Notice of Copyright Infringement via Gmail?

I got this lovely Gmail email today from [email protected] that accused me of downloading a movie i have never heard of from a tracker I have never heard of. I'm only a member of a handful of private trackers and have only used newsgroups for the past 3 months or so. I was wondering how on earth they got my Gmail email account and linked that to so some random public tracker I have never heard of. My IP address is different now so I can't even check to see if it matches the one in the email but "DNS name" location was correct.

Does this look legit to you, and if so, why would they email me at a one of my several Gmail accounts I have? The email address they used isn't even the one I use for most of my torrent sites and my charter.net broadband account is not linked to any of my gmail accounts at all.

I don't have wireless internet access and am the only one that uses my computer.
What's the deal. The tracker was: http://torrent-download.to:5869/announce never heard of this tracker. File was: Meet Dave[2008]DvDrip R5[Eng] I Never downloaded this movie. Very strange.

[CODE]Dear Internet Access Subscriber:

Charter Communications ("Charter") has been notified by a copyright owner that your Internet account has been involved in the exchange of unauthorized copies of copyrighted material (music, movies, or software). We are enclosing a copy of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice that Charter received from the copyright holder.

It is possible that this activity has occurred without your permission or knowledge by an unauthorized user, a minor who may not fully understand the copyright laws, or even as a result of a computer virus. However, as a Charter Internet account owner, you can be held liable for this activity.

As a personal computer owner and a user of the Internet, we ask that you be aware of the following: Violations of federal Copyright law can result in civil and/or criminal liability, including payment of monetary damages, costs and attorneys' fees to the copyright owner. See 17 U.S.C. §§ 504-506. In addition, Charter's Acceptable Use Policy explicitly prohibits copyright infringement by Charter High-Speed Internet users. Specifically, Section 3 states:

NO COPYRIGHT OR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT
Customer will not use, or allow others to use, the Service to send or receive, or otherwise use any information which infringes the patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets or proprietary rights of any other person or entity. This includes, but is not limited to, digitization of music, movies, photographs or other copyrighted materials or software. Customer must obtain appropriate authorization from such other person or entity prior to sending, receiving or using such materials. Customer represents and warrants that Customer is the author and copyright owner and/or authorized licensee with respect to any hosted content and Customer further represents and warrants that no hosted content violates the trademark, copyright, domain name or intellectual property rights of any third party. Charter assumes no responsibility, and Customer assumes all risks regarding the determination of whether material is in the public domain, or may otherwise be used for such purposes.

Charter is registered under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA). Under the DMCA, copyright owners have the right to notify Charter if they believe that a Charter customer has infringed the copyright owner’s work(s). If Charter receives a notice from a copyright owner alleging any Customer has committed copyright infringement, Charter will notify the Customer of the alleged infringement. Charter may determine that Customer is a repeat copyright infringer if Charter learns that Customer has engaged in online copyright infringement on more than one occasion. Charter reserves the right to suspend or terminate the accounts of repeat copyright infringers.

We ask that you take immediate action to remove the infringing material from your computer and stop its exchange. If Charter continues to receive DMCA notices regarding your account, or if you violate any other clause of Charter's Acceptable Use Policy, we will have no choice but to terminate your account. You may view Charter's rules and policies at http://www.charter.com/site/policies.aspx.

If you need assistance in removing the referenced infringing material, please refer to the Security Center at http://www.charter.com.


If you have any questions about this matter, please contact us at 1-866-229-7286. Representatives will be available to take your call Monday through Friday 8am - 8pm, and Saturday and Sunday 8am - 5pm (CST).

Sincerely,

Charter High-Speed Internet Security Team
http://security.charter.com

===================

in the notice, where it lists the IP address, does it match up to your home IP address? if not, then it's a fake.

If it doesn't come to your ISP e-mail from your ISP why worry?

Anyways I don't think in canada we get such e-mails but from what I heard, many people get e-mails like that. How could they possibly prove that it was you anyways? For all you know, you had a trojan that allowed someone to take over your PC.

http://torrent-download.to:5869/announce

wtf does this tracker actually exist?

There is a link in there to the litigation resolution page. It's legit; even if you're not guilty.

Sometimes your ISP will ask for a contact email when you signup and you'll forget that you ever gave it to them.

Go to the page in the email and say that it is a mistake, they have an option for that. And I'd edit it out so no one uses it to falsely admit that you are guilty. It says you seeded for two days, from aug 10th-12th with said IP. Do you have that IP now, if so about hot long have you had it? If you have IP logs I'd be digging them up right now.

Hacked?

Do you have your DHT settings enabled in your client? :huh:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dunson

Hacked?

---

This could very well be. If you downloaded a trojan someone could have just used you as a proxy. Has your net been slow lately?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nemrod

Do you have your DHT settings enabled in your client? :huh:

---

He didn't download that movie.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nemrod

Do you have your DHT settings enabled in your client? :huh:

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eargasm

He didn't download that movie.

