Need advice on newsgroups & a few questions in general.

[SnuggleBunny]

I am not new to usenet, but not really usenet smart either so who better to ask then you all it appears. I have/had a couple problems recently & want advice as to how to fix things so it doesn't happen again. Long story short is within 8 months my ISP (Mediacom) has became the internet cops they think. I have been accused of 2 copyright violations. The first one I got reversed as I proved to them the IP of the complaint was not my IP on the date & time of the complaint by Universal. I just got lucky in the fact my modem had quit & I got new modem & new IP 3 days before I was supposed to have downloaded a TV show. Who ever got my old IP was a bad boy LOL.

2 days ago was my 2nd for a game. I can't get this one reversed, they think I am lying so it remains on my account. My son already owns the game in question & swears he didn't do it, and I believe him. ALTHOUGH I know he has used torrents in the past even after I warned him to stay away from them. I do not want a 3rd violation so this leads me to my questions.


Myself, I use Giganews, NewsBin Pro, wireless router with password & no neighbors close enough to get a signal from me I don't think anyway. I am fine only downloading from Giganews from now on as I only very rarely go anywhere else anyway.
Can my ISP track things I download from giganews? Can a copyright owner track stuff I get from giganews back to my IP? I am fine with only downloading from Giganews from now on, but I just want to make sure it is secure, because a 3rd violation I won't get my account back again. I currently have the unlimited platinum package is all, am I secure now? Do I need to add on 256 SSL? Do I need to upgrade & get Vyrp VPN? Will adding these to my giganews account make me secure? Any help or suggestions anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated.

[zot]

no neighbors close enough to get a signal from me I don't think anyway

I've found that using a decent directional antenna, I can pick up a distant neighbor's *indoor* wifi signal from a (line-of-sight) half-kilometer away easily. Also, the older wi-fi encryption schemes can easily be cracked.



Can my ISP track things I download from giganews?

Only if they sniffed the (unencrypted) connection, which would probably not be legal anyway. Enabling SSL encryption would make potential eavesdropping by the ISP virtually impossible.

But in reality, no internet service provider would even care what you download anyway. They only pass along complaints they receive from copyright enforcers.

Downloading from Usenet could be considered as close to 100% safe as it is possible to get. In contrast, whenever you use Bittorrent, you are making your act of downloading visible to the whole world, and anyone can send you a nastygram through your ISP.


Can a copyright owner track stuff I get from giganews back to my IP?
absolutely not.


I currently have the unlimited platinum package is all, am I secure now? Do I need to add on 256 SSL?
You must be an old-time Giganews user. SSL was already added to Platinum accounts several months ago.

But understand that Supernews (supernews.com/super-special) is owned by Giganews and is virtually identical to the Giganews Platinum plan (same company, same service) but less than half the price.



Also, make sure your son has an alternative to (unprotected) Bittorrent, so he won't be tempted to ever go back. If he finds Usenet too difficult, there are also direct-download sites like warez-bb.org.

[cola]

The only times ISPs care about the content is when they're getting DMCA takedown notices from copyright holders. Otherwise they only care about how much you're downloading. As far as copyright owners tracking you through Giganews, won't happen. They don't track what you download and companies cant go get a court order for a fishing expedition. I would go with the supernews superspecial that zot pointed out. SSL is good for peace of mind, but using the Vyrp VPN is probably overkill and won't be helping you.

[apes]

How recently did Mediacom start this?
http://www.pcworld.com/article/235261/isps_fight_piracy_meet_the_six_strikes.html

I saw something like this happen in an asian country I used to live. It didn't last long before they realized how damaging it was to themselves and started to ignore their own rules.

[SnuggleBunny]

Thanks cola, thanks zot. Apes not sure when mediacom started being the internet police, but heck this article you linked above gives you more chances than mediacom gets. They have a "3 strikes your out policy". First time is a warning letter & disconnected until you call them. 2nd time disconnect until you sign a form of receipt confirming you received the warning letter USPS & sent back USPS, which I was told usually about 7-10 working days turn around time. 3rd time your out, perm banned from any mediacom service. I would love to tell mediacom what they can kiss, (for other reason's also, the service flat stinks, the 20 MB connections are so over utilized you don't even have internet half the time, nights & weekends you can forget it. We upgraded to 50 MB DOCSIS & are lucky to pull right at 19MB with ping times over 100MS most of the time). BUT they run a monopoly here & the only other choices are dsl, which I have been told stinks worse in this area, old dial up, hugesnet or wild blue sat. As you can see I can't afford a 3rd warning.

