Kingston Communications Spying on P2P!?

[gpbrown81]

Hi, just got a letter this morning from Kingston Communications which is the ISP Karoo in Hull.

 

Basically they've suspended my service under their "Acceptable Use Policy" for File Sharing - Notice of copyright infringement.

 

Their accusations are quite specific, especially when it comes to the information regarding the content downloaded. Their readout appears as follows:-

 

Title: *

Infringement Source: BitTorrent

Infringement Timestamp: 22 Jun 2008 13:10:11 GMT Infringement Last Documented: 22 Jun 2008 13:10:11 GMT

Infringer Username *

Infringing Filename: *

Infringing Filesize: 1938193503

Infringer IP Address: *

Infringer DNS Name: *

Infringing URL: tracker.bitreactor.to:2710/announce

 

*Items within are masked for my own privacy reasons, (who knows I might get suspended for typing it into a thread LOL).

 

I'm wondering if they're allowed to throw allegations like that at their customers, and if they are... how do they know if the content downloaded is actually copyrighted material? Do they take a copy of the file downloaded and open the zipped archive to check the contents of the file?

 

I am fuming at this, it's an invasion of my privacy, I'm now beginning to wonder if my ISP is reading my e-mails and monitoring my online browsing activity...

 

Can anybody shed some light on this issue and if KCOM are in breach of any privacy legislation, or just to tell me if they are justified in their actions.

 

Thanks,

 

Graham.

[Conniff]

The RIAA and it's British counterpart the BPI have been attempting to make ISPs responsible for the whole of the illegal download culture.

 

Although that is music, I would assume that the film industry are following every move and are in league with them. They just want someone responsible, someone to sue, it doesn't matter who, if they can't get the downloader, they want the ISP.

 

So in the light of that, I would say that yes they are entitled to take the action they have with you or it could close their business down.

When you think that they have asked up to £20,000 from a music downloader, what would they be asking from a business.

 

They have chased kids as young as 12 for downloading so have no scrupples at all, and the ISPs are afraid of this attitude.

[acegeordie]

Try using a program called "Peer Guardian 2", freely available on the net. This will block many thousands of dodgy RIAA/MPAA/BPI etc websites from contacting your P2P program and identifying you as a file sharer, it also scrambles your P2P programs attempts at connecting to other P2P IP addresses allowing you to file share anonymously (if thats what you might be doing, i can't condone illegal acts ).

 

I would like to know if passing the information about what you have downloaded onto a third party breaks any part of the data protection act? it seems like virgin (my broadband provider) are doing this with the BPI.

 

They (VIRGIN) are then sending threatening "cease and desist" letters to certain downloaders or they will have their service terminated!

 

Is it legal to threaten to or actually terminate a service to someone that has not been criminally convicted of file sharing?

 

Surely ISP's are contracted only to supply a connection to the Internet and not spy on the particulars of any data transfered?

Edited July 5, 2008 by acegeordie
correcting spelling

[locutus]

I belive it's the other way around acegeordie. If you upload with a P2P sharing program, RIAA and the BPI trace your IP back to the ISP (the 1st few numbers of an IP address are your ISP), and inform them that the user on IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx at time 00:00 on date 01/01/2009 uploaded filename.xxx (downloading it is hard to charge with anything whereas uploading is you distributing copyrighted material)

 

I agree Peer Guardian 2 is well recognised as a tool to assist your privacy whilst using peer to peer software (obviously not to infringe on any copyright issues, but to download copyright free things privatly).

[acegeordie]

I believe they (virgin broadband) are targeting users that are transferring large amounts of data...........they are not looking for proof of illegal activity but just the fact that your own IP address has transfered X amount of bytes of data!

 

THEREFORE (in their eyes) you are guilty of being an illegal file sharer and YOU WILL stop or have your connection terminated.

 

No proof is needed in their eyes or sought! it is up to you to prove your self innocent.