---

Sorry, my mistake. :blushing:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eargasm

There is a link in there to the litigation resolution page. It's legit; even if you're not guilty.

Sometimes your ISP will ask for a contact email when you signup and you'll forget that you ever gave it to them.

Go to the page in the email and say that it is a mistake, they have an option for that. And I'd edit it out so no one uses it to falsely admit that you are guilty. It says you seeded for two days, from aug 10th-12th with said IP. Do you have that IP now, if so about hot long have you had it? If you have IP logs I'd be digging them up right now.

---

My IP is different now, but it changes all the time.

I'm just tripping where they got my Gmail account from. It's not linked to my Charter.net account at all.

Did you send any emails on those days? Do you visit any websites/trackers that log ips and if you do can you ask them to look back at those days?

I'm willing to bet money that you gave your email address to your ISP and forgot, or someone else did it. Either way, the ISP usually has an email on file for you. One that you or someone else on the account provided for them.

Saying that, do you have anyone else in your home who uses a computer?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eargasm

Saying that, do you have anyone else in your home who uses a computer?

---

Nope, I'm the only one that uses this computer. I'm going to try and find some IP logs somewhere, if I downloaded the movie I can see getting a email or letter like this, but a movie I have never heard of from a tracker I have never heard of is strange.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by famous45

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eargasm

There is a link in there to the litigation resolution page. It's legit; even if you're not guilty.

Sometimes your ISP will ask for a contact email when you signup and you'll forget that you ever gave it to them.

Go to the page in the email and say that it is a mistake, they have an option for that. And I'd edit it out so no one uses it to falsely admit that you are guilty. It says you seeded for two days, from aug 10th-12th with said IP. Do you have that IP now, if so about hot long have you had it? If you have IP logs I'd be digging them up right now.

---

My IP is different now, but it changes all the time.

I'm just tripping where they got my Gmail account from. It's not linked to my Charter.net account at all.

---

I see no reason to doubt the notice's authenticity. It's very similar in nature to many other such letters from ISPs that I have come across. I don't see how it could benefit someone to try and trick you in this matter. If in doubt, you could always call you ISP as the letter suggest, to check up on the matter.

Otherwise, it's just a warning, not a notice of legal action.
Disregard it and be wiser about your actions in the future.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by famous45

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eargasm

Saying that, do you have anyone else in your home who uses a computer?

---

Nope, I'm the only one that uses this computer. I'm going to try and find some IP logs somewhere, if I downloaded the movie I can see getting a email or letter like this, but a movie I have never heard of from a tracker I have never heard of is strange.

---

So you only have one computer in your home?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eargasm

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by famous45

Nope, I'm the only one that uses this computer. I'm going to try and find some IP logs somewhere, if I downloaded the movie I can see getting a email or letter like this, but a movie I have never heard of from a tracker I have never heard of is strange.

---

So you only have one computer in your home?

---

Yes.

I don't think it's legitimate. They would have sent you a letter in the mail, and not mail a random gmail account. Also, they would have addressed the letter to your name, not 'Internet Access Subscriber'.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by integral

They would have sent you a letter in the mail

---

I doubt that, when I used public trackers way back in 03, the DMCA notices were by email.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by famous45

You may view Charter's rules and policies at http://www.charter.com/site/policies.aspx.

---

so you would think then that the page they refered you to would accutally be there policy page then, and not

"We’re Sorry – Page Not Found
The page you requested can not be found on our site. "


its actually here
http://www.charter.com/customers/sup...articleid=1948
http://www.charter.com/Visitors/Policies.aspx?Policy=10

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by famous45

If you have any questions about this matter, please contact us at 1-866-229-7286.

---

Problem solved.

that number is real :)

http://forum.mininova.org/lofiversio...234990748.html read that.. something like yours..

I got one of those notices once from Charter because of one of my roommates using eMule. The letter looked exactly like that, and it was sent to my GMail account, because that's the email address I had given in my contact information when subscribing to the service.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by integral

I don't think it's legitimate. They would have sent you a letter in the mail, and not mail a random gmail account. Also, they would have addressed the letter to your name, not 'Internet Access Subscriber'.

---

The OP had a link to baytsp.com - I clicked on it. It was very real. It had all the information from the email and a transaction ID.

There were three options; 1. I did it and will remove it from my computer, 2. I did it and will not remove it from my computer; and 3. This is a mistake with an explanation box.

The link has since been edited out, for obvious reasons.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eargasm

The link has since been edited out, for obvious reasons.

---

let me guess...


because at least 15 other ppl already clicked on "I did it and will not remove it from my computer;" :lol:

btw, is taht a real tracker? an open tracker?

1. It's legit
2. Don't worry, I print mine out and turn it into toilet paper.