Piracy! Those of us who get busted...

[Biased]

So my ISP just notified me that they're going to be suspending my internet service for pirating gamecube games and that I had to turn over any evidence I had and be faced with reparations and legal business hoo-hah. The funny thing is I was thinking at first that I was busted for something I actually did and then they said it was for downloading a super smash bros ISO, which I didn't do. What should I do?

[cowsgoquack101]

Buy a gun and take action! Hoo-ah!

Sucks man, I guess just try to umm... I don't know, I'm not very skilled in this knowledge.

[emeraldz]

Who is your ISP?

[Biased]

A local one... Arvig Communication Systems. They're jerks, normally choke my bandwidth and have crappy, uncaring customer support that doesn't resolve any issues so I have to call them every two weeks to one month. The call said the bust came from Entertainment Systems, not like it was Nintendo Entertainment or anything... Who's tracking me?

[nevermind1534]

So my ISP just notified me that they're going to be suspending my internet service for pirating gamecube games and that I had to turn over any evidence I had and be faced with reparations and legal business hoo-hah. The funny thing is I was thinking at first that I was busted for something I actually did and then they said it was for downloading a super smash bros ISO, which I didn't do. What should I do?

It could very well be a scam. You could say you had an unsecured wireless network, and have no evidence of it.

[Biased]

It's true, I do have a wireless router but I've always figured my neighbors were incompetent and couldn't do the whole technology thing (they're all really old).

[eurddrue]

Possibly a visiting tech-savvy relative? I always do my dirtiest work on somebody like my aunt's or grandparent's house because I'm kinda paranoid that way

[Biased]

It's ridiculous. I don't even have a gamecube at my house. The one I do own is sitting at a friend's house right now because he took it's power supply and controllers for his own cube and I just left everything there. I don't have a wii, either, or any way of running an image of a gamecube game. My COMPUTER isn't even good enough to run a gamecube emulator! It's just ridiculous. What's the point of prosecuting or pressing any charges for a GAMECUBE GAME? Legal resources are being wasted on that when they could bust people for illicit pornography or looking up how to build bombs. How does nintendo make money from them anymore? Retailers don't sell gamecube games.

[bacteria]

Let them prove you downloaded it. If, as you say, you don't have a secured wireless connection, anyone could have stood outside your house with a laptop and used your connection. That would bring the account down from piracy to stupidity - if people got prosecuted for stupidity then the whole world would be locked up!

I only use ethernet not wifi; only way to be safe from such issues.

[Black Six]

I agree with bacteria, if you didn't do it, let them try to prove it. They can search your house and computer (with the proper warrants, of course) and they won't find anything, so what is there to worry about? It sounds like they're just trying to take advantage of you, so don't fall for it. Fight against them closing your account down, say you'll press charges because they're doing so unfairly with no evidence that you've done anything illegal. If they say they have evidence, ask to see it. If it gets much further beyond that, it's time to find a lawyer.

[XCVG]

Let them prove you downloaded it. If, as you say, you don't have a secured wireless connection, anyone could have stood outside your house with a laptop and used your connection. That would bring the account down from piracy to stupidity - if people got prosecuted for stupidity then the whole world would be locked up!

I only use ethernet not wifi; only way to be safe from such issues.

Agreed! My family uses a WPA encrypted wireless, but my computer is hooked up via ethernet. Sometimes we 'borrow' the neighbor's unsecured connection though. It's payback for them watching movies at 12pm right up against the dividing wall (yeah, duplex). I'm only joking, or am I?

I'd make a comment about how people get prosecuted and given jailtime or heavy fines for the most minor of things but we have rapists and murderers going away for only 5-10 years, but that would be borderline political. Oh wait, I just said it.

[trichxiii]

What service did you use to download them? Just for a warning for the rest of us but you should look into using proxys and stuff because they are like anoymus surfing and stuff. it may be slower but it is safer...

[Biased]

Thanks for your advice guys, the ISP contacted me again and said this time it was the ESA going after me and all I had to do was delete it from my computer and say I did... Which I have no idea how they could prove that unless they were watching every process on my computer. And I didn't find the file at all so instead of having them raid my computer (which I need for almost everything I do) I just said I never even downloaded the whole thing anyway. So basically what happened was "HEY TONY YOU DOWNLOADED SUPER SMASH BROS FOR GAMECUBE YOU'RE IN TROUBLE BUT ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TELL US YOU DELETED IT AND WE'RE GOING TO GO AWAY"

[jjhammerstein]

He's innocent I tell you!

[thehackerinside]

(nothing worth reading)

Please just GO AWAY!

(Sorry for feeding the troll)