Warning email from ISP about sharing copyright information???

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

I can't log in just now to find out what it's about but I've never had this before - I only ever share what I take to be public information, from public websites etc

Anybody else had this?

Your username: xxx

Dear XXX

Unfortunately we have received a complaint regarding copyrighted material that appears to have been shared from your connection. If you're not sure why this might have been received or would like more information regarding this please raise a query at portal.plus.net/wizard/index.html (click on Customer Services & Billing / Contact the Abuse Team).

We are legally required to advise you that you must take all reasonable precautions to ensure that no one (including you) uses the Service:
(a) fraudulently or in connection with a criminal offence;
(b) to send, knowingly receive, upload, download or use any material which is offensive, abusive, indecent, defamatory, obscene or menacing, or in breach of copyright, confidence, privacy or any other rights.

If you're aware that this is happening on your connection, please ensure you stop the sharing of the offending material.

Even if you're sure that nobody in your household has been sharing any copyrighted material the account holder is responsible for any and all use of the connection. Please ensure that if you use a wireless network that it is fully password protected and as secure as is possible. For more information on securing your networks and computers please see www.plus.net/support/broadband/wireless_broadband/secure_home_network.shtml

Best regards,

Plusnet Network Operations portal.plus.net

This email has been sent as it contains important information about your service from Plusnet.

thread on the plusnet forum about similar email

Did it actually say your name or account number or user name?

Thanks for that, bruffin - he got the identical email so obviously I will need to contact Plusnet to find out what's been done

Afaik our password still applies. No teenage children here - student son (who does have some dodgy habits ) was last home in April so it'll be me or DH I assume.

Thanks, BOOP - it was addressed to me correctly, I just Xed my name out

Don't assume that it's something that's only happened in the last few days. Depending on what it is that has been found and how, Plus Net may only have just been informed of something that happened several months ago. They should be able to tell you what it is you are alleged to have been sharing and when. You'll likely have a better idea then of who might be to blame.

Thanks, Howard. It could well be a son then (I have 2, both over 21, both silly about the internet. If it's one of them I'll dob him in)

I have sent a message asking for details. The acknowledgement says average response time is about 36 hours so I shall wait patiently

They've probably been downloading dodgy music/TV or films.

Very likely

It's what they do

I've had the reply from plusnet.

It was 2 movies (Wolf of Wall Street & Lego Movie - an interesting combination I thought ) on BitTorrent (?) in April.

DS2 held his hands up, & says he won't do it again. Supposedly he had started downloading them at his student house; they didn't finish & just sort of hung around until he got back here when they did.

I don't know if this is accurate but anyway I've threatened to cut off his wifi at home if he does it again (& suggested he doesn't do it anywhere else either...)

I don't know if this is accurate

It could well be. That's the way Torrent usually works. If a download doesn't finish it will keep trying until it gets the rest of the file no matter how long it takes.

It's plausible. Your sanction of blocking his wifi access if he does it again is important.

Torrents are technically awesome and have lots of legitimate uses. One of their illegitimate uses is for downloading movies etc. The problem with torrents from a legal point of view is that if you download something using a torrent client (such as BitTorrent) then you are also advertising yourself as capable of downloading it to other people. It's the way torrents work.

Downloading copyrighted material yourself is legally risky. Making copyrighted material available for other people to download is legally much riskier. Him using BitTorrent on your home Wifi to download copyrighted material puts you, the payer of your broadband bills, potentially at risk of prosecution for making copyrighted material available for download. It sounds like PlusNet are giving you fair warning.

Thanks, both

Howard, I will copy & paste your torrent information into an email so he understand the issue properly!