Spectrum Internet service provider warning

[mh1313]

I received the below message from my ISP (Spectrum, a div. of Time-Warner).

It's possible -- ahem -- that my account may have been used for "Torrenting".

The more important question is this:
I mostly use std. (non-Torrent) file-sharing hosts ... and have so for over a decade, all with the same provider. And I simply use my browser to download (no peer-to-peer or Jdownloader, etc.). I assume that is a safe, non-flaggable method of FSing?

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Dear Spectrum Internet Customer:

It has been brought to our attention that your Spectrum Internet service was recently used to improperly copy or share copyrighted content such as music, movies, video or software using Peer-to-Peer or Torrenting software.

As an In ternet Service Provider, Spectrum is obligated to comply with copyright laws, as expressly stated in our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP): Spectrum.com/reziaup. By using Spectrum service, you agreed to this AUP. It is possible that this activity has occurred without your permission or knowledge by a minor who may not fully understand copyright laws, by an unauthorized user, or even as a result of a computer virus. We encourage you to install Spectrum Security Suite software to help prevent viruses. Security Suite is included free of charge with your Spectrum Internet service. To download Security Suite on your computer, visit Spectrum. net/security.

Please take immediate action to stop this unauthorized activity. Repeated violation of Spectrumsinglequotedelims AUP may result in remedial action, up to and including suspension of your Spectrum Internet service and loss of any discounts and promotional rate related to your service.

You can request the notice we received from the owner of copyrighted content at https://notices.spectrum.com. You will be prompted to give your account number and the reference number listed at the top of this letter.

If you believe that the notice you have received is in error, or the activities that are complained of are not copyright violations, you may submit a counter-notification. Visit Spectrum.net/DMCA to learn more about how to submit a counter-notification.

We have not shared any information about you with the copyrighted content owner, nor will we unless we receive a subpoena or are otherwise required to do so by law - or if you choose to file a counter-notification.

You can learn more about this alert and copyright violation by calling 1-855-222-7342, Monday through Sunday, 6 AM - 9 PM (MT).


Sincerely,

Spectrum Customer Security Operations Center

Spectrum.net/security

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[Caballero]

Just pay for a VPN and you're good...

[mh1313]

I use a VPN for my browser. But I wasn't VPN was possible for direct connection (i.e., peer-to-peer or qBittorrent, etc.). Is this what you mean?

[Caballero]

https://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-services-keep-you-anonymous-in-2019/

[anon]

I use a VPN for my browser. But I wasn't VPN was possible for direct connection (i.e., peer-to-peer or qBittorrent, etc.). Is this what you mean?

The "VPN" in your browser is actually just an encrypted proxy with an easily-recognizable label for marketing purposes. Caballero's advice is sound, but if your usage patterns or budget don't justify paying for a (real) VPN, you can try using an updated blocklist, minimizing or eliminating seeding after finishing a download, and not forwarding your ports. All but the first one are very ill-adviced for P2P, but may be considered acceptable in this context.

The biggest question is, if you use BitTorrent so little, how come this happened in the first place? At least they give you a link to download the notice they received and see what you have supposedly downloaded.

[mh1313]

I use a VPN for my browser. But I wasn't VPN was possible for direct connection (i.e., peer-to-peer or qBittorrent, etc.). Is this what you mean?

The "VPN" in your browser is actually just an encrypted proxy with an easily-recognizable label for marketing purposes. Caballero's advice is sound, but if your usage patterns or budget don't justify paying for a (real) VPN, you can try using an updated blocklist, minimizing or eliminating seeding after finishing a download, and not forwarding your ports. All but the first one are very ill-adviced for P2P, but may be considered acceptable in this context.

The biggest question is, if you use BitTorrent so little, how come this happened in the first place? At least they give you a link to download the notice they received and see what you have supposedly downloaded.
Thx for your reply.
About my "little" use...
I think the problem MAY be related to the fact that I left qBitTorrent running in the background. And I did notice seeding activity (uploads).
Another thing that seems to have disappeared (now that I've deactivated qBitTorrent), is much improved reliability of my router. I didn't realize this until I deactivated qBitTorrent ... but in the few months it was running, I would have to soft-start (power cycle) the house router 2-3x/day.
This might have been some sort of anti-torrent action by Spectrum, but they never notified me of their actions. Weird! If the ISP detects P2P torrenting, and it is against their TOS, they should send their customers a warning ... instead of waiting for copyright complaints.

[anon]

About my "little" use...
I think the problem MAY be related to the fact that I left qBitTorrent running in the background. And I did notice seeding activity (uploads).

Well, then you were basically asking for it ;)


Another thing that seems to have disappeared (now that I've deactivated qBitTorrent), is much improved reliability of my router. I didn't realize this until I deactivated qBitTorrent ... but in the few months it was running, I would have to soft-start (power cycle) the house router 2-3x/day.

If your router slows down or locks up when torrents are running, then you either have a very old router (with very old firmware) or horrible client settings. The latter is most likely.


This might have been some sort of anti-torrent action by Spectrum, but they never notified me of their actions. Weird! If the ISP detects P2P torrenting, and it is against their TOS, they should send their customers a warning ... instead of waiting for copyright complaints.