I don't think my router is what would be considered an older one. It is a Netgear wireless-n 300 & the security is set at WPS-PSK[TKIP]+WPA2-PSK[EAS]. The router takes a pass to access it to get this info, (changed from the basic admin crap), then it has a network name assigned with a passphrase to "connect" for internet. This passphrase you need for a laptop to have wireless connection we changed after the first warning in March, to something as long as the router will allow, (16 digits I think it is) & so messed up with it being numbers, uppercase & lower case I had to write it down on my important password notes (which I keep locked up in safe). The closest neighbors (of which I would suspect of anything, we live in a neighbor hood with mostly older retired people) is an apartment building probably 450 yards away.

Even stranger the first notice I got from Mediacom on March 1st was for what I believe is a TV show, named Parks & Recreation & reporting agency was NBC Universal. I had to google it to see what it was as I have never heard of it. If I were going to download TV it would definitly be some good blood, guts & gore, horror movie crap or at least a decent NCIS show LOL. This is the one we proved was not us by IP, but was a modem Mediacom removed from our house 3 days before. When the original modem was removed it was because for a 20 MB connection we were having utilization issues so bad we didn't even have internet half the time for about 4 months or so & after the upteenth complaint about it (per their our customer forum boards where IP's are logged in plain view each time with date), they gave us a new modem to shut us up. We used the logged IP that they themselves logged within the same hour of the download one night when I complained about the slow speeds on their forum board. The ip's in the DMCA letter & their logged IP's didn't match. This was my first warning, & was susposed to have been taken off my account & I was told it had been. NOW I have been told it never goes off your account, it is just noted "reversed" so it is not supposed to count against you.

The 2nd warning I got yesterday was for a game Metal Of Honor, not sure who the reporting agency was on this one as I have not gotten the official letter yet. The IP's on this one do match our IP. Time & date we would have been home. I just know myself or my husband didn't do it we would have been asleep. My son was here, but he & his friends all own the game & play all the time on playstation network, so I am 99% sure he is telling me the truth also, I have no reason to believe otherwise. I can't get this one off my account & with Mediacom's 3 strikes your out policy & being told even though the first one was reversed, proven not me it was considered a warning since they sent the DMCA letter.

We have enough computers I can set up my Giganews, the indexing sites all on one computer & we can all just use same computer & cue up what we need to so my son has no temptation for a torrent. We went through the torrent & how your IP is right there for anyone to see & I have had no reason to believe he has used one in ages probably over a year, but yes he is 21, temptation is there I know it is.

zot, I checked & yes my account does have SSL enabled, do I need to re do anything for it to work? be active? LIke I said, not completely newsgroup smart here. I know my login info for giganews. When I install newsbin pro I just put in the login in info, check my connections allowed & set it so it doesn't try to go over the allowed number of connection & I am done. Is their anything else I need to do on my end for SSL?

Thanks all.

[cola]

3 strike rules at ISPs have been pretty common for a long time.

[zot]

Wow, that's a detailed reply. Too bad I've been away. I hope this is not just a "drive by" post - and my reply won't be in vain ;)



zot, I checked & yes my account does have SSL enabled, do I need to re do anything for it to work? be active? LIke I said, not completely newsgroup smart here. I know my login info for giganews. When I install newsbin pro I just put in the login in info, check my connections allowed & set it so it doesn't try to go over the allowed number of connection & I am done. Is their anything else I need to do on my end for SSL?


Just check the "SSL" box in the server settings and set the port to 563 (or alternative SSL port number if preferred)

Newsbin Pro allows you to install the software on 3 computers. You might want to split the connections to 6 apiece so you don't run over the 20 connection limit -- assuming you ever use all 3 PCs at once to download off Giganews.