P2P and The BPI

[joules99]

I have just read http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?n odeId=139571&command=displayContent&sourceNode=1 39301&contentPK=12669356"> in our local paper, and I am now confused:

Firstly, can a solicitor really send a letter demanding payment and threating imprisonment, without the going through the courts?

And secondly I beleive the BPI are the people responsible policing the internet for music piracy on the internet, how exactly are they able to monitor what people download? I am gusessing that the only way they can get a lead is by searching on a P2P network for people sharing files and then getting their IP address, relating that to the ISP, then getting a court order to force the ISP for the users name and address. Does anyone know if this is how they track people, in that case if you only downloaded and didnt share you should be safe? Otherwise how the hell can they track millions of peoples data transfers and also wouldn't it be illegal anyway?

[BillyNoMates]

Yawn, this question has been asked a thousand times before.

If you download music from 'free' websites your ISP (Internet Service Provider) can see what you do.

There are certain types of traffic which these P2P systems use. It is immediatley obvious to any ISP who is abusing their terms and abusing the conditions.

By downloading music via P2P methods it is identifiable by your ISP regardless of what you do with the downloaded files.

By downloading you are not necessarily breaking any law whether you share or not. But by downloading, you have not paid the artist for his/her copyright therefore you are breaking the law. 

[MargeB]

It is difficult for ISPs to spot and stop P2P services, since they utilize a software architecture which can readily be altered and which change the port used by the program. The way of court order that Joules mentions is correct.

[joules99]

Well sorry Billy to bore you, but if it has been asked b4 then I am surprised you do not know more about it.

Firstly my ISP does not have any terms which suggest you cannot use P2P, so therefore I would not abusing their terms and condiitions. Secondly, to presume that anyone using P2P is dowloading copyrighted files is just presumtion, P2P can be used to share any type of files not just copyrighted material, therefore I do not see that just using P2P software means you are a criminal, I I find it hard to believe that a court would either.

My personal belief is that you will only get court if you share,, but not download, because sharing is a fixed variable that could be traced, via the sharers ip address, and thus resolved to the user, but downloading is infinite, and only available while it is happening, and the information is also only available to the two users, and their respective ISP's and I do not believe that the ISP's report people or are required to do so by law and infact that could be illegal for them to do so.

But I suppose if someone like the BPI actually shared files out under fake names then waited for their prey, this could be another way, but are they above the law?