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Copyright infringement is generally not a crime. It is a civil matter, in other words between the copyright holder (Atari) and the alleged infringer. Atari can sue for damages as outlined in the law, but it's not a criminal matter so there will be no criminal record or jail. The police will not investigate or prosecute it either.

The exception is large scale infringement for commercial gain. That can go down as far as the guy selling pirate DVDs at a car boot sale, but not someone just using P2P.

So far, there has not been a single case where someone has contested downloading or upload a file on the internet via P2P that has gone to court to be tested. It seems likely, however, that the wifi defence would work, as would asking the accuser to prove your modem had not been cloned. In a civil case they could not get access to your PC or HDD.

This post is particularly interesting:

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/34651729-post238.html

In other words, all a pirate needs to do is get a cloned modem off eBay and the authorities can't touch them.

"As a web author, I've sent copyright infringement complaints to the heads of the House and Senate Judiciary committees, the FCC and the Department of Justice, complaining that the practice is felony copyright infringement for which Charter should be prosecuted.
I suggest you do the same.
"

you lot should read up on the Phorm tech and the UK cable forum thread

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/33628733-virgin-media-phorm-webwise-adverts-updated.html
as this NebuAd is virtult the same kit and operation, it can help you understand the real problems and you might see the 3 re-directs for every single http get....

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/16/congress_questions_nebuad/
"US Congress questions legality of Phorm and the Phormettes
'Talk to us first'
By Cade Metz in San Francisco More by this authorPublished Friday 16th May 2008 20:48 GMT

After telling the world it will soon pimp customer data to NebuAd - a behavioral ad targeting firm along the lines of Phorm and Front Porch - Charter Communications has received a letter from Congress questioning the legality of such pimping. ...

Irish_Samurai ,a hidden and dubious new clause inside a consumer T&C contract DOES NOT
constitute 'Express,Explicit, and Informed CONSENT'

with respect Irish_Samurai, it appears it is you that infact does not understand
whats going on at all.

read the webs longest running Phorm DPI thread as that covered all the most basic points
and actions you in other countrys US/canda etccan take as your guide to laws and the real points raised as regards wiretapping etc.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/33628733-virgin-media-phorm-webwise-adverts-updated.html

you might not have the same laws to protect you as the UK and EU do but your courts must have something close to them, i hope for your sake they do anyway.....

see my other mosy basic legal points here
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=551922&threshold=0&commentsort=0&mode=flat&cid=23396262

and here
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=551922&threshold=0&commentsort=0&mode=flat&cid=23396474

"You're completely ignoring the fact that the ISP is going to argue they are acting as an agent of the end user through powers allowed them in their services agreement.

The fact that they make the modifications without informing the end user on the page with a big "this page has been modified by Scummy ISP, Inc" makes it that much more willful and evil, and likely increases damages should anyone actually take this to court.

You can't just make up how things work. If the user and the ISP enter into a contract for goods and services, the user doesn't have to be informed on every page. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it illegal. The user was informed in the contract. Also, the ISP sent notice to all the users that they were going to do this.

You are not understanding whats going on at all."

with respect Irish_Samurai , it appears it is infact YOU that does not understand the most basic of facts as discused and covered already on the web slargest Phorm thread

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/33628733-virgin-media-phorm-webwise-adverts-updated.html

yet again ill try and clear up your confusion but also see
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=551922&threshold=0&commentsort=0&mode=flat&cid=23396262
and
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=551922&threshold=0&commentsort=0&mode=flat&cid=23396474

after reading those, regarding this part
"If the user and the ISP enter into a contract for goods and services, the user doesn't have to be informed on every page. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it illegal. The user was informed in the contract. Also, the ISP sent notice to all the users that they were going to do this."

it should be clear to you and other readers that to make the wiretap somwhat legal, somewhat, in that they cant ever get all the webs website owners express/explicit and Informed Consent.....

but lets say they can try and get the users under the T&C broadband contract (and heres the kicker ,what constitutes ....) 'Express,Explicit, and Informed CONSENT'

a legally dubious (and potentially unlawful and so UnEnforcable new term/clause)and hidden new clause inside ANY new consumer T&C Contract, even with official WRITTEN NOTICE printed on paper, and sent registered/signed for/tracked post, informing said contracted customer of any official change of legal terms, _DOES_ _NOT_ constitute 'Express,Explicit, and Informed CONSENT' in any way, shape, or form, legally.

what DOES lagally constitute 'Express,Explicit, and Informed CONSENT' ....

a paper contract (or you might make a case for a webpage and elecronic Email perhaps)giving full and informed full disclosure in plain English that the average contracted user can understand) about the legal ramifications they will place themselves in if they agree to have their part of the their datastream intercepted for profit.

OC the current user of the computer can not legally agree to opt-in any other user of that computer so this same full diclosure document needs to be seen, understood and agreed to by EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT EVER USES THAT SINGLE PC, not to mention all the others PCs and their users on your home/business (wireless)LAN for instance.....

Hmm thatres a thought, in the UK Phorm a are officially offering some lame antiPhishing app protection thats way below even the free AntiPhishing utils available today, as the benefit for allowing this mass wiretap and to try and get around some laws regarding wiretapping etc, they cant OC but....

what are the US/Canadian ISPs offering in return for YOUR FREE WIRETAP ?.

"If you live in the Madison, WI area, attend the Madison Broadband Telecommunications Regulatory Board Meeting this Thursday (May 15, 2008) at 5:30pm in Room 103A of the City-County building (210 MLK Blvd). Complain during the Public Comment part of the meeting, which is immediately after Call to Order and Roll Call. I plan to be there.
"

the UKs Phorm activistes are always looking for more information as regards Phorm, and NebuAd (they have offices the UK awaiting the outcome of the Phorm trials [threat]).

we have a lot of info regarding Phorm but not that much for the NebuAd.

the Phorm Public meeting was video taped upto a point by the attendees , but we missed the _vital_ and very informative (some might say embarising for the Phorm CEO etc) Q&A section at the end, as we were informed that they would release the full unedited professional video taken as soon as it was re-encoded for online use.

guess what, they never released it....

if you get a chance to take video footage of this NebuAd public meeting, make sure you get every single minute of it,and sound recordings perhaps, for use later proof of any revealing facts and quotes, especially regarding the tech operation and webmaster opt out options....

see the cable forum Phorm thread to see some of the tech points you might also ask NebuAd directly.
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/33628733-virgin-media-phorm-webwise-adverts-updated.html

if any and all of you do get a chance to take video footage, please make it available and known to the
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/33628733-virgin-media-phorm-webwise-adverts-updated.html thread so we can also use its contents for our UK NebuAd fight when it comes.

"If you live in the Madison, WI area, attend the Madison Broadband Telecommunications Regulatory Board Meeting this Thursday (May 15, 2008) at 5:30pm in Room 103A of the City-County building (210 MLK Blvd). Complain during the Public Comment part of the meeting, which is immediately after Call to Order and Roll Call. I plan to be there.
"

the UKs Phorm activistes are always looking for more information as regards Phorm, and NebuAd (they have offices the UK awaiting the outcome of the Phorm trials [threat]).

we have a lot of info regarding Phorm but not that much for the NebuAd.

the Phorm Public meeting was video taped upto a point by the attendees , but we missed the _vital_ and very informative (some might say embarising for the Phorm CEO etc) Q&A section at the end, as we were informed that they would release the full unedited professional video taken as soon as it was re-encoded for online use.

guess what, they never released it....

if you get a chance to take video footage of this NebuAd public meeting, make sure you get every single minute of it,and sound recordings perhaps, for use later proof of any revealing facts and quotes, especially regarding the tech operation and webmaster opt out options....

see the cable forum Phorm thread to see some of the tech points you might also ask NebuAd directly.
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/33628733-virgin-media-phorm-webwise-adverts-updated.html

if any and all of you do get a chance to take video footage, please make it available and known to the
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/33628733-virgin-media-phorm-webwise-adverts-updated.html thread so we can also use its contents for our UK NebuAd fight when it comes.

The summary of the story doesn't emphasise the point that the spying test was just a small trial, and that Phorm is actually coming directly to the UK.

3 of the major UK ISPs: Virgin Media, BT and Talk Talk are getting all ready to implement and bring in Phorm. More information and details are available at the useful website BadPhorm: http://www.badphorm.co.uk/

Thousands and thousands of UK users are going to be subject to this inescapable violation of their privacy with little to do about it. There is an opt-out cookie, but this does not prevent the fact that the users browsing still goes through the Phorm servers. Would you be happy with all your internet browsing going through a third party server, let alone one owned by an advertising company that wants to profile you and "see the whole internet" (Reference: http://www.badphorm.co.uk/news.php?item.30.3 ) through your browsing history.

There is lots of interesting discussion going on about this, particularly at Cable Forum by Virgin Media users, who are going to be thrown into this spying (Link: http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/33628733-virgin-media-phorm-webwise-adverts-updated.html )

A fast growing petition to the UK government on the governments website is nearing 10000 signatures, and just shows how many people do not want this to happen (Link: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ispphorm/ )

This may not concern many people in the US, or people on the smaller ISPs in the UK - but the worrying thing is, other ISPs are already saying that they are going to watch the results and see if the ISPs can get away with it - if they can, they will likely pick it up to. And your ISP might do too!

... aren't blacklists still a bit... tricky?

... aren't blacklists still a bit... tricky?

Your tactic might be a bit screwed when the two companies merge.

No you don't.
I have been running the final release downloaded from MSDN for a couple of weeks and I'm using Firefox 1.0.3 to post this, while I listen to mp3s on Winamp and talking to my mates using Teamspeak.

I maintain a list of programs which do and don't work here:
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/article.php?a=64

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/article/112/ntl-broadb and-speed-changes-update-2

The change is official. But then I didn't get a letter :-(

Dave