 

Bring it on!

[deusprime]

Hi, i recently attempted to connect to the internet, provided by karoo, and was confronted with a message saying i didnt have the correct level of access, long story short i phoned karoo and they said my account had been suspended on suspicion of copyright infringement and it was the owner of the copyrighted material that had filed the complaint. They are sending us a letter requiring us to sign, (and presumably admit copyright infringement) upon the signing and returning of this letter we they said they will resume our internet serveice... my question is what am i likely to be signing and what would the concequences be of essentially signing a confession

[Conniff]

There is no way you admit to anything. If they 'claim' you downloaded something, they have to prove it, and the capture of an IP address is not proof.

Whatever you do, don't sign it.

 

Remember, you are not guilty of anything unless a court of law says you are.

Edited February 5, 2009 by Conniff

[deusprime]

yeah that was my thinking on the matter, only problem is without signing i dont think they will reactivate my internet account and karoo has somewhat of a monopoly in hull when it comes to isp. still not sure on the legality of that either but when youre the only option you can do what you want i suppose

[Conniff]

But they can't just cut you off on an accusation, that will take a conviction, monopoly or no monopoly.

 

Really only you can deal with this as you know if you did what they say, but even if you did, I wouldn't give up without a fight and all proof they are making their judgement on.

 

Does BT not have any phone lines?

[deusprime]

yeah i agree im going wait and see what the letter says and if its just a small fine to karoo then its probably not worth the hastle to pursue any further. and as for BT nope apparently it would cost more for them to move in than they would make so the only phone lines in hull are from kingston communications. on a unrelated but interesting note all of the phone boxes here are cream instead of red because they are all owned by KC

[Conniff]

I can't believe what BT says there. I bet that if they moved in, 50% of the people would use their lines to go with another provider, there is so much choice out there.

[keypulse]

I can't believe what BT says there. I bet that if they moved in, 50% of the people would use their lines to go with another provider, there is so much choice out there.

 

I have difficulty believing anything BT says at the best of times; however I do think they've summed up their position pretty accurately in this case. They don't own any infrastructure whatsoever in Hull AFAIK. No exchanges, no equipment, no poles, no ducts, no cabling. The amount of work involved in supplying that would be vast and unlike the cable companies, at the end of the day they wouldn't even have a virtual monopoly over this type of infrastructure (as they do in the rest of the UK).

 

It does make me wonder though why KCom haven't been forced to open their exchanges to other Telcos/ISPs and allow them to use their infrastructure to provide services as BT have had to accross the UK :-?

[loantime]

I'm wondering if they're allowed to throw allegations like that at their customers, and if they are... how do they know if the content downloaded is actually copyrighted material? Do they take a copy of the file downloaded and open the zipped archive to check the contents of the file?

I'd like to point out that everything you send or receive over the internet goes through your ISP. So technically, they wouldn't need to open the zipped archive, they'd just see the filename/type etc, and I'm sure that bit torrent will send information through the data packets (the way that data is thrown around the web) to identify itself.

 

I am fuming at this, it's an invasion of my privacy, I'm now beginning to wonder if my ISP is reading my e-mails and monitoring my online browsing activity...

It's completely possible, but this IS illegal. They are allowed to log the TYPE of browsing that you do (normal web, feeds, video, audio, voip etc) but not where you go.

 

The way they know it's copyrighted is partly conjecture, they'll look at the file type(s), size and title and make an observation from there. For example; if you download a file called IronMaiden-RunToTheHills.mp3 that's 4.6mb, then it's probably a song by Iron Maiden called Run to the Hills. Also, although you've probably done this; check their fair use policy, if it isn't in there (always a chance) then you can pull em up on that. Also, you should be able to demand where they got the proof from (probably server logs), so that might also help

[StinkyFeet]

Just tell em that your wireless router was not secured and you haven't used your pc at these dates / times, someone must have connected to your wireless connection (next door neigbour, bloke across the street etc) and downloaded terrible stuff. You have now secured your wireless connection to ensure that this dont happen again

[bigsteve0000]

They got me in december. It was explained to me that a complaint was maid by a firm in the states. They submitted the ip address to KC, they checked and that address was been used by me at the time of the download so theirfore Its my fault. The trouble is I didnt download the film "quantum of solace".

