I'm being sued for downloading!!!

What I find interesting, is that on none of the games I buy, does it say it's illegal to download them off the internet. It says its illegal to copy or broadcast them or resell them. Also all of this information flashes up in very small text which lasts for perhaps 2 seconds. Some games do not even contain any legal information when you boot them up. And since there is no case or instructions, how is the user to even know if they are playing freeware or commercial games?

Like was mentioned earlier, it is not the job of the public to make sure these games don't get shared. For all downloaders know, torrent sites could be run b y benevolent software developers who have a massive library of free games. Can Atari prove that you've heard of them?

Why should you be allowed to go out and download this stuff for free when I have to go out and pay full price? You Knew you were stealing when you did this? You are nothing more than a plain and simple thief in my book and coming here and using your medical problems as a prop is disgusting. I used to suffer from agrophobia and drink to get out the front door so I understand that but I`d still never steal. Anyone giving you help to get out of this is as much a thief as you and I have nothing but contempt for anyone involved in things like this.

The first thing I would do is to get in contact with this lawfirm and ask them if they sent it.
You will know then if it's fraud or real.

If you don't ask them anything else then wether the letter originates from them or not you won't be waking up a sleeping dog.
If it is genuine they will know about the case and letter,
if not, they'll simply think you're being conned.

Internet fraud is really sophisticated these days.
these people will do anything to make their claim look realistic with honoust references.

good luck!

Guys, he hasn't admitted Guilt to us, just that he got the letter. Its entirely possible that he has a virus.

reply to post by full997


Your most sensible response to any such message is t IGNORE IT
Anybody can say anything they want on the world wide web---you need not believe anything on the net. If they send you a letter and/or bill, then you can respond accordingly
bobi

For anyone who is still calling him out for downloading, here's a summary of the past couple pages.

1. He didn't post for points, or any other benefits with the exception of advice.

2. He never said that HE HIMSELF had downloaded this file.

3. The Lawfirm is a suspicious one.

4. The OP NEVER made a comment on how atari is evil and stealing is good.

5. He is only asking for advice.

6. He said that he emailed them and hasn't gotten a response.

Now please stop accusing him.

If you still want to use the motto "Stealing is Bad", then think about this.

1. Ripping music, even if you own the cd, is a crime. (You only bought one cd, so why should you have another copy for free?)

2. Companies make more than they let on.

3. Many people/ if not most of the population with computer/internet access have some form of illegal files on there (Not always downloads.)

4. Finally, borrowing/buying software from friends or garage sales should be considered stealing, because one person paid for the software, and when they sell it or lend it to you, they give you a cheaper option than buying it from the company. Meanwhile, the company can't make a profit if only a few people buy the software from them. (Basics of P2P sites: One person buys the software, then uploads it under pretense of "Backup")

reply to post by full997


I think you should buy the software to begin with and stop pirating the games like a child. How about taking some responsibility for your own actions and stop trying to lay blame on your psych problems. It's not working.

Send this letter. Feel free to copy and paste.

Dear Atari,
I want to fill your mouth with spiders.
To the brim , baby!!!

Sincerely,
(Your Name)

Then fill the envelope with dead flies. Send it registered mail, or whatever the equivalent is in England.
Call them a week later and ask if they got it.

Originally posted by cassini
Why should you be allowed to go out and download this stuff for free when I have to go out and pay full price? You Knew you were stealing when you did this? You are nothing more than a plain and simple thief in my book and coming here and using your medical problems as a prop is disgusting. I used to suffer from agrophobia and drink to get out the front door so I understand that but I`d still never steal. Anyone giving you help to get out of this is as much a thief as you and I have nothing but contempt for anyone involved in things like this.

Ah there is none more holy than the reformed

Seriously give the guy a break, you didn't have to go pay full price for the games, it's not costing you any more to buy them because he didn't. What gives you the right to harbour disgust for someone you have never met? I buy games, and if I cant buy them because they're too old I download them.

Some people never really think about thievery. There is legal thievery which is practiced by governments and corporations, and there is illegal thievery which is done by us peons. In my opinion, thievery is only immoral if you take from those who cannot afford it.

Heard on the radio today that The Australian copyright watch dogs are pressuring ISP's to report and turn over evidence of users who download games....apparently there is a big crack down going to happen ...more scare tactics?

