Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: How Would You Handle A Bogus Copyright Infringement Notice?
Very long-time Slashdot reader Andy Smith writes:
Yesterday I received an email from my ISP telling me that I had illegally downloaded an animated film called Cubo and the Two Strings. I'd never heard of the film and hadn't downloaded it. The accusation came from a government-approved group called Get It Right From a Genuine Site. I contacted that group and was directed to their FAQ. Worryingly, there's no way to correct a false report. The entire FAQ is written from the position that either you, or someone on your network, definitely downloaded what you're accused of downloading.
Their advice to avoid any problems with your ISP is simply to not download anything illegally again. But if they can get it wrong once, then surely they can get it wrong again. How widespread is this problem? What safeguards are in place to ensure that people aren't falsely accused? Why has the government allowed this scheme to operate without the accused having some right to defend themselves?
After advising users to check their wifi password -- and confront all the network's users about whether they've downloaded Cubo and the Two Strings -- the site concludes simply that "If there is no further activity identified for an IP address associated with your account, you will NOT receive further Educational Emails." Six weeks ago the U.K. government reported that "The campaign has now reached 21% of the population and, whilst piracy levels remain constant, it has decreased significantly among those exposed to the campaign."
Have any other Slashdot users experienced problems with bogus copyright infringement notifications? And if so, how did you handle it?
Their advice to avoid any problems with your ISP is simply to not download anything illegally again. But if they can get it wrong once, then surely they can get it wrong again. How widespread is this problem? What safeguards are in place to ensure that people aren't falsely accused? Why has the government allowed this scheme to operate without the accused having some right to defend themselves?
After advising users to check their wifi password -- and confront all the network's users about whether they've downloaded Cubo and the Two Strings -- the site concludes simply that "If there is no further activity identified for an IP address associated with your account, you will NOT receive further Educational Emails." Six weeks ago the U.K. government reported that "The campaign has now reached 21% of the population and, whilst piracy levels remain constant, it has decreased significantly among those exposed to the campaign."
Have any other Slashdot users experienced problems with bogus copyright infringement notifications? And if so, how did you handle it?
I, also, had never heard of Cubo and the Two Strings but, now, I'm going to go pirate it to see what it's about.
In fact, a quick googling reveals that Cubo and the Two Strings doe, in fact, not exist. Therefore, you could not have downloaded it. Kubo and the Two Strings, on the other hand... well, it looks kind of lame; perhaps I won't pirate it after all.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Apparently Americans aren't the only people who do things and ask questions later, because if you had so much as read the summary, you'd see it's a UK website. British mate, 'ith a pot of tea. Unless you are a dual citizen and somehow grant the UK jurisdiction over your ISP service, I see no way in which an American citizen would need to care about these emails.
... if you had so much as read the summary,
Read the summary - that's adorable. From what I've read, not even Trump reads the Summary. These days, 140 chars is the attention span limi
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .