So I got a subpoena from Comcast... Now I have some questions for you guys.

[NIK]

OK, that's enough banter, from everyone. The topic of the thread is Malibu Media subpoenas. If you're not posting on that topic you would be wise not to post.

/mod

[GuestGuest]

I got a letter like this from Comcast a few years back. nothing happened. I ignored it and went on my happy way!
also I was not using any type of protection back then, but now that im older and have a bit of since I use a seedbox and vpn!

[Mindtheater]

The subpoena was to the cable company to get your name. How have things gone since then? I just got the same thing in the mail. What has happened since your posts?

[beatlesfan5858]

This is different from a warning.

Most copyright infringement notices come in the form of a warning.

This is a subpoena which means that Malibu Media, has requested your identity from your ISP, (comcast)

The email/letter you got was from Comcast letting you know that Malibu Media has requested your identity, and that they will probably hand it over.

If Comcast complies with Malibu Media's request, then Malibu Media will have your identity, and will probably come after you legally, with a legal threat, or legal action.

The best thing you can do is stand by and
1. See if Comcast complies with Malibu Media's request
2. See if you get anymore letters/emails of legal form
3. Stop torrenting until you get this straightened out
4. Pray hard

Malibu Media is an adult film company, and they have been known to be very aggressive with coming after people legally.

The best thing you can do (as stated above) is wait and see what actions Malibu Media will take, and pray that there will not be any serious consequences.

In the meantime, you need a VPN for torrenting, as it hides your IP (Internet Protocol) address, (which is what those companies use to track you.)

Private Internet Access is a highly recommended one, and is only $40 a month.

Best of luck friend, this is a scary position to be in.

[l3eta]

I'm gonna leave this here just to give everyone and anyone reading this or thinking that their ISP is gonna do something.

#1
A company cannot release your information to another company without your consent, end of story. There is tons of laws about this and if you happen to get caught up in something like this, Simply play the invasion of privacy game.

#2
I have never in my life used anything to hide myself while using torrents, why? Cause if I really have to care about them trying to track me, Then you gotta be either bat shit insane or paranoid that a little downloading hurts.

#3
The only way they can really even pin you to something is they were to go into your house get your mac addresses of all your computers, mobile devices (Yes these count as well, I've used my phone before)

However, you can spoof a mac address and or change it therefore it's not even concrete enough to use in court.

#4
IP Address has been flagged? Don't even care, if they come after you simply deny everything they try to accuse you of and ask for evidence proving that it is was /indeed/ /you/ connected to that ip address.
Again see #3

#5
Any program claiming they protected you from such "companys" is fake or useless as your Firewall will do the same thing, or it connects to a VPN.

#6
Your ISP can review all traffic you introduce into the net, uploading & downloading so if they really cared every torrent you have ever connected to while on the current ISP that you're on they will probably have records of such.
However see #1

#7
Here's a tip of your that paranoid. Make sure encryption is enabled on Full Stream to prevent your packets being flagged (That's what I do and have always done)

#8
If you get a letter ignore it. This has been told to people many many times.

#9
No one can track you via IP Address unless they work for the company that is providing you internet, at that point all they would have to do is see what address in their system currently has that IP (Doesn't matter if your IP is static or dynamic) It's all in the system.

Your IP Address is not linked to an address in world wide web, (if it is you got me on how you managed that, should probably talk to your ISP unless you are your ISP in that case VPN might be useful)


Background Info for those who have no idea what a MAC address is.

Every internet card / wifi card has a MAC address assigned to that piece of hardware, (not hard to spoof. Lots of hackers and linux users do it often)

What is the point of the MAC Address.

Routers / Modems use your MAC Address as a identifier most of the time.
(I believe if you had the same MAC Address on the same system, this would cause issues with communication)

Food for thought.

If they link you to your IP Address whose to say someone didn't hack into your network or someone you gave the password to used your network to download a torrent.
How do they know that the IP Address that was used is actually even you? Every device linked to your network has the same IP Address except for the local addresses of the devices used by your router/modem

In order for someone to actually give you any papers for court action you have to be served papers, which you can simply say the person doesn't live here or you're not that person. Don't ever admit to people who randomly knock on your door asking if such and such lives here or if you're such and such.

