Hello.
I wasn't sure if I should post this in General or Off-Topic, but I thought it was kind of important for people to see it so I decided to post it here.
My ISP received this e-mail from the Motion Picture Assocation after I used Bit Torrent to download your Super Metroid speed run (which I really enjoyed):
I don't know if anyone else has been receiving these, but perhaps you may want to take up a complaint with the Motion Picture Association over this.
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
Location: Over there!
MPAA = retarded.
They think you downloaded the film 'Speed', but it is obvious that this isn't the case simply from looking at the filename.
Tell this to your ISP, and then sue the MPAA for harassment.
Edit: Hell... let's throw in 'Causing undue stress' as well. I'm sure being falsely accused of breaking the law is having a very severe emotional impact on you and your family... *cough* :P
Thankfully I don't live in the USA.
MPAA needs their heuristics updated. Because you downloaded a file called supermetroid-speedrunv3-frenom.avi, their robots are assuming you are download a movie called "Speed".
If I did live in USA, I'd probably still ignore this "warning".
You can explain your ISP whatever you want. See if they care.
Edit: I agree with the previous poster.
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
Yeah, I've seen this before. It's the dreaded RIAA-MPAA robot that scours the internet looking for file names that loosely resemble movie and music names.
People have gotten these letters because of hosting small 12k files with the letter X in the file name (because obviously, they were episodes of X-Files).
Actually I have no idea what to do over this. Perhaps you could submit a story to Slashdot, I know they'd be all over this. I think these letters can probably be ignored.
Joined: 7/29/2004
Posts: 136
Location: Temple City, CA
I also agree with SprintGod, though lawsuits cost money unfortunately.
They also have just lied to your ISP in a legally binding document when stating:
"Also, we hereby state, that the information in this notification is accurate and that we are
authorized to act on behalf of the owners of the exclusive rights being infringed as set forth
in this notification. "
"How can you prove you exist? Maybe we don't exist..."
-Vivi Ornitier (Final Fantasy IX)
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
Too bad there's not much that can be done since with the legal system in the USA, whoever has more money will win any one of those types of lawsuits. At least that's what I understand, maybe there is a shred of justice but I haven't heard of it yet.
Joined: 9/11/2004
Posts: 10
Location: East Bay, California
Three words, and I'm reluctant to say them (we're over-litigious as it is): class-action lawsuit. I'm sure that the Ninth Circuit (you know, the one that ruled P2P services were legit in a remarkable retread of the Betamax decision) would NOT be amused by the recent actions of the MPAA bots (breaking and entering, felony trespass and eavesdropping on electronic devices). Also, I can guarantee you that kind of thing doesn't sit well with a lot of agencies - in particular the CIA and so on and so forth, THEY like to be the only ones spying. ;)
Unfortunately, the legal system doesn't quite work like that.
MPAA sent a C&D letter to the ISP, which basically says, "Cut this guy's access, or we'll sue you."
It acts as a -warning-, but is not something that is legally enforcable until someone actually goes to court and tries to get a judge to agree to it.
To secure his innocence, if MPAA took him to court, the guy would basically need to just show up in court with a CD rom of the file in question so that he could play it for the court. A matching file length would likewise be important.
Whichever automated program is sending these things out, it's horribly inaccurate; I recall seeing a C&D letter about a segment of source code, and a text adventure.
Further Misadventures of the MPAA and the ESA:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showwrap.cgi?case=idsa/DMCA-922932.casehttp://www.seebs.net/log/archives/000195.htmlhttp://gauley.ucs.indiana.edu/~cshields/dmca_letter
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
Location: Over there!
Suggestion: If possible, block the MPAA from accessing this site and it's contents. That should stop them from bothering anyone else.
MPAA IP Ranges:
63.199.57.96 - 63.199.57.111
63.199.57.120 - 63.199.57.127
64.60.194.0 - 64.60.194.7
64.166.187.128 - 64.166.187.158
67.125.49.192 - 67.125.49.199
81.4.78.0 - 81.4.78.255
194.183.226.144 - 194.183.226.151
194.183.226.192 - 194.183.226.223
198.70.114.0 - 198.70.114.255
208.49.164.0 - 208.49.164.255
208.50.66.224 - 208.50.66.255
Taken from this list:
http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/pipexdsl/o/aoxw32/BlueTack/antip2p.txt
I don't know how to ban IP ranges in BitTorrent tracker. Maybe firewall...
In any case, I want more confirmation that these are actually MPAA's addresses.
I don't like the idea of blocking anyone (since I'm not sharing anything illegal here), but I think I can't support any organization in their actions that may cause problems for users of ISPs that could become scared of formal-looking lies.
Look into a program called peerguardian.
It blocks a bunch of "evil" ip addreses. The MPAA is almost certainly on it. Not sure if you can adresses to it though. I think my computer takes a performance hit when running it though.
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
Location: Over there!
The list I linked is the one that PeerGuardian uses :)
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/
Lots of info here, and it's the source of the aforementioned IP list.
http://www.methlabs.org/
PeerGuardian. Nuff said.
They sent me the same thing! Only.. their warning was accurate. I got nailed for downloading Dogma.. Ah well, such is life.
Hilarious on your end, though.
-Oz.
If practice makes perfect, but nobody's perfect, why practice?
Thanks for the replies, everybody. I feel somewhat satisfied in knowing that people are blocking the MPAA's IPs from their torrents.
I did immediately contact my ISP regarding the matter, but they have yet to reply. It seems as though they aren't going to do anything about it and just wanted to let me know that they received a complaint.
I don't live in the USA, but I've heard that the MPAA is currently hunting down Australian internet users.
One of my internet friends just notified me of an article posted on www.hardocp.com that I thought that you might find amusing:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,39020645,39167160,00.htm
I might consider legal action depending on how that turns out :D
The only semi-amusing story about the RIAA I know is that Hilary Rosen, the CEO and president of the RIAA from 1988 to 2003, officially resigned in January 2003 because of the conflict of interest between her job at the RIAA (limit rights) and her lesbian partner's job as the head of the Human Rights Campaign (extend rights). She chose to resign as president in order to spend more time with her family (the aforementioned partner, Elizabeth Birch, and their twin daughters).
someone is out there who will like you. take off your mask so they can find you faster.
I support the new Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun.
i sugest you all get protowall insted of peer guardian you will see a tremendous drop in reasourse use and it blocks more protocalls such as udp often used with fileshareing i dont know the url so have fun finding it
ps dont get version 2. the last version of 1 is the best