Got caught illegally downloading Sex in the City 2, what should I do?

Question

I used a torrent from piratebay on saturday and just received an email last night saying this:

DMCA Infringement Notice


Apogee has recently received a complaint from a copyright holder (included below), alleging that you are distributing protected works. We are required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to take these complaints very seriously. If, in fact, you are engaging in the downloading, uploading, or other unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials you may also be at risk for being sued by the copyright holder or a representative of the copyright holder, pursuant to the DMCA.

Since this is your first notice of an offense, Apogee is required to notify you of this alleged violation and request that you remove the materials from your computer, and cease and desist trading or sharing of their material. You may notify Apogee by replying to this email stating what actions have been taken or if you dispute this allegation. Apogee will then anonymously forward your response to the copyright holder.

If you do not submit a response and/or another alleged violation occurs involving the same account, you may be subject to more serious penalties, including the long-term termination of your ResNet/Internet account with no refund.

Please use your online services responsibly. Remember, copyright infringement is illegal and can have very significant legal ramifications. A copy of this email may also be sent to the group at your College or University that handles Internet abuse allegations.

Thank you for your attention to the urgent matter. For questions, please call 1-877-478-8865.

Respectfully,
Apogee Customer Service

o;?Monday, October 25, 2010


RE: Unauthorized Distribution of the Copyrighted Motion Picture Entitled
Sex and the City 2


Dear Apogee Telecom Designated Agent:

We are writing this letter on behalf of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
("Warner Bros.").

We have received information that an individual has utilized the
below-referenced IP address at the noted date and time to offer downloads of
copyrighted motion picture(s) through a "peer-to-peer" service, including such
title(s) as:

Sex and the City 2

The distribution of unauthorized copies of copyrighted motion pictures
constitutes copyright infringement under the Copyright Act, Title 17 United
States Code Section 106(3). This conduct may also violate the laws of other
countries, international law, and/or treaty obligations.

Since you own this IP address, we request that you immediately
do the following:

1) Contact the subscriber who has engaged in the conduct described above and
take steps to prevent the subscriber from further downloading or uploading
Warner Bros. content without authorization; and

2) Take appropriate action against the account holder under your Abuse
Policy/Terms of Service Agreement.

On behalf of Warner Bros., owner of the exclusive rights to the copyrighted
material at issue in this notice, we hereby state, that we have a good faith
belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized
by Warner Bros., its respective agents, or the law.

Also, we hereby state, under penalty of perjury, under the laws of the State
of California and under the laws of the United States, that the information in
this notification is accurate and that we are authorized to act on behalf of
the owner of the exclusive rights being infringed as set forth in this
notification.

Please direct any end user queries the following.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Attn: Worldwide Anti-Piracy
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91522
818.954.3091 b phone
[e-mail] b email


Kindly include the Case ID 1261477586, also noted above, in the subject line
of all future correspondence regarding this matter.

We appreciate your assistance and thank you for your cooperation in this
matter. Your prompt response is requested.

Respectfully,

A Kempe
Enforcement Coordinator
MediaSentry


What does it mean?? What should I say back to them? I wasn't intentionally distributing the work, but I guess I never turned off the sharing option. I'm 18 years old, I don't want to go to jail, and neither I nor my parents have enough money to go to court or pay any fines. Please help!

Answer 1

(1) Since this is your first notice of an offense, Apogee is required to notify you of this alleged violation and request that you remove the materials from your computer, and cease and desist trading or sharing of their material. You may notify Apogee by replying to this email stating what actions have been taken or if you dispute this allegation. Apogee will then anonymously forward your response to the copyright holder.



YOu do what Apogee asks and hope that's the end of it.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

Got caught illegally downloading Sex in the City 2, what should I do?

I used a torrent from piratebay on saturday and just received an email last night saying this:



DMCA Infringement Notice





Apogee has recently received a complaint from a copyright holder (included below), alleging that you are distributing protected works. We are required by the Digital...

Answer 3

Here's my advice.

1) Don't admit to anything.

2) Write them back and say the following

a) You are sorry that there was this inconvenience. Notice how vague this is. You're sorry that something bad may have happened somewhere, somehow.

b) You have double checked that your computer is free of all copyrighted materials.

c) You are able to assist them in resolving any further questions regarding copyrighted materials, if needed.

