They ARE watching what you download.

[Fabula]

I have downloaded things in the past, and bought them if they were worth getting.

Example:
UFO: Enemy unknown. I played the demo, and couldn't work out how to do anything so kept getting killed. So there was no way I was going to buy the game. A friend got it, and lent it to me. I played, enjoyed and completed it. I then bought a legit copy of UFO, and have bought all the sequals.

So out of the piracy of one game, the developers have had about 8 game purchases they would not otherwise have had.

Same with morrowind, I borrowed it, loved it, bought it. And expansions, sequals etc.

With music, if I like a tune, I'll download the album. If I like it enough, I'll buy it. My rate of music purchase is independant of the availability of music to pirate, but thanks to piracy I end up buying the stuff I like the most. I will buy maybe 12 albums a year. Without piracy I may end up enjoying 7 of them, but with piracy I know I'll enjoy all 12.

[kalniel]

So out of the piracy of one game, the developers have had about 8 game purchases they would not otherwise have had.

Same with morrowind, I borrowed it, loved it, bought it. And expansions, sequals etc.

With music, if I like a tune, I'll download the album. If I like it enough, I'll buy it. My rate of music purchase is independant of the availability of music to pirate, but thanks to piracy I end up buying the stuff I like the most. I will buy maybe 12 albums a year. Without piracy I may end up enjoying 7 of them, but with piracy I know I'll enjoy all 12.

So.. why don't companies give away full games and music on a trial basis? If it's as condusive to paying for it in full as you suggest they'd be onto a garenteed winner.

Maybe they're just all really dumb, but I doubt they'd be so silly as to throw away extra purchases unless they know it actually doesn't work like that for the majority.

[dangel]

Maybe they're just all really dumb

Maybe - it'd certainly explain the whole Starforce debacle..

[GeorgeTuk]

I think what most people are forgetting is that no matter where you download from or what you download it all passes through your ISP's gateway and anything that goes through there can be monitored and tracked to your IP. Even if it is encrypted. Remember anyhitng that can be encrypted can be decrypted. It may take a bit of time but it can be done.

All these private trackers, VPN's etc are all well and good but eventually you will be caught out. The only way to be 100% safe would be to use a closed network that does not pass through an ISP, eg using dial up and connecting to a modem at the other end or using a company intranet.

Take it from me, I know. I work in IT and have had to deal with people trying to download stuff through the company network or using Proxy sites to access inappropriate material. It goes through my servers and I WILL find out about it. Same goes for ISP's and illegal file sharing.

Amen! That was the hardest thing in a corporate environment but always a good one for Christmas party talk...

"So what do you guys do all day?"
"Oh you know monitor the network, build PCs, work on new functionality, stuff like that?"
"Monitor the network, what to catch the paedophiles and stuff"
"No most of that stuff is easy to find, we concentrate on keeping the business linked etc"
"Easy to find?!"
"Well the filter on the firewalls picks it up and your manager gets it in a report"
"Oh right, what like? What websites and stuff"
"Yeah its always the same ones...like xxxx and xxxx" (Relating to the other person)
*Cue the look of recognition*

Love it but bloody hard work stopping that.

[JPreston]

Naive is thinking that people who work in ISPs spend the whole day wondering what your downloading - they have plenty to do already

Seconded. I used to work for an ISP and I know for a fact that noone even kept track of who the heavy users were, let alone snoop on them which would have been illegal anyway. We paid a flat-rate per-user fee to our provider, so did not give a monkeys whether someone downloaded 2Mb or 200Gb in a month, or what it consisted of because we weren't liable for any of it.

[Whiternoise]

Weelll i've been with the lovely Freedom2Surf for a year and a half now, and i've gone over my 10gig limit (NOT through piracy i might add) almost every month - have i had to pay more? no.. have i been contacted? no..

However they are owned by Pipex now.. so that could be a problem - however, i haven't heard of any cases of people with them being stung for illegal downloading.

Just a point i made earlier - how easy is it to catch people who download pirate music, games, etc. from websites such as rapidshare or sendspace where it's a direct download?

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Seconded. I used to work for an ISP and I know for a fact that noone even kept track of who the heavy users were, let alone snoop on them which would have been illegal anyway. We paid a flat-rate per-user fee to our provider, so did not give a monkeys whether someone downloaded 2Mb or 200Gb in a month, or what it consisted of because we weren't liable for any of it.

May i ask has to what isp you use to work with?

[dangel]

and i've gone over my 10gig limit

Burn him!

Roll on 21CN - perhaps then we'll get 'unlimited' broadband eh?

[davidcrofter]

Well putting aside the rights and wrongs of filesharing it seems to me that the BSA and Pipex just have to put out an "alleged" threat of action and like the file sharing idea itself it spreads on the net like wildfire ... will be plenty of seeders for this I think.
BSA ... job done methinks.

[badass]

Roll on 21CN - perhaps then we'll get 'unlimited' broadband eh?

No chance.

[dangel]

No chance.

Sure?

[s_kinton]

Have never heard before of any ISPs actually sending warning letters to their customers. Are they doing this to anyone or just the heavy uploaders?

Yep! I used to have BT broadband when I was at uni, the whole house shared it and all shared the cost. My housemate decided to download the Indiana Jones triology, which he did. About 2 months later we received a strongly worded letter from BT, asking us to stop downloading anything illegal.

BT included the time, date, exact file names and the program he was using ('Overnet' i think) to get it. All this was back in 2003, so this is all certainly nothing new to me

[Moby-Dick]

No chance.

It was unlimited when I was on it

[Kumagoro]

If they are downloading it themselves then are they not advocating sharing it. OK I know you can tell it not to upload, but ignoring that.

[JPreston]

May i ask has to what isp you use to work with?

You can certainly ask....

[alexsim2005]

I'd be terrified If I got one of those letters, even though I dont download anything illegal (that im aware of)