comcast sent me this letter...should i be worried?

quite fitting?

are they just using scare tactics?

paranoid: contact an attorney, immediately.

are they just using scare tactics?

Clearly they're using "please remove it" tactics.

Seriously, it just looks like comcast wants you to take the file down so comcast isn't fined/sued. And you already did, so it's all cool. Odds on you won't ever hear about it again.

that is true. i took a quick look at the statute -- it appears that as long as the ISP gives the alleged infringer "reasonable notice" (after a subpoena has been served upon it), the ISP is off the hook re liability for the alleged copyright violation.

And you already did, so it's all cool. Odds on you won't ever hear about it again.

i don't know if THAT is true. again, just taking a quick look at the statute and the caselaw, the ISP is acting in compliance. it does NOT appear to mean that he's off the hook wr2 this. that's why i suggested he go to a lawyer immediately.

i don't mean to be alarmist here. but seriously, go to a lawyer immediately -- go to this website to see if you can find an attorney listed there who may help.

True, but if it's one file and it was removed in the past, there's nothing in it for Comcast or the DMCA people to take it further. There'd be thousands of these warnings issued weekly in the United States.

An attorney would probably advise paranoid and depressed to just wait and see what happens, but it's probably worth knowing where [s]he stands, so yeah.

one is enough, though.

It also says the complaint was made by a copyright holder. If this file was removed a while ago and the copyright holder has made no attempt to contact paranoid and depressed directly, instead merely notifying Comcast of the file, I don't see it getting any more litigious unless [s]he puts more illegal files on the server.

And look at how it starts:

dear comcast high-speed internet subscriber:

It's an automated email. It doesn't even his/her name at the top.

how is law school treating you BTW, aaron?!? shouldn't you be preparing for yer 1L exams now?

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-04-14T202758Z_01_N14149251_RTRIDST_0_NET-TECH-COMCAST-LAWSUIT-DC.XML

All they're doing is protecting themselves. They aren't going to sue you.

Yes, what ever came of this?

This:

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9470/Comcast+Mulls+250GB+Monthly+Cap,+Disconnecting+File-Sharers/

250gb per month!

i used to work for an isp, and occasionally we'd have to call (or write to) a customer who allegedly downloaded copyrighted material (we'd be alerted by the copyright holder, usually some movie studio). i once had to call a guy who had downloaded an episode of an old 70s tv show. i basically said to him that technically he'd have to promise never to do it again (but that i didn't give a shit myself)...and that this phone call was the full extent of the repercussions for his downloading (and for the vast vast majority of isps, said phone call/letter is the last word on the subject -- they are rarely, if ever, followed up on). his defense made sense: he couldn't buy that particular episode if he'd wanted to. this particular show isn't (or wasn't at the time) available in any purchasable format. so whoever the copyright holder was basically just wasted a bunch of money trying to chase down someone whom they wouldn't have gotten any money out of anyway.

If the idiot distributors would see just how enormous a source of revenue this would be, none of this would even be an issue for most people. The technology's there, the content is there, the demand is there, but they won't make it available, or they're selling it on itunes for a ludicrously inflated price! Of course people are nicking it.

Ah but making HD content available on line is a bad idea - at least right now - because the infrastructure most people are using just isnt up to the task.

for the vast vast majority of isps, said phone call/letter is the last word on the subject -- they are rarely, if ever, followed up on

correct, and for an obvious reason, once ya think about it -- isps don't sell content, they sell bandwidth. They have no dog in the copyright fight (not by themselves, though big fuck-off corporations like Comcast may be promised to many masters), but they want to look like they're *trying* to comply with the law. And file-sharers, while occasionally leeching bandwidth from other users (which is what abbie's link is really about, not copyright) are also their best customers. They pay more for bigger connections, they host websites, and yadda and yadda. No business wants to be in the business of limiting the business they get from their highest-paying, most dependent customers.

Well they;re not just paying lip service to the law - they are doing their legal bit and not allowing lawbreakers to be a known entity on their network. Keep it up and you wont get the feds on yr doorstep but you may likely get an ISP saying "hi u no longer got DSL with us go away lol".

it's all so scary

::shudder::

Maybe the trick is to live somewhere with more than one choice for broadband internet? Then "hi u no longer got DSL with us" translates to "Ok, buddy, I guess I have it with your competitor now. How ya like them apples?"

and where would that be? (serious question, in the continental US)

For real!

Only DSL avail @ my pad but AT&T so far has been a bit less asinine.

From the comments on that Comcast article:

#5 I can't imagine capping @ 250 gigs per month- if you are an online gamer or watch youtube with any regularity you are screwed-

! That sounds like a lot of youtube to me, but I've never monitored how much traffic it actually uses. But good luck finding a monthly cap more than 10GB for a reasonable price here in the UK. My ISP is trying to force me onto its new 3GB-cap accounts. If their 8meg lines actually ran at the advertised speed (by all accounts at peak time they're no faster than dialup; I'm on a legacy 512 account still and have been hanging onto it to avoid caps and even harsher traffic-shaping) you could use your month's allowance in well under an hour.

Sometimes reading the internet is like a constant series of reminders that the UK is a fucking dismal place where everything costs at least twice as much as anywhere else despite being crammed full of ridiculous restrictions and inadequacies that nowhere else has to put up with. But at least we don't tip, right?

and where would that be? (serious question, in the continental US)

My apartment, for one. I've switched from Comcast to RCN since I moved in here, because Comcast was jerking me around over billing and service both. I was kind of like, hey, I know you're Comcast adn you have a big swinging Comcastic dick, but I have another option here! Oh, that felt good.

But at least we have a billion crap DSL providers to chose from!

x-post

Bethere.co.uk, have an uncapped, unshaped account. it's lovely.

#5 I can't imagine capping @ 250 gigs per month- if you are an online gamer or watch youtube with any regularity you are screwed-

(((Incidentally, RCN: recommended. Better channels, for one thing -- Turner Classic Movies should *always* be standard, IMO. Even though I eventually cancelled TV because I never turned the thing on, then added a few extra bucks to my broadband bill for a dedicated IP on top of my stupid-fast internet connection, slapped some server software into an old machine, and... well, hell, you can see why I never watch TV.

Off course all of this is annoying and off topic if you can't get RCN. But if you can, do! They're nice and they should have more money so they can be more places.)))

RCN is kinda like this:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i191/fluxion23/2489223471_dba7932dac_o.jpg

Chiiiill.

(Sorry, I've been looking for an excuse to post that. Julia, being sarcastic after I sent it to her: "Funny how you were lighting a cigarette exactly when that picture was taken." Indeed.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/katrina-vanden-heuvel-comcast-time-warner-doesnt-pass-the-smell-test/2014/02/18/4b00e120-9808-11e3-afce-3e7c922ef31e_story.html?hpid=z4

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/americans-we-love-paying-more-for-less.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/23/comcasts-deal-with-netflix-makes-network-neutrality-obsolete/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/04/09/comcast-it-bothers-us-that-people-hate-our-customer-service/