Grandfather Sued Over Grandson's Downloads

[KeizerSoze]

original article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051102/ap_on_hi_te/movie_downloads

i have a question. how is this possible?! how did anyone know what was on this kid's pc? or, better yet, how did anyone know what he downloaded in the past? could the problem be the p2p network he used?

give me your insight fellas. what do you think about this situation?

[Derree]

Well I would think that iMesh would have had to give the MPAA the IP address or how else would they find him. As far the the grandpa's story..... I can buy that he didn't know...but the grandson?? He knew what he was doing, and I really doubt that he downloaded 4 movies and then deleted them right away...he watched them..maybe burned them ...then deleted them..as far as how much he is being sued for?? hmm well just look at the warnings at the begining of a moive...up to 5 years and/or $250,000 maybe he is getting off light lol

[mo24]

According to the article it's $600,000, because the grandfather refused the settlement offer of $4,000. Not too easy i'd say.

Obviously they are trying to make an example out of it to others... too bad they had to do it to some poor old guy who was the guardian of the minor who did it. I actually hope the MPAA loses the suit by some miracle.

give me your insight fellas. what do you think about this situation?

Getting worried?

It's not hard at all to find out what somebody downloads on a p2p service, especially of the bit torrent variety. Anytime you download or share something on a bit torrent client, your IP and the filename (among other things) is sent to the tracker. All it takes is for that tracker to be seized by the government and monitored to find out who is downloading what, or perhaps the tracker itself might even report illegal activity.

Some p2p methods would probably not be that easy, but it wouldn't be that hard for someone to write a program that searches p2p networks and finds out who is sharing what, logging their IP, and confronting their ISP with it, forcing them to provide your personal information to file suit... or they might decide to just monitor your connection and gather enough evidence in the mean time to convict you.

Chances are you wouldn't get caught being just the average joe on the street, but who knows when they'll decide to make another example? It could be you. Best to keep the hands clean IMO.

[Derree]

Besides the obvious legal reasons I don't download movies for another reason.. quality...or lack there off..why would I want a shaky pic or out of sinc audio when I can buy the dvd and what a perfect pic in 5.1 sound..doesnt make sense to me..