Cox Cable - Monitoring Downloads? Is Big Brother finally here?

Ok guys - posting this here 'cause not sure where else this should go.

I just had my internet temporarily shut down, and we had to call Cox Communications to find out what the deal was.

My aunt (who I am staying with) told me that they have a three-strike policy for copyright infringement downloads, and that the file was noticed because it was being "shared" - which it is not....and for the record....I DLed this file.....many weeks ago....now suddenly - we are getting "warned"

Now.....Ive downloaded many....many torrent files

The one in question was [CONTENT VIOLATION, READ ANNOUNCEMENT ABOVE!].

So my question to all you hacker gurus is -

A) Is this a file that had some sort of "tracker" in it? And if so - is there some way of scanning files for such "trackers"?

Is there some way I can prohibit Cox (or any other cable/internet company) from monitoring my activity? Is every company working with some sort of Echelon (sp?) type program now?

The Big Brother-ish implications have me nervous....not to mention really pissed off.

I mean the guy at Cox actually told my aunt on the phone that they give out a three-strike warning as a courtesy, as opposed to sending the "Internet Police" to our door.

Any comments suggestions and advice in this area are very welcomed ...... as well if anyone else has had similar experiences....

Thanks in advance

JGGG

http://dmca.cs.washington.edu/

The "monitoring" they do is less than accurate.

Innumerable other posts have been made with the same "got a warning letter" or "got a Cease and Desist letter"...try searching for them.

i got that email today that company was tracking a file coming through cox so i freaked out and deleted the files that i got through utorrent. there must be a way to get torrents without being tracked. any suggestions would be appreciated. nice forum.

Don't download torrents that would be tracked.

That's the only way.