same house, though, and he tended to accidentally drop the complaints in the bin

[chuckskull]

[rant] If i could pay to download my favourite tv programs as soon as they are first aired then i would, until then i'll download them. It sucks that Americans get first chance to see most of my favourite shows, why are they so special! [/rant]

My thoughts exactly. I want to see these TV shows when they are first aired and not wait a few months for a British TV station to buy the rights. If i could do it legally I would.

Either way I'll be watching

[kalniel]

The stupidity of it all is that said shows are now becoming available on the TV stations website free to watch. If you live in the US of course.

In the UK too. My gf happily watches desperate housewives I think from the channel4 website. I happily watch sport on the BBC website etc.

There's no excuse to illegally download anything - it's not like it's going to go off in the time between release in the states and when it's aired or available on DVD in the UK.

[UKMuFFiN]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01...eeb_downloads/

Other worries raised by the civil servants are that "series stacking" - storing and watching entire series - will also discourage investment in rival services and hit rentals and sales of DVDs.

The statement says: "The ability to store programmes for up to 13 weeks could have negative effects on competition and therefore investment in consumer choice. Ofcom believes this storage window should be reduced or removed."

[chuckskull]

The public will not buy songs that it can hear almost at will by a brief manipulation of the radio dials.

[GeorgeTuk]

So are they working on a new share protocol to over come this? What happened to Emule/EDonkey, was anyone ever contacted over that?

Also are games considered 'computer programs'?

Will they ever learn that to combat piracy on almost every front it would be easier to lower prices. Yes, budgets, yes wages but it only takes one 'film star' to buck the trend!

[shaithis]

Ive just signed upto newsgroups and have a friend who uses them on his works uber-speed connection like 24/7 and he hasn't been in any trouble but surely they're not that much more anonymous than IRC?

The way they are encoded, split up, named and posted make it extremely difficult for an automated system to discern what the hell you are downloading.

Downloads regularly come down corrupted (although this usually doesn't matter as most downloads are packaged with parity files so that they can be fixed automatically) and a lot of newsreaders cannot handle the threads.

I can heartily recommend Grabit and QuickPar as great programs for the usenet user

[UKMuFFiN]

That be what I'm using. I think its great so far.

[GeorgeTuk]

OK I will check it out, there is a good selection of files on usenet? And the token legit ones?

I would like to try it out but need to make sure its worth it first.