Has anybody got in trouble for downloading torrents

The New Scientist reports that "anyone who has downloaded pirated music, video or eBooks using a BitTorrent client has probably had their IP address logged by copyright-enforcement authorities within three hours of doing so. They successfully pressured the Department of Justice to halt Megaupload and managed to prod the Ukrainian government into shutting down Demonoid , the popular private tracker.

The next step seems to be bring Internet service providers like Comcast and Time Warner into the act. Someone breaking copyright laws by regularly downloading movies is using more bandwidth than the next-door neighbor who's just streaming funny videos on YouTube. At that point, third-party monitors might take a closer look into what someone is doing online.

Lifehacker reports that perhaps the most common way for ISPs to fight BitTorrenting is to "throttle" a user's Internet connection, slowing it down or even cutting the connection off.

The practice is most prevalent in Canada, where it's had little effect. ISPs are also known to have fielded requests from copyright enforcers who pressure them to give up an Internet user's contact information, most often to send the offender a warning letter or a subpoena. BitTorrent users can avoid throttling or legal trouble by hooking up to virtual private networks and proxies for their connection online.

In the latter scenario, someone's IP address is re-routed through another one so a BitTorrenter's real IP stays relatively anonymous to the other users they are connecting with. There are also newer piracy sites that subvert peer-to-peer connections altogether, avoiding the inherent risk of linking to someone who could be working for the MPAA. Until those methods catch on, the Pirate Bay and other BitTorrent sites will continue their arms race against law enforcement.

The analysis from the California-based company reveals there were 1, file-sharing cases filed in the United States last year — an average of 85 a month.

More than half of all these were filed by adult entertainment firm, Malibu Media, which accounted for some lawsuits filed against pirates last year. While that is far from an insignificant number, it only looks set to increase in the coming months. According data gathered by piracy-focused blog TorrentFreak , during the first month of , three copyright holders filed a total of lawsuits against alleged pirates.

Strike 3 Holdings, another hugely-successful online pornography firm, is in second place with cases. According to TorrentFreak, the only non-adult copyright holder that filed cases against alleged BitTorrent pirates was Bodyguard Productions.

The company filed 15 lawsuits against people it believes downloaded copies of Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Those who downloaded copyrighted content for free without permission from the rights holders are breaking the law.

However, those used to download copyrighted content for free without the permission of the rights holders are. Torrents do not contain the file you wish to download, but instead, enables your computer to download the requested data in small chunks from a network of online participants. In the UK, those who download copyrighted content using a torrent site might find themselves the recipient of a warning letter from their broadband provider.

The email cautions subscribers they have 20 days to stop downloading copyrighted material using peer-to-peer websites.