Three ISP Notices; Any action to take?

[woodyfence]

I received three copyright infringement notices from my ISP Charter Communications: two today, and one yesterday. I feel it necessary to post their actual wording on the subject. The notices from my ISP came, strangely, exactly one week after the complaints, and I have reason to believe I might receive up to 15 more for a certain tv show over the next few days (which I might add, I could have just watched on Netflix!). 1) Any action I should take in response to this?

2) Are there any good, free VPN's or proxies which may aid me? I have also read removing trackers is a good idea, limiting my amount of seeding, enabling encryption, etc.

3) Is my ISP or Vobile likely to take any action?

Dear Charter Internet Customer:

Charter Communications ("Charter") has been notified by a copyright owner, or its authorized agent, that your Internet account may have been involved in the exchange of unauthorized copies of copyrighted material (e.g., music, movies, or software). We are attaching a copy of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice that Charter received from the copyright holder which includes the specific allegation.

Under the DMCA, copyright owners have the right to notify Charter’s register agent if they believe that a Charter customer has infringed on their work(s). When Charter receives a complaint notice from a copyright owner, Charter will notify the identifiable customer of the alleged infringement by providing them a copy of the submitted DMCA notice. As required by law, Charter may determine that the customer is a repeat copyright infringer and reserves the right to suspend or terminate the accounts of repeat copyright infringers.

It is possible that this activity has occurred without your permission or knowledge by an unauthorized user, a minor who may not fully understand the copyright laws, or even as a result of a computer virus. However, as the named subscriber on the account, you may be held responsible for any misuse of your account. Please be aware that using Charter’s service to engage in any form of copyright infringement is expressly prohibited by Charter's Acceptable Use Policy and that repeat copyright infringement, or violations of any other Charter policy, may result in the suspension or termination of your service. You may view Charter's rules and policies, including Charter’s Acceptable Use Policy, at http://www.charter.com/aup.

We ask that you take immediate action to stop the exchange of any infringing material. For additional information regarding copyright infringement and for a list of frequently asked questions, please visit http://www.charter.com/dmca.

If you have questions about this letter, you may contact us at 1-866-229-7286. Representatives will be available to take your call Monday through Friday 8am - 8pm, Saturday and Sunday 8am - 5pm (CST).

Sincerely,

Charter Communications Security Resolution Team

http://www.charter.com/security

--- The following material was provided to us as evidence ---

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Hash: xxxx

Notice ID: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Notice Date: 07/17/2013

Charter Communications

Dear Sir or Madam:

We are contacting you on behalf of Viacom International Inc. (Viacom). Under penalty of perjury, I assert that Vobile Inc., (Vobile) is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive copyrights that are alleged to be infringed herein.

Vobile has become aware that the below IP addresses have been using your service for distributing video files, which contain infringing video content that is exclusively owned by Viacom.

Vobile has a good faith belief that the Viacom video content that is described in the below report has not been authorized for sharing or distribution by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. I also assert that the information contained in this notice is accurate to the best of our knowledge.

We are requesting your immediate assistance in removing and disabling access to the infringing material from your network. We also ask that you ensure the user and/or IP address owner refrains from future use and sharing of Viacom materials and property.

In complying with this notice, Charter Communications should not destroy any evidence, which may be relevant in a lawsuit, relating to the infringement alleged, including all associated electronic documents and data relating to the presence of infringing items on your network, which shall be preserved while disabling public access, irrespective of any document retention or corporate policy to the contrary.

Please note that this letter is not intended as a full statement of the facts; and does not constitute a waiver of any rights to recover damages, incurred by virtue of any unauthorized or infringing activities, occurring on your network. All such rights, as well as claims for other relief, are expressly reserved.

Should you need to contact Viacom regarding this notice they may be reached at the below address.

Brad Bo

On behalf of Vobile as an agent for Viacom

4699 Old Ironsides Drive, Ste 430

Santa Clara, CA 95054

v: (408) 217-5000

agent@viacom.copyright-notice.com

[ciaobaby]

Any action I should take in response to this?

Stop downloading material that is subject to copyright.

[woodyfence]

Impossible.

[DreadWingKnight]

I'll take the more accurate answer.

Stop downloading content being monitored by the *AA's lackeys.

[Beasly]

Be very careful especially with newly released movies...They tend to latch on to those for monitoring.

[ciaobaby]

Impossible.

It isn't!

[ktetch]

Impossible.

It isn't!

It is.

As per the Berne convention 1886, work automatically gains copyright when fixed in a tangible form. That means as soon as I hit 'submit', this post becomes copyrighted to me.

That's why it's impossible. EVERYTHING is copyrighted.

[ciaobaby]

this post becomes copyrighted to me.

Actually if you read the T&C regarding use of services and materials you may find that you have already waived the right to having exclusive copyright of the content you post here.

[ktetch]

this post becomes copyrighted to me.

Actually if you read the T&C regarding use of services and materials you may find that you have already waived the right to having exclusive copyright of the content you post here.

Exclusive, yes, in that I've given Bittorrent Inc. a license to use it. Therefore I no longer have exclusive copyright.

Trust me on this. I've just had to write a bunch of copyright contracts, to send to a bunch of people (including lawyers) for a book i'm working on on... copyright (my second one, in fact)