 

I found that some pilchard has been using my wireless browser. KC technical help said I should have protected it with a password. I said I had. They then said its inpossible for someone on a council estate to break in to it because (in his opinion) some one on a council estate wouldnt have that degree of expertease. (apperently were all thick on council estates, Kids round here know computers inside out just like kids everywhere else). I have had my pc invaded twice by troguns and all my passwords taken by god knows who. they bought allsorts on ebay in my name. I have change passwords and even reformated and reinstalled my ops twice, this was all befor this download came up. I know from the leval of internet activity that someone was using the connection at least 3 times before and twice since, each time i`ve changed my passwords.

 

I have found out that someone with a pice of software called knoppix can grab the information they need to hack your wi fi straight outof the air.

I also know from my resarch that some isp`s including piarate bay add ip addresses to thier swarms that arnt actually downloading that file, this is done to muddy the waters if the copyrighters start sueing. after all if their are inocent people accused they can prove their case easily by turning their computer over for checking.

[bigsteve0000]

deusprime. The form they sent me basicaly said I would remove the file from my computer and not download any more copyright material, I wrote on it "I am sighning this under protest and do not in anyway accept this as admition off any wrong doing or ileagle activity" I hand deliverd it to their reception at about 5 pm and was back on line next morning.

[Turtle1000]

I have found out that someone with a pice of software called knoppix can grab the information they need to hack your wi fi straight outof the air.

 

Knoppix is a Linux distribution and cant be used to 'hack your wifi straight out of the air'. Whoever told you that is clueless.

 

Now, if someone had access to you PC, Knoppix (amongst others) can be Live booted from a CD and several utilities exist to extract data from your hard drive. Any chance this could have happened?

 

Furthermore, you said you have had viruses -to the point of having you PC used / accessed and passwords stolen. There may be a fair chance of a rootkit virus being on your PC. Reinstalling your OS wont get rid of this, if it exists.

 

I would suggest you give your PC a spring clean. Run a full virus, malware & spyware check and ensure you do a search for rootkit viruses.

Plenty of free software available to do this for you, I personally use AVG Antivirus Free edition, Spybot - Search & Destroy & Ad-aware.

For the rootkit detection, try Panda Anti-rootkit.

Do the scans in this order; Panda > AVG > Spybot > Ad-aware.

 

AVG & Spybot come with active components that will monitor your PC as you work/play, but you may want to supplement this with a Firewall, especially if your Router does not have one.

 

Hope this helps and you get sorted.

[bigsteve0000]

Hi Turtle

 

Knoppix was given to me as an example of sortware available to hack into my wifi. I have AVG Antivirus Free edition, Spybot - Search & Destroy & Ad-aware installed as well as Zone Alarm. AVG spotted the trojun but when it tried to remove it it worned me then it could mess up my op. (not its exact words but you get the drift) I removed it and WOOPS op gone west. I spotted the trojun almost straight away, it came with an mp3 from limewire. I hadnt relised it had done its work.

 

As I said A couple of reformats and reinstalls, constant scans for spyware and viruses and not using limewire. Lets face it ifyou can get a trojun with ravels balero then theirs some seriouse virus issues with that site. I now change my wifi access pasword every week. annoying but paranoid is now my middle name. I have had not invasions of my wifi since december so hopefully the regular password changes are doing the trick.

 

I will try panda and see how that performs.

