What does ISP REALLY mean?

I got a letter from my ISP today that had a section that disturbed me somewhat, and I'd like to share it with you all....

Quote:

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Regarding Copyright Infringement: As an ISP provider, it has
been brought to our attention that some of our customers have
reproduced, distributed or transmitted unauthorized copies of
copyrighted motion pictures in violation of Title 17 of the Copyright
Act US Code Section 106(3). This conduct may also violate the laws
of other countries, international law, and/or treaty obligations.
Most of the unauthorized distribution of said material has occurred
thru a "peer-to-peer" service. "Peer-to-peer" service involves
two persons transferring information (in this case copyrighted movies)
from one computer to another. This situation is also being closely
monitored and anyone who may be participating in this activity should
cease immediately.

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Hmmmmm....could it be that my ISP has gotten a letter from Hilary and Co. or are they politely warning me of the changing climate that was caused by last weeks Verizon ruling? Regardless of the cause, I am disturbed by the mention of the word "monitored"....it gives me a creepy Orwellian type of feeling if you know what I mean. I pay my ISP for 768/128 ADSL service (though due to my proximity to the DSLAM it tends to be a bit quicker), a 24/7 connection with no specified limitations on traffic. I tend to feel what I do and/or where I go is MY business. So, for that matter, is whatever software I use and yet here I have an ISP implying that there is an entire GENERE that is now illegal for me to use. Does ISP now stand for Internet Service Police?

Well, the ISP's around the globe dont want publicity of someone being arrested using their service. Your ISP is probably just worried that someone on their service is doing something illegal, and wlill be caught, so they distribute that email out to everyone warning them. They probably just saw that some of you all had p2p ports open or something to the extent and got suspicious. however they could also be part of a n internet task force so to speak to where they get paid to monitor that crap to keep people from sharing files for free.. dont ask me though, im too opinionated.

allenb1963,

I'm going to have a stab in the dark here, my guess is that this would be in response to a generic letter sent to all ISP's across the land or an initiative undertaken by your ISP as a result of this ruling.

A butt covering exercise - in the event of a customer being caught they could respond, .... "we warned our customers, we told them they should stop, (show them the email) and thank you for bringing this to our attention, we will cancel their account immediately .....". Basically, placing the onus of responsibility back onto the customer and installing a legal backdoor for themselves - not that you can blame them or that it would work, but I am sure they have had legal advice on this.

On reading the letter, it mentions "monitored" - I dont think any ISP will be doing the monitoring, the corporate giants have enough "spies" out there scouring the web now. It appears to me to be a friendly warning that they don't want to have to "sell out" any of their customers, if served with a warrant seeking the info and that certain activities are being watched.

Why I form this opinion is that they are not demanding you stop, just that you SHOULD cease immediately. They just knocked the ball back into your court - you play it any way you want, but you have been warned.

Will be interesting if anyone from other ISP's have received similar emails.

ISP - Internet Service Provider..
so its kindda silly callin an ISP, ISP Provider. its like the words "ATM Machine" since ATM means Automatic Teller Machine.

in short, ISP provides u internet services. like AOL or ihug or optusnet. etc bla bla bla

Hmmmm....where above did I specify that I had been "charged" with anything?

Quote:

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it seems like ur being charged for copyright infingement

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no, it seems you are being unfairly judgmental of me given that EVERYONE who uses my ISP got this letter. I didn't post this to defend P2P, but rather to express my feelings about my ISP dictating what software I can or cannot use. Banning the use of software (which seems to be the implication in this case) just because it *could* be used illegally is a type of censorship and sets a prededent that I do not particularly want to embrace. Now would you care to step out into the light and offer a rebuttal?

That's kinda odd, that your ISP would judge the application's your computer own's and operates. That's really none of their buisness IMO unless it is damaging them, or doing something totally illegal. I'm also not defending p2p program's either, but I just don't think your ISP should be nosy like that. Perhap's contacting them asking why, or something you guy's could work out would help, as I can see why this is annoying. ;)

EDIT: Umm.. yeah, that's kinda weird. I barely see where it say's him being charged with anything period, or anything really involving copyright infringement. allenb1963: Suck's you were negged on that post, but I highly doubt your "negger" will come into the light.

I think it is important to remember that in the Verizon case an ISP was forced to surrender its logs which helped track down one person who was considered active enough to be pursued. The ISP went to court to fight the order but was eventually ruled against. All ISP's keep logs of activity and this is not the first time that those logs have been used in a court case. This is, however, the first time that the logs were used to find a person rather than the logs of a person being extracted after a charge was made against them (e-mail threats etc).

I think it is very welcome that your ISP informed its users. Many people are not up to date on some of the privacy battles going on with the internet. Your ISP took the extra step to make sure you were aware that currently the law considers this P2P sharing of Copyright material illegal and an infringement. Maybe this was to cover themselves but I think it is more likely that they are trying to be helpful and are warning you that your usage can be used against you. I would lay bet that they are as opposed to this as most of us here. It isn't the ISP monitoring your usage you need to worry about, it is the other agencies that are striving to get access to the data which has long been considered private but not privileged and will soon be far more public than it should be unless the current trend is halted in some manner.

Orwellian, you bet, the courts have shown that Big Band Brother is watching and he can use private accounts to track you down.