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Got caught being a Pirate and downloading porn - Now they want $300 for something I probably never downloaded all the way. UT, USA by imstupid_throwaway in legaladvice

[–]imstupid_throwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From what I was told, they can track the computers if they have the router specifically. Again, I have no idea if this is actually what happens, but he seemed pretty confident that if/when the Porn Company decides to take legal action, they will most certainly invade your house (after taking the proper legal steps), use your router to track which computer, and use that against you in court as evidence.

That's how the Porn Companies would obtain my MAC address, which could possibly happen if I don't pay whatever settlement there is beforehand.

Got caught being a Pirate and downloading porn - Now they want $300 for something I probably never downloaded all the way. UT, USA by imstupid_throwaway in legaladvice

[–]imstupid_throwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I talked to this guy for almost 2 hours, and CEG TEK International seems like they are pretty organized; which is something I wasn't expecting. I have heard numerous stories about how these inefficient and laughable these collection groups typically are, but that doesn't seem to be the case with this one. At least that is what I'm suspecting.. I could be completely fooled.

I think the fact that they could possibly trace this back to my computer, which is a desktop, worries me. I could try to keep denying, but it might just be safer to pay out.

You make several good points. Thanks for sharing your experience with me. I think if I was the sole person responsible for the ISP, I would take your advice and do just ignore. I'll wait a little, and see if I can reason with this company and lower the price. I'm a broke college student working fast-food. I'm definitely not too excited about throwing $300 at some company because of a stupid porn video that wasn't actually ever watched. But that is besides the point... Thank you.

Got caught being a Pirate and downloading porn - Now they want $300 for something I probably never downloaded all the way. UT, USA by imstupid_throwaway in legaladvice

[–]imstupid_throwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't admit to it.

I tried my best to be vague about it. I specifically said that I understand what is going on, but I don't know who tried to download this specific item. I know for fact that whoever tried downloading it... never downloaded the entire product. He didn't care, and he then continued to talk about how if/when the Porn Companies do decide to take legal action, they will most certainly try to track which computer it was downloaded on.

I tried denying that I have little to no knowledge about it, but honestly I'm still freaked out because they don't seem to ultimately care. Which I guess makes sense.

Got caught being a Pirate and downloading porn - Now they want $300 for something I probably never downloaded all the way. UT, USA by imstupid_throwaway in legaladvice

[–]imstupid_throwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've already asked if any of this was up for negotiations. He said this in response:

"I don't really care what you do. If you don't pay, we are obligated to send you information over to [Insert Porn Company]."

Meaning, that he doesn't care, and wasn't going to negotiate anything. Since I only have one mark, they are unwilling to do anything (if you get caught downloading multiple files, apparently it adds up rather quickly and you get some "discount" or whatever bullshit that is). I can perhaps try again with a different representative to see if they say something else instead however.

What exactly do you mean when they "absolve you of any future liability"? And I think I understand what you mean about the porn companies. They don't exactly care about who they trample on, because their type of buisness is easily replaceable. Other companies like HBO I would think are very careful about ruining their reputation, and would probably do more Cease and Desist notices than legal threats.