Some interesting threads

forums.whirlpool.net.au...


www.google.com.au... btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryAU

reply to post by unnamedninja


Well said.
If you're interested in speaking to the immorality of Piracy, there's probably a thread here for that. This thread is for the OP seeking advice with his possible legal situation. Stay on topic, ye scurvies!

*puts on his pirate hat*
Drink up me hearties YO HO!

Users face Net ban in crackdown on pirates

technology.timesonline.co.uk

People who illegally download games,films and music will be cut off from the internet under new legislative proposals to be unveiled next week.

Internet service providers (ISPs) will be legally required to take action against users who access pirated material, The Times has learnt.
(visit the link for the full news article)
technology.timesonline.co.uk...
So the Internet crackdown has started, this is already being looked at in France and how long before it hit's the US, Australia, England ? at the moment it is supposedly aimed at pirates but how long before they use the same methods on people who don't agree with whatever the government want's them to?

*snip*it will stop nothing..heck I remember the good ol' days when folks tied in to acoustic coupler rigs at pay phones. Crackdown will only make Inet outlaws do what they do already, just more of it.

If I woke up and Limewire or torrent sites stopped working, I would be musically stuck in 2008 for the rest of my life. The RIAA can shove it. I refuse to buy their *snip*I will not buy anything I haven't sampled first. If they don't like it, Ill stick to the music I already have.

Just another ill conceived way to waste time and money and slowly reduce our freedoms under the guise of doing good.
I wonder if this is going to be another crime we let these corrupt idiots perpetrate on us. Or do we really want them to further "Protect" us?

A large percentage of westerners pirate material whether they know it or not. That being said, this policy is seriously misguided constitutionally. Because you could effectively be removing large amounts of the population from access to vital information. This is about freedom, in many ways.

in recent years we have seen an ever increasing withdrawal of our right's in the name of protecting us from terror, how long before we are banned from the net in the same way for posting on sites like this and branded terrorist's as well just because we don't always agree with the government?

One scenario that could play out with this is that when the technology is in place, paid for and supported by law-abiding citizens to protect those innocent copyright owners from the evil-doing pirates, then the rules of employing that technology can be modified as needed. For example, anyone spreading "radicalization" (see HR 1955) through the Internet could be labeled a "terrorist", blocked from the Internet and physically located. We can guess what happens next.

The most worrying thing for me is how the government are handing police powers to corporations they have no basis for having these powers as they are not accountable to the people
the draconian measures justified in their name severely violate our constitutional rights, IMO, and pave the way for much more serious abuses.

Another attempt to tackle one of the least destructive crimes, whilst ignoring murders and gun crimes. If the government places money before it's people, it will not be in power for long

Preventing piracy aside - the bigger issue is the mass-monitoring of all internet traffic, for the purposes of detecting the illegal downloading of music and video. How many ways are there to do this? P2P, direct download, IM and e-mail are the top 4 I can think of.

If they're going to do this in the name of preventing a bit of music piracy on the behalf of a commercial entity, then where will this lead??
This is a serious issue that can have many other uses. Maybe this is just an excuse to get started on the road of monitoring everything said/done online??
What about the BPI and "bogus privacy arguments"?! What I'd like to say to that would get me banned.

Talk about a surveillance society!!!

Maybe we should start monitoring the government 24/7 or maybe its time for REVOLUTION!!

[edit on 3-8-2008 by warrioesage]

Mod Edit: Profanity/Circumvention Of Censors – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 4-8-2008 by GAOTU789]

It's just the thin edge of the prybar in the door of internet freedom.
Sounds all good and legal and in the best interests of the laws.
You are missing the catch.
What is piracy, copyright infringement, terrorist activities, illegal material?
The devil is in the details.
Some arguments propose any posting is published and therefor copyrighted.
And we all know "terrorist activities" can be about anything they wish to make it.
"Illegal material" ? Changes according to whim.
I'll bet you do a google search for "Anarchists Cookbook" and you will be flagged from your home to your destination, and every hop in between.

Six million broadband users are estimated to download
files illegally every year (just in the US)
mininova had over 3 billion torrents downloaded since it started
LMAO

that alone will back up the court system for a century
I have no clue how they think this will be enforced
Glad this isn't in the US ........... YET !!!

even so it is the responsibility of the ISP to report these people ...
report them and they lose customers ....... so it's gonna hurt the ISP's
to report it maybe even bankrupt a few of them if enough are
rounded up like terrorists.

