People still being sued for music piracy...

[Crucible]

I don't understand why these people don't just obliterate thier hard drives. Just read on the news that one guy payed an 11k settlement after they found 100s of songs he deleted. I would have just bought a new hard drive right away and smashed my old ones to bits. That is the only way they can prove that you downloaded them. I mean they did not raid his house or anything. Anyways, if you got something in the mail saying you were being sued by the music industry what would you do? (settlements range from 2-10 thousand usually)

[theroguechemist]

Wouldn't smashing your hard drive to bits constitute as conspiracy, giving them another reason to suspect you? I don't think it'd be foolproof, I guess.. But yeah, I'd do that. Except I'd hide it where no one will ever find it (ha) so that I can, someday, bring it back. Or if I had the time, just transfer my documents and anything else important and _then_ smash it. "mom.......... do you have 11,000 dollars I can borrow?? I'm kinda being sued........"

[jacobo]

how common is being sued? i think it might just be a scare tactic because i had like 8 gigs of music on my old computer and nothing happened. also what's a good clean program? i won't tell the feds where i got my info.

[dougdrums]

They don't realize they are stoopid yet?

[nightowl]

The chances of being sued is slim and destroying your harddrive or whatever is kinda over-doing it, dont you think? also what's a good clean program? i won't tell the feds where i got my info[/b] Kazaa lite in my opinion(but there could be something wrong that i am not aware of) I believe they have options for that where you can have it that no one can look at your music shared folder and some other stuff i think btw..is it true that you ONLY get sued if you are sharing the music you downloaded?

[Stevehattan]

I'm pretty sure that unless you have a huge amount of songs you won't get sued. Like it said, that guy had hundreds, and I only hear of people getting sued who have at least that much, usually thousands. I don't keep more than maybe 50 at a time, and I use kazaa lite, even though that program has been working badly for a lot of people lately. Some people think the RIAA got into the program and damaged it.

[nightowl]

I use kazaa lite, even though that program has been working badly for a lot of people lately. Some people think the RIAA got into the program and damaged it.[/b] Working badly? how so? The only thing i see wrong with it, is that the RIAA put some dud songs in their(dont know what their called) but they ruined the song. It has like this screeching sound.

[Light]

Originally posted by nightowl btw..is it true that you ONLY get sued if you are sharing the music you downloaded? What I've heard: Downloading music on a site (not-sharing) is legal. Downloading music through Kazaa or something, is illegal IF shared, but that is only what I've heard.

[Kaniaz]

OK, say you're gonna get sued, go get a dos-based "shredder" tool. What this does is, without smashing your harddrive to bits, overwrite all data with tons of shit (set it to do this like, 1,000,000 times. while a VERY long time it's better than spending 11k in fines, right?). You see, when you delete something the file still remains on your harddrive, only it can be overwritten. So when this guy deleted something, the police seized his harddrive and ran an file recovery tool. They were then found pretty easily. However, if you use a shredder say 1,000,000 times or so on your harddrive, it would take, well, like five hundred years to recover that data. Remember that after shredding, reinstall your OS and all progams EXCEPT file sharing/illegal ones and stick lots of data on it (fill out the drive to the max, like 500kb left) and make it look pretty used, otherwise they'll wonder why your drive is full up with random crap. if they say "well this has only been installed like a week ago" you say "well, i know. i've told you it's bloody impossible for me to of had this stuff on my drive." Maintain the story and there is no proof, except your IP. It's easy to attribute that to a "mistake by human/computer" Also you save money on harddrives. --Kaniaz's "If the RIAA are about to kick your ass"

[CT]

best. t-shirt. ever. *buys*

[Stevehattan]

Haha, that shirt's great. If they only added crossbones, it would be perfect because it would look just like a jolly rodger.

[Evanescent]

Ok there are so many things here that turned me away from piracy. 1) If I was caught I wouldn't be the one paying now would I(my parents duh) 2)When you format a hardrive all the files-everything are turned into ghost files that can easily be not only found but brought back.with certain programs. Meaning that i am pretty sure the rcaa(not the fbi) would be able to find them and easily prosecute you. But then again i have an old harddrive i could plop in and hide the other(not to hard) and they'd have no clue.[/list]

[Kaniaz]

[quote]Ok there are so many things here that turned me away from piracy. 1) If I was caught I wouldn't be the one paying now would I(my parents duh) 2)When you format a hardrive all the files-everything are turned into ghost files that can easily be not only found but brought back.with certain programs. Meaning that i am pretty sure the rcaa(not the fbi) would be able to find them and easily prosecute you. But then again i have an old harddrive i could plop in and hide the other(not to hard) and they'd have no clue.[list] For 1, that's not going to please your parents. For 2, read my above post and you are saved. D: RIAA suck. I say screw the money and go download all you want.