^ This goes for in public as well.

The sum of all of this:
Enable Encryption on the entire stream. I'm sure if you google how to do it with your client you'll figure it out.
Don't be a paranoid person
Live your life like you do and don't try and be all so sneaky as more than likely you're not gonna be as sneaky as you think, and quit over-reacting.
If you ignore the letters and they say you ignored them simply state you have no idea what a torrent or a torrent client is. If you're a shitty liar then good luck.

Background on my self.

I write software and I have quite a few friends who are ISP Administrators
Been downloading torrents for probably 7+ Years, never had a letter and never heard of anyone I know getting letters. I personally have comcast and have had qwest as well. and nadda.

Notes to mods or admins:

I know this has nothing to do with the company but I really believe that this is ridiculously stupid, and figured their should be a little bit more information on what actually goes on for those who do not know.

Notes to anyone:
If you have corrections feel free to point them out but do us all a favor, don't be a smuck about it.

[Moe]

There are a lot of good points, but since you asked, here are some items that are incorrect, or even dangerous to rely on.

#1
A company cannot release your information to another company without your consent, end of story. There is tons of laws about this and if you happen to get caught up in something like this, Simply play the invasion of privacy game.

Which is why a lot of the terms and conditions people agree to without reading includes consent for sharing.

#3
The only way they can really even pin you to something is they were to go into your house get your mac addresses of all your computers, mobile devices (Yes these count as well, I've used my phone before)

However, you can spoof a mac address and or change it therefore it's not even concrete enough to use in court.

Your device's MAC address isn't relevant.  It's not even visible outside your private network.  Don't try to use that argument for anything, unless you were using a public network.

#5
Any program claiming they protected you from such "companys" is fake or useless as your Firewall will do the same thing

A firewall doesn't protect you from anything in this context.  Given its purpose is to explicitly permit or block incoming or outgoing connections, it will not protect you from an infringement notice, unless you magically know each and every evil address out there and have a rule in place for them.

#7
Here's a tip of your that paranoid. Make sure encryption is enabled on Full Stream to prevent your packets being flagged (That's what I do and have always done)

I presume you are referring to the encryption option in most bittorrent clients.  That won't help you at all.  It is a legacy feature that was an attempt at blocking attempts by ISPs to shape bittorrent traffic.

It is weak encryption that does not protect the contents from inspection.  In fact, forcing its usage will prevent you from sharing with some peers, thereby keeping you in the swarm longer and increasing the odds that you are seen by anyone watching the swarm.

[l3eta]

There are a lot of good points, but since you asked, here are some items that are incorrect, or even dangerous to rely on.

#1
A company cannot release your information to another company without your consent, end of story. There is tons of laws about this and if you happen to get caught up in something like this, Simply play the invasion of privacy game.

Which is why a lot of the terms and conditions people agree to without reading includes consent for sharing.

Very good point, means everyone should read the T&C

#3
The only way they can really even pin you to something is they were to go into your house get your mac addresses of all your computers, mobile devices (Yes these count as well, I've used my phone before)

However, you can spoof a mac address and or change it therefore it's not even concrete enough to use in court.

Your device's MAC address isn't relevant.  It's not even visible outside your private network.  Don't try to use that argument for anything, unless you were using a public network.

So this does apply to public networks, however wouldn't your ISP be able to tell what local ip address is and then figure out the mac that way? It's iffy.

#5
Any program claiming they protected you from such "companys" is fake or useless as your Firewall will do the same thing

A firewall doesn't protect you from anything in this context.  Given its purpose is to explicitly permit or block incoming or outgoing connections, it will not protect you from an infringement notice, unless you magically know each and every evil address out there and have a rule in place for them.

I was mentioning that simply because of the concept of PeerBlock which I've never used but I assume a firewall does the same thing.

