got a letter from NBC

[H8PVMT]

Claiming they got my ip address pirating "aliens and cowboys" never seen it and certainly didn't download it
WtF

What I've read is its a scare letter by a troll company, I have a wireless router but its protected

Edit, notice was mailed to me by my isp

 

[ChiXJeff]

My initial suspicion is that one or more of your machines has been subverted, it's been downloaded through one of your computers, and sent elsewhere.

Does any of the identifying detail in the letter actually match your home connection?

Is this an email, or hard copy?

 

[H8PVMT]

2 snail mail letters from optimum,my ISP. One from them says stuff about copywrite policy and another one from NBC with the time, ip address, website file was downloaded from and contact info of a piracy person at nbc

They are more than welcome to bring a computer forensics tech to find any traces of this or anything else on my cpu

 

[H8PVMT]

It happened a few days after my nortons virus subscription lapsed

 

[ChiXJeff]

That is something that I would *NOT* do. If you want to search my machines, bring a warrant.

Was anybody home at the time referenced by the notice?

It's also possible, although rather unlikely, that the letters themselves are a scam. Me, I'd start by looking online to see of any published info from your ISP or NBC matches what the notices contain.

Re: Norton's. Personally, I'd ditch that crap, it's been years since I trusted Norton or Symantec. There are a number of free or low cost very effective anti-virus programs, like AVG, Avast, Kaspersky, etc. I'd also suggest that you run Spybot & MalwareBytes as well. Considering that your home network may already be compromised, download these somewhere else, and burn them onto CDs or DVDs, do not use read/write media.

 

[H8PVMT]

Nortons came free with the computer, I'm sure we were home but there is no bit torrent on my computer so that's my issue I even searched after getting the letter, and I doubt my toddlers are as savvy as the etrade baby

 

[ChiXJeff]

If you've got malware on your machine, it doesn't matter much what you've installed, what's important is what the 'bot is capable of. Personally, I would not trust anything on the machine until you've scanned it with read-only media acquired from outside your own network.

 

[H8PVMT]

My first concern is the up to 250k fine and/or 10 years in jail......I live near sing sing, pretty sure its not a nice place

 

[ChiXJeff]

I'm not meaning to belittle the notice that you've gotten.... but there's a reason that I refer to the RIAA as the Racketeering Industry Association of America.

One of my coworkers has a couple of good points. Do you recall any house guests that may have been using your WiFi? Is your WiFi set up for WEP, WPA, or WPA2? He's far more into the digital media stuff that I am, he suspects that your WiFi is no where near as secure as it probably should be. How close are your nearest neighbors, i.e. apartment, house, etc.

 

[H8PVMT]

There is a 60 year old lady in the basement only a house or two maybe in range, I know I couldn't get any signal from theirs, I have a Cisco valet WiFi, no houseguests, computer barely gets used as it is

 

[xcm]

tell em to XXXX off...

 

[ChiXJeff]

As much as I'd like to agree with you, that very well may not be a viable course of action.

 

[H8PVMT]

Haha, some people say they've gotten 7 such letters in a month with no action, optimum says they will not give them my actual info unless legal action is brought against them, and NBC wants me to call them so they can get a name incase they want to sue, i guess they can't take action yet since an ip address is not a person

This is the last XXXXing thing I need in my life

 

[ChiXJeff]

Listen to what Optimum says. Unless you get served by name, i.e. certified letter or a subpoena, I would not talk to NBC.

 

[xcm]

Go ahead and dissmiss what i have to say, but ive delt with these phony tough guy letters... and thats all they are. They cant sue every peer in the swarm, they know that, and i know that... So they try to scare you into admitting guilt.

They'll say they can make it all go away, if you pay a small fine, and promise to be a good kid... but you didnt do anything to begin with... Where i come from, if youre gonna make wild accusations, you better bring your A-game, and you better prove it.

Make em sue you, let em show you their 'proof'. Chances are, they cant prove shit, but they know you dont want to hire a lawyer...

 

[Talyn]

I got one. I told them to show proof or stop bothering me. They never got back to me.

 

[H8PVMT]

Who did you say that to?

If you could give more info in a pm I'd appreciate it

 

[XJLI]

i used to get a bunch when i had optimum as my ISP.

i chuckled and threw them away. nothing ever comes of those 99% of the time.

 

[H8PVMT]

Good, according to the hippies I'm in the 99%

 

[1985xjlaredo]

About the only thing that your ISP can do is shut down your service. WHICH THEY WILL DO IF THEY THINK THAT YOUR ARE CONTINUOUSLY PIRATING.