Can a user get arrested from downloading from newsgroups?

Question

If a user gets binary access through their ISP (like Earthlink, 5GB per month at full speed, then 64KBPS) and downloads episodes of TV shows on stations like NBC, is there any way for NBC to know that this person is downloading and do something about it (such as a fine or angry letter), like I've heard that they do to some Bittorrent users?

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible. But unlikely.

Answer 2

Yes, they can find out. What generally happens is the copyright holder (NBC in this case) would contact the ISP and the ISP would send a cease and desist notice to the user.



In the United States, it would be copyright law that would be violated in this case (Piracy of Intellectual Property.) Copyright law is civil law, not criminal law. People are not arrested in civil cases. One can get sued in civil cases though.



The Supreme Court hasn't ruled finally on copyright infringement. There are 2 (or more) sides to the argument. It is burden of the copyright holder to enforce their copyright. Copyright holders are not permitted to selectively enforce their copyrights. So there is the argument that if you don't enforce it, you lose it.



The bottom line is that you should be guided by your own ethics not if you would go to jail. If you know NBC has rights to a T.V. show, maybe you should TIVO it or pay to download it from iTunes or other legal downloading source.

Answer 3

Well they would have to have the cooperation of the server, and they are much more likely to go after the server than they are the users.

Answer 4

Possibly.



They can track paedos who use newsgroups, so they could track anyone. Now, can they be bothered is another question that I can't answer.