Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei
We got a call from our ISP telling us that we were perpetrators of copyright infringement. I've been downloading things for YEARS, so this comes as some surprise. As soon as they called and said there was an "issue" that they needed to discuss with the primary account holder, I knew that's what it had to be.
I think it's largely a scare tactic, and let me tell you: it's effective. I spent the next fifteen minutes running around like Karyn Hill flushing the drugs in Goodfellas, except my version focused primarily on deleting downloading programs and downloaded materials. Big brother can strike anywhere in the world we live in now.
Since it was the first infringement, it's a freebie. But I'm not taking any precautions, especially because we all use the internet so much in this house. Perhaps the worst part is that they tell you what exactly got you in trouble. For me, it was Revolutionary Road, a film I haven't watched, but heard was mediocre. I wish I could have gotten busted for something good like Slumdog, then I almost could have rationalized it.
So the downloading is done... for now. I'm leaving in a month anyhow, so it doesn't really affect me much. It's my mom that will have to deal with it, since she loves downloading music. Fortunately, we do live in an area where there are multiple service providers, so it's not like we don't have options if our service were shut down in the future for something else.
In Germany, I spent a lot of time translating papers on DRM and intellectual property rights. But not even that stopped me, and it probably won't stop me in the future either. The thing is, there are other people in this house that would miss the internet. And I'm not about to get them involved. I have no problem dealing with repercussions of my actions when it only affects me, but I don't want others to have to suffer because of something I did. Goodbye downloading illegally, I'm going to miss you.
I think it's largely a scare tactic, and let me tell you: it's effective. I spent the next fifteen minutes running around like Karyn Hill flushing the drugs in Goodfellas, except my version focused primarily on deleting downloading programs and downloaded materials. Big brother can strike anywhere in the world we live in now.
Since it was the first infringement, it's a freebie. But I'm not taking any precautions, especially because we all use the internet so much in this house. Perhaps the worst part is that they tell you what exactly got you in trouble. For me, it was Revolutionary Road, a film I haven't watched, but heard was mediocre. I wish I could have gotten busted for something good like Slumdog, then I almost could have rationalized it.
So the downloading is done... for now. I'm leaving in a month anyhow, so it doesn't really affect me much. It's my mom that will have to deal with it, since she loves downloading music. Fortunately, we do live in an area where there are multiple service providers, so it's not like we don't have options if our service were shut down in the future for something else.
In Germany, I spent a lot of time translating papers on DRM and intellectual property rights. But not even that stopped me, and it probably won't stop me in the future either. The thing is, there are other people in this house that would miss the internet. And I'm not about to get them involved. I have no problem dealing with repercussions of my actions when it only affects me, but I don't want others to have to suffer because of something I did. Goodbye downloading illegally, I'm going to miss you.