[skonk]

Using Limewire is an open invitation for viruses to come and install on your pc. I would totally advise anyone NOT to install this piece of software. Yes, you can get a variety of files from it, but no doubt they're infected with viruses, plus, they're normally not what you think you're downloading. For example, if you do use limewire, type "Britney Spears" and see what kind of filth comes up. Some families have this installed on their pc, and the family use it. Limewire will expose your kids to all kinds of disgusting filth.

 

As for wireless connections, from what I believe WEP protection is simple to hack into, whereas WAP is more harder, but it doesn't matter if you live on a council estate or not, people have the knowledge to hack routers whether they are stinking rich or downright poor.

 

My sister got a letter from karoo as well, and she stupidly said, oh I was only downloading Spongebob the movie for the kids! She wasn't aware of the whole file sharing situation, and a friend of her basically came round, installed bit torrent software and showed her a few sites and said there ya go! She was too eager to get all this "free" stuff from the internet her friends had told her about, without speaking to me about it, as I'm all clued up on the whole thing.

 

She had to write a letter to Karoo and say she had uninstalled all P2P software from her pc, and would refrain from installing any more P2P programs and not download any more things. She got her internet service back on, but is now afraid of downloading anything.

[Turtle1000]

I've got to second Skonk on Limewire. I've had to rebuild my sisters computer at least 3 times due to that bit of software - and no amount of precautions, which I see you have in place already, seem to stop its malicious packages.

[bigsteve0000]

Once bitten twice shy, as they say. i know one virus came from limewire so I scaned every file I downloaded after that. Even though AVG is active all the time it seemed to miss a lot of viruses until I manualy scaned the files id just down loaded. out of 10 files downloaded 6 were viruses of somesort. I uninstalled limewire and wont use it again.

 

I was whatching "the real Hustle" on tv last night. one of the scams involved sitting in a van and hijacking peoples wifi conection using software "easily obtained from the internet". All way to easy. bloody scary. This why I never use paypal and only have my credit card registered with 2 sites I know are secure.

[loantime]

The real way to keep your data and internet safe is to not use wireless. Just connect a wire. If this is infeasible, do not use WEP, as it has multiple security flaws. Preferably use WPA/PSK as these are much more secure. Also, when choosing a password, make sure it isn't a word or phrase that's easily guessable. Even better, restrict your router's access to specific MACs.

[draronnax]

I was using Peer guardian and I still recieved a warning letter. Either peer guardian crashed/glitched or KComm are doing something that gets around it.

any other ways of hiding the fact i am using P2P from my ISP or anyother company?

[nicolee2931]

I was using Peer guardian and I still recieved a warning letter. Either peer guardian crashed/glitched or KComm are doing something that gets around it.

any other ways of hiding the fact i am using P2P from my ISP or anyother company?

 

Yep there is but you have to use a bit torrent client that supports transport encryption, the only problem with this is it limits the amount of peers you can connect to you also need a fast PC or download speeds suffer. There are other ways are to create a secure SSH tunnel or I2P layer for file sharing clients, there are guides on the net on how to do this.

 

Or the other option is don't do it, if its stuff like music you want or want to listen to use spotify which is LEGAL and most importantly FREE.

 

I think I read in a few posts before that all Wifi connections should be secured, lets put this straight. You have not legal obligation to secure your Wifi Network, securing it can prevent you from getting all kinds of hassle but nothing more, the person who connects to your wireless network without your permission commits the offence. Also securing the network only prevents the opportunist, it won't deter your neighbour who is hell bent on not paying for internet access and has the appropriate skills and tools to hack your network regardless of level of encryption. And its this which brings us full circle again if you have a wireless network and have been accused of downloading copyright material they have to prove it was you who downloaded it.

Edited April 17, 2009 by nicolee2931

[locutus]

Peer guardian just blocks the IP addresses it knows are tracing you from RIAA and the BPI and other such copyright related agencies. If these agencies get a new IP that is not blocked, it will render peer guardian useless, so it's good as long as it's up to date.