[SerialGunner]

I need help, a friend of mine got a notice from his internet company that his internet got cut off since he downloaded Bleach and other copyright materials and he has to pay $150 to reconnect to the internet. My friend has asked other people of what they think, and they say he is being scammed, what do you think?

[laurens92]

meh.. why would a internet company know about bleach.. unless they watch it to

get a better provider which does not look into your downloads... they are just trashy company because it's something we call. privacy....

so my guess is Read there TOS and sue them or get new internet. because reactivating is just a bother also it cost to freaking much and when you download in the future your internet will be disabled again.

Reminds me of a time when my internet got blocked because the internet price increased and had to pay 0.50 cent( because i did not pay enough ). had to pay 20 euro to reactivate it...

[DTryPleX]

@Dark, Very helpful lol.

I guess there is some truth in it but being scammed by your own ISP seems unlikely. Although it also seems quite unlikely that they will actually cut off your internet and make you pay a fine to them. Seems more logical that a government official would take care of that, not the provider. I'd tell him to call some legal-adviser or something to get information cuz it sure seems fishy... I know there's provider who send notices if you download copyrighted material like Bleach, Naruto etc. though.

[SixthDawn]

They can't catch you if you DDL, am I not right?
Plus most ISP are aware of stuff like Naruto and Bleach because they've been informed by companies like Crunchyroll to stop illegal downloading of them.

[fullmetalmax]

well I would like to know 2 more details.......was he downloading via torrent or direct , or was he the one who uploaded/mirrored that thing ??

[SerialGunner]

He does both, torrent and ddl and I also upload amvs to youtube and apparently, he said that the creator of Bleach contacted the internet company

[SixthDawn]

Originally Posted by SerialGunner

He does both, torrent and ddl and I also upload amvs to youtube and apparently, he said that the creator of Bleach contacted the internet company

[digritz]

Bleach creator doesn't have the rights. VIZ Media does.

Why would an internet service provider be handling MPAA issues? The answer is simple they wouldn't. Even if they have a clause in their contract regarding copyright material, there is no way to legally charge customers a fine for downloading it because they have no legal rights to said copyrighted material. They are counting on stupid ppl believing anything they are told.

The problem is that to fight against such a thing need the help of an attorney. This of course costs money. In the long run it may be easier and a lot cheaper to get another service provider.

Before that though (only if you are eloquent with the English language), I would draft a letter to the service provider asking for a detailed explanation regarding the fine and the current laws and their rights regarding the collection of fines for VIZ Media the company who owns the download rights, foreign television, home video, and merchandising rights to Bleach. Ask them if Viz Media is aware that the service provider is acting as an agent of VIZ Media by collecting fines for the their downloaded material. THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART....... Let them know you would be happy to pay the fine as long as they can provide the aforementioned information and that you would also make sure to send all the info they provide as well as the requested payment info back to VIZ Media as well for confirmation.

At the vary least if the letter is crafted correctly it will give them pause and possibly rethink their policy. At most you may get them to choke on the idea of collecting a fine from you.

[Nominis]

My question is can you name that ISP for us? As an avoid subject.

[SerialGunner]

No, like I said, my friend got caught so I don't know all the details