[Evanescent]

Yea sorry kaniaz same idea i just skipped over your post. PLus you explained it better.

[CT]

<- music pirate and proud of it.

[Kaniaz]

Originally posted by nightowl I use kazaa lite, even though that program has been working badly for a lot of people lately. Some people think the RIAA got into the program and damaged it. Working badly? how so? The only thing i see wrong with it, is that the RIAA put some dud songs in their(dont know what their called) but they ruined the song. It has like this screeching sound.[/b] If you've downloaded one of those chances are RIAA has subpeaoned (sp?) your IP address. There's a way to combat the dud files, you use emule...then as you're downloading music, click "check on fakedonkey files" and if it comes up as a fake, well, cancel. And if you get an unreported fake you submit it, so gradually the files are flushed out. Also you can make previews of files before done to check..

[Death-Wuad]

<- Ass pirate, and proud of it. CD's cost way too much anyway, it's such a rip-off.

[nightowl]

Originally posted by Kaniaz+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kaniaz)</div> <!--QuoteBegin-nightowl I use kazaa lite, even though that program has been working badly for a lot of people lately. Some people think the RIAA got into the program and damaged it. Working badly? how so? The only thing i see wrong with it, is that the RIAA put some dud songs in their(dont know what their called) but they ruined the song. It has like this screeching sound.[/b] If you've downloaded one of those chances are RIAA has subpeaoned (sp?) your IP address. There's a way to combat the dud files, you use emule...then as you're downloading music, click \"check on fakedonkey files\" and if it comes up as a fake, well, cancel. And if you get an unreported fake you submit it, so gradually the files are flushed out. Also you can make previews of files before done to check..[/b] I've recieved no such thing nor do I know how I am supposed to recieve it. Im sure you you must know if you could tell me. I usually press preview and listen to it if its a dud, but i admit that i have had done mass downloading of the same song so that i would hope to get the one that isn't ruined. I dont have a lot of songs(about 150) and 1/3 of it are videos so i doubt they would concentrate on me.

[CT]

you're not really from the USA though are you.

[nightowl]

Originally posted by CT you're not really from the USA though are you. Me? Well..I live in the US, but im not a citizen yet

[docKnubis]

yes hide the drive in the little black box that held the beer and porno in the back yard under the tree hold on now where are you going to hid your beer and porno? just having a bit of fun

[Evanescent]

Omg i didn't think about that. WTF am i gonna do?

[Kaniaz]

Originally posted by nightowl+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nightowl)</div> Originally posted by Kaniaz@ <!--QuoteBegin-nightowl I use kazaa lite, even though that program has been working badly for a lot of people lately. Some people think the RIAA got into the program and damaged it. Working badly? how so? The only thing i see wrong with it, is that the RIAA put some dud songs in their(dont know what their called) but they ruined the song. It has like this screeching sound. If you've downloaded one of those chances are RIAA has subpeaoned (sp?) your IP address. There's a way to combat the dud files, you use emule...then as you're downloading music, click \"check on fakedonkey files\" and if it comes up as a fake, well, cancel. And if you get an unreported fake you submit it, so gradually the files are flushed out. Also you can make previews of files before done to check..[/b] I've recieved no such thing nor do I know how I am supposed to recieve it. Im sure you you must know if you could tell me. I usually press preview and listen to it if its a dud, but i admit that i have had done mass downloading of the same song so that i would hope to get the one that isn't ruined. I dont have a lot of songs(about 150) and 1/3 of it are videos so i doubt they would concentrate on me.[/b] You don't receive it. What it does it just stick your IP and time they got the illegal file from/to you into a list, I suppose. They can then e-mail your ISP later with a big list of IP's that violated the rules from their IP pool; asking for logs of transfers made at <blank> time to <blank> IP using port <blank>. If they get lots of them then they usually use it as (flimsy) evidence. They can of course just list your shared files, but disabiling it isn't foolproof detection.

[CT]

they cant really sue you on filenames... if you shred your hdd and then make some txt files and rename them to those files, i mean what its illegal to type in your fave songs or something now?

[Alric]

I think they normally get people who are sharing a ton of files. That really is the most effective way to do it. It would cost a ton to sue everyone for downloading like 1 file. Its just not worth it to them.