3) If you haven't already delete the file and other other copyrighted material using this tool.

http://system-cleaner.comodo.com/



It's a registry cleaner and does a lot of things. One function is the scrubber. It will completely wipe out anything you delete such that if they took your laptop they couldn't find traces of it. Be careful with it. You can really screw things up if you delete the wrong thing. If you've already deleted the file, then you can use that tool to delete the folder that it was in. Maybe that would help.

http://system-cleaner.comodo.com/



4) Stop watching Sex in the City. That show's trash.



5) Don't admit to them that you downloaded anything. If they want to sue, leave the burden of proof on them. Don't give them a letter that clearly states that you are guilty. That's like giving someone a free signed blank check and they can just fill in the numbers. Don't make it easy for them to sue you, or they'll be more likely too.

Answer 4

This happens quite often because companies will either get someone to upload their content for download on sites, or directly do it themselves to catch someone like you. Or some of the time they will hire people to sit there and track their movies all day. Must be a hell of a job lol.



Basically it means that Warner Bros. sent whoever your Internet provider is (Apogee in this case) their template email concerning downloading of their copyrighted materials, Sex and the City 2. Thousands of these emails go out all the time and 90 percent of the time its just a scare tactic so that way people stop downloading.



Because of the file sharing you got tagged for "illegal distribution" or rather your IP. Since your IP is owned by Apogee they are being held responsible for your actions, to an extent. Now it would be in bad interest for Apogee to just flat out sue you for breaching any type of contractual agreement under their policies concerning downloading abuse because then many of their customers would be afraid to use their service. So their first step of action is to basically warn you. A slap on the wrist for your inappropriate behavior and tell you to stop. On the other hand, Warner Bros. is a different story and could show up at your house any second.



Most likely they won't though, because imagine how many of these things get sent out. Its comparable to the cameras used on the freeway in Arizona to take pictures of speeders and send tickets to their homes. People realized they didn't have to pay them, and there isn't enough money to go out and serve over 100000 people their speeding "tickets", and that why many of the cameras are shut down. What a waste of goddamn money



Anyway back on topic, stop sharing the file, make sure your torrent downloader isn't sharing any other files, and if you feel the need notify apogee that you'vee done so. They caught you because your sharing the file not necessarily that its on your computer. Which seems paradoxical but, then again that's the intricacies of law and terminology at work. This is another completely separate issue though. Lets just stick to the basics of what your situation is.





ALSO: To the guy talking about TPB getting shut down. Get out of here dude lol, They'ree not doing anything illegal under Swedish law and therefore DCMA doesn't even apply to what they do. The won't be shut down anytime soon and the last time they got raided it was down for 3 days. Now its back up and stronger than ever.

Answer 5

Sex And The City Torrent

Answer 6

What to do? This is easy. Delete the file from your computer, as they've asked. Send them the e-mail saying you've done this. And then stop doing it.



Whether or not you'd get sued for future illegal firesharing isn't really your first issue: it's that your ISP will cancel your service. They've made that much clear and they'll do it if they get another complaint.

Answer 7

Do what the letter says. It tells you what action you should take. Mainly, DON'T DO IT AGAIN!!!



You are not the brightest bulb on the string, are you? With all the news about PirateBay going on, and them getting shut down every few months, that would be the LAST place you would want to go to illegally download content. This site is being heavily monitored to catch people. Stay far away from the site.

Answer 8

The actions you need to take are spelled out in the letter.

You need to delete all files that you downloaded.

You need to delete the torrent software from your system

You need to make sure anything that is on your computer legally is not shared via torrent, FTP or other technology

You need to reply to the e-mail indicating you have taken the above steps.

Answer 9

Do what they say or they'll sue the pants off you.



If people like you bought your movies and software legally like the rest of us you wouldn't get letters like that.

Answer 10

Relax. Does it say you're going to jail? No, so don't worry about it.



If you just stop sharing it and delete it I don't think you'll have any problems. That's all they want.



And by the way, why would you want to watch that vile filth?

Answer 11

It means delete all of the content associated with that account and make a new one.

Answer 12

Your not going to Jail. People always send stuff like that.

Answer 13

It means what it says. Do it.

Answer 14

It's all a scare tactic. Download whatever you want.