#7
Here's a tip of your that paranoid. Make sure encryption is enabled on Full Stream to prevent your packets being flagged (That's what I do and have always done)

I presume you are referring to the encryption option in most bittorrent clients.  That won't help you at all.  It is a legacy feature that was an attempt at blocking attempts by ISPs to shape bittorrent traffic.
It is weak encryption that does not protect the contents from inspection.  In fact, forcing its usage will prevent you from sharing with some peers, thereby keeping you in the swarm longer and increasing the odds that you are seen by anyone watching the swarm.

I would assume even if it's weak it is still a way to "cover your tracks" in a weak way am I wrong?


Also what is dangerous? Didn't quite piece any of that to any of this other than the T&C and the firewall.

[Moe]

#3
The only way they can really even pin you to something is they were to go into your house get your mac addresses of all your computers, mobile devices (Yes these count as well, I've used my phone before)

However, you can spoof a mac address and or change it therefore it's not even concrete enough to use in court.

Your device's MAC address isn't relevant.  It's not even visible outside your private network.  Don't try to use that argument for anything, unless you were using a public network.

So this does apply to public networks, however wouldn't your ISP be able to tell what local ip address is and then figure out the mac that way? It's iffy.  

As you stated previously, every piece of network interface hardware is given a MAC address by the manufacturer.  It is used by the next piece of hardware you connect to (a switch, router, wireless access point, etc) to match packets destined to your IP address with the actual hardware destination.  It does not ever get transmitted past that point.

If you are connected to a public piece of hardware (say a wifi access point at a library or cafe) then it is possible your MAC address is being recorded by whoever operates the public connection.

The only MAC address your ISP has a record of is whatever piece of equipment is connected to the Cable or DSL modem.  The only thing it is useful for is to re-assign you the same IP address if you are disconnected.

#5
Any program claiming they protected you from such "companys" is fake or useless as your Firewall will do the same thing

A firewall doesn't protect you from anything in this context.  Given its purpose is to explicitly permit or block incoming or outgoing connections, it will not protect you from an infringement notice, unless you magically know each and every evil address out there and have a rule in place for them.

I was mentioning that simply because of the concept of PeerBlock which I've never used but I assume a firewall does the same thing.

Peerblock is very much like a firewall.  And it is considered useless or even harmful by many (myself included).  It has been discussed in numerous other threads here.  Have a search if you are interested.

#7
Here's a tip of your that paranoid. Make sure encryption is enabled on Full Stream to prevent your packets being flagged (That's what I do and have always done)

I presume you are referring to the encryption option in most bittorrent clients.  That won't help you at all.  It is a legacy feature that was an attempt at blocking attempts by ISPs to shape bittorrent traffic.
It is weak encryption that does not protect the contents from inspection.  In fact, forcing its usage will prevent you from sharing with some peers, thereby keeping you in the swarm longer and increasing the odds that you are seen by anyone watching the swarm.

I would assume even if it's weak it is still a way to "cover your tracks" in a weak way am I wrong?

No, it will not cover your tracks or do anything else useful.  But it is good to leave it enabled, but not required, so you can connect to any peer regardless of what their settings are.

[l3eta]

As you stated previously, every piece of network interface hardware is given a MAC address by the manufacturer.  It is used by the next piece of hardware you connect to (a switch, router, wireless access point, etc) to match packets destined to your IP address with the actual hardware destination.  It does not ever get transmitted past that point.

If you are connected to a public piece of hardware (say a wifi access point at a library or cafe) then it is possible your MAC address is being recorded by whoever operates the public connection.

The only MAC address your ISP has a record of is whatever piece of equipment is connected to the Cable or DSL modem.  The only thing it is useful for is to re-assign you the same IP address if you are disconnected.

Interesting, something I didn't know.

Peerblock is very much like a firewall.  And it is considered useless or even harmful by many (myself included).  It has been discussed in numerous other threads here.  Have a search if you are interested.

Never used it and honestly forgot about it until I read someone talking about it in this thread.

No, it will not cover your tracks or do anything else useful.  But it is good to leave it enabled, but not required, so you can connect to any peer regardless of what their settings are.

Well I was just thinking about on how RSA could be used but then I realized even if it was used you'd still be connecting to known IP's of trackers and such which in the long run could be used to tell if you were torrenting or not. So I see your point.

[Alien]

Someone else may use your IP address, it can not be proved