Torrents and other P2P filesharing aren't illegal, using them for unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content is. Furthermore, it's not a provider's responsibility to preemptively monitor their networks for copyright infringement, and doing so would mean extra effort and cost for little gain, not to mention the privacy implications and the fact that HTTPS trackers and BT protocol encryption may render it impossible in any case. Imagine a phone company that records and listens to every call in case they were a death threat or a drug dealer arranging a sale... same thing here.

[shaina]

Anon:

So what does trigger those messages you get from your ISP ??

I got one a long time ago and just ignored it, and yes i was using Torrents to get something i couldn't find on Usenet at the time. But that was also a cause of using a shitty Usenet provider at the time and i have resolved that:), and really have not used Torrents for a very long time.....

[dickpeters]

I basically got the same message from att and I did do it though. I normally download a program if I can find it, any new dvd-r's if there are ever any, and some music. Not doing everyday, but I think that day I got two movies and they sent a message about one of them. Like it was my first strike and listed my ip, who reported me and stuff like that. Need a vpn I guess but I really don't download that much anymore because there are never dvd-r's release, if there is, I try to get them on usenet and then the other stuff is just random when I need to update something or look for a new cd that is out.

My thing though is, if they busted me for downloading it, they or they were paying somebody to upload it so they could find people doing it!

[anon]

So what does trigger those messages you get from your ISP ??


My thing though is, if they busted me for downloading it, they or they were paying somebody to upload it so they could find people doing it!

The most usual way is having you connect to one of their monitored nodes (or viceversa) and download or upload data just like a regular peer. At that point, it's trivial to log your IP, what was transferred and when. Needless to say, they have permission from the copyright holders to leech and seed those torrents :P

There are other methods like DHT scraping and peerlist grabbing, but they only provide circumstantial evidence (in the latter case, a lot of trackers inject non-existent peers in responses, so it may not be evidence of any kind at all) and are not used anymore as far as I know.

[Pyrano]

I have just received the exact same email today. I am very puzzled because I sit behind a VPN and have been for more than a year now. So I don't understand how they could pin something on me. The other thing I am wondering is what did they see me sharing. One one hand I want to know what happened, I am wondering if someone else in my house did share something without VPN, or do they have new tools to allow them to see everything you are doing regardless of VPN. And then, on the other hand, I feel that requesting the notice from the owner of the infringed copyright is just as good as an admission of guilt. So I am very hesitant. Any suggestions, thoughts on how to deal with that?

[MacGyverSG1]

When I got a letter in the mail from C0mast, it showed date, time, and file name.

It was my brother that downloaded an EMINEM song. Not sure how he downloaded it (torrent, http, youtube), he denied doing it. No one living in my house at the time listened to EMINEM, plus they knew how to properly acquire music. I told him to just ask me first, next time (if there is one). I'll get it without any problems. I've never had a problem with the DMCA before or after. Family...:frusty:

[shaina]

When I got a letter in the mail from C0mast, it showed date, time, and file name.

It was my brother that downloaded an EMINEM song. Not sure how he downloaded it (torrent, http, youtube), he denied doing it. No one living in my house at the time listened to EMINEM, plus they knew how to properly acquire music. I told him to just ask me first, next time (if there is one). I'll get it without any problems. I've never had a problem with the DMCA before or after. Family...:frusty:

Heeeey MacGyver, nice to see you alive and kicking buddy....:)

[Gribley]

next time (if there is one). I'll get it without any problems. I've never had a problem with the DMCA before or after. Family...:frusty:


My girl has same kind of "issues" I wish they knew enough to use my VPN connection but that seems to be beyond today's youth :S

[anon]

I have just received the exact same email today. I am very puzzled because I sit behind a VPN and have been for more than a year now. So I don't understand how they could pin something on me. The other thing I am wondering is what did they see me sharing. One one hand I want to know what happened, I am wondering if someone else in my house did share something without VPN, or do they have new tools to allow them to see everything you are doing regardless of VPN. And then, on the other hand, I feel that requesting the notice from the owner of the infringed copyright is just as good as an admission of guilt. So I am very hesitant. Any suggestions, thoughts on how to deal with that?

I don't think requesting the notice is an admission of anything. Someone who didn't do it will want to know exactly what they're accused of. And someone who did will want to know if the accusation is accurate :shifty: In any case, knowing the specifics seems better than speculating what might have happened and why a VPN didn't protect you.


My girl has same kind of "issues" I wish they knew enough to use my VPN connection but that seems to be beyond today's youth :S

Well, you could make a separate VLAN just for her stuff with OpenVPN running at the gateway level. If unsuccessful, show some parental authority and tell her that if daddy is getting prison raped for having allegedly downloaded the latest Ariana Grande album, he won't be around to buy an iPhone 12. Problem solveded :stuart:

[shaina]

Well, you could make a separate VLAN just for her stuff with OpenVPN running at the gateway level. If unsuccessful, show some parental authority and tell her that if daddy is getting prison raped for having allegedly downloaded the latest Ariana Grande album, he won't be around to buy an iPhone 12. Problem solveded :stuart:

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

[HunterFoote]

Got the same thing. Sounds like a VPN is the way to go...

[MacGyverSG1]

next time (if there is one). I'll get it without any problems. I've never had a problem with the DMCA before or after. Family...:frusty:


My girl has same kind of "issues" I wish they knew enough to use my VPN connection but that seems to be beyond today's youth :S

Get a router that can be configured with a VPN. Then everything is protected.