The movie,game, and music industries are making all time profits.. yet they complain that piracy is hurting them .lol

There are a great many bands that you will NEVER hear on the radio. I feel that the 99% of music on the radio is complete garbage. The fact is the only real "artists" that have been effected by this are the ones who are constantly played on the radio. In esscence, the "artists" that are most affected are the ones controlled by companies & pop culture.

It really seems to me that they are using the Internet as one HUGE trojan horse. They see the explosion, the writing is on the wall, it won't be long before EVERYONE is on the Internet. Eventually, every form of communication will be done over the net. Phones are turning to VOIP, people only email, send photos, all research is done on the net now, shopping....everything.

So, the govt's of the world are using this dreaded "Copyright Theft epidemic" as an excuse to be legally allowed to monitor 100% of all traffic over the Internet. The people out there who are jumping on board so that the evil pirates pay for their crimes are ushering in these new laws that will allow everything we think and say to be monitored. And WE ASKED THEM TO DO IT.

When these laws pass, the government will literally be able to know what you are thinking at any given time. All of your Internet searches, all of your correspondence, everything. If you look at how fast technology is advancing, look back at 10 years ago and imagine what things will be like 10 years from now... It really is crazy to think just how much power we are handing the government with these laws. I just don't think that people are really looking at the future ramifications of this.

Before the Internet, do you think that people would be happy to have the government read all of your mail, listen to all of your phone calls, and watch every purchase you make, in the hopes that fewer people would boot leg cassette tapes? That is essentially what we are wishing upon ourselves now. It really doesn't get much more 1984 than this.

This kind of thing changes the way the internet is, this is just the beginning, what is next? Total control over the internet, what you post, what websites you go to etc etc.

The internet is great because of it's freedom! If they make these new laws, what will be next!? it may just be the beginning of a controlled crappy internet.
Maybe in the future it would be illegal to go on THIS website, once you give them a taste of control, they will want more!
my advice..
Well I have my own law. It's called "I do what I like". How's that!

[edit on 3-8-2008 by warrioesage]

Buying media is so 1990s.

People need to learn to get away from money. Not buying and selling.

People are very clingy to the old way

How are the artists going to get payed?

We need to find a new way a new system as people are not going back to the old ways and the old models.

Doesn't matter how many people get sued for 'stealing media' over the internet its NOT going to convert back to the old ways.

Money is the biggest ball and chain for humanity...its time we free our selves step through the stargate into hyperspace

Time to smash your bowls with the queens head on it.
Remove the ancient crap and corruption that has no value.

The wealth is not in the money or gold.

Its in your mind.
The wealth is your mind.

The money is just the symbol but is so old so tired so corrupt.

And if they want to take our internet power... bring it on !
time to remove old king George ..again.

Huge thread, but not the first one I've read on this subject.

A friend of mine got nailed for almost $5,000US for downloading music. She was naive, and wasn't very computer savvy, so when she downloaded, she neglected to turn off sharing. It's kind of ironic how she got nailed; she was taking a music class in college and didn't want to dish out over $100 for some classical CDs that were required, so she decided to download them instead. Turns out the college she attended is notorious for monitoring bandwidth, and they caught her and turned her over to the RIAA. She ended up paying the amount demanded.

DON'T DOWNLOAD ILLEGALLY. It's not worth the paranoia that you may get caught. It's definitely not worth the money you may have to fork over if you are caught.

I don't play video games much anymore...I find life is too busy to get involved with them like I used to, plus I'm enjoying ATS much more. So, what do I do for entertainment?

When I have money, I like to subscribe to Netflix™.

For free:
HULU
This site was founded by NBC and News Corp. You can watch full episodes of many of the latest and most popular TV shows on here for free, as well as many full-length movies. I hardly watch TV anymore because this site lets me watch the shows I want when I feel like watching them.

If you like playing older games as well (and I mean OLD), do a search for abandonware. Abandonware is software that is no longer supported by the developers/distributors, and are fair game to download (pun absolutely intended). Still, download at your own risk, as some sites post games that are in a grey area still as far as legal downloading is concerned.

ATS does not condone or allow the discussion of illegal activites.
This thread is now closed.

2e.) Illegal Activity: Discussion of illegal activities; specifically mind-altering drugs, computer hacking, criminal hate, sexual relations with minors, and stock scams are strictly forbidden. You will also not link to sites that contains discussion of such material.