How do they get caught...

[Hagar]

I'm no 'puter whiz-kid but I read somewhere they can track down files you downloaded to a remote drive like a ZipDisk even if you reformat your HD afterwards. I think this was in reference to a recent case when some pervert was charged with downloading porn.

I visited a website just before Christmas trying to track down an old friend who played lead guitar in a local group back in the 60s. I found what I wanted & posted a comment about it in the Music section of this forum. I'll post a link to the thread if you wish but I don't think anyone replied to it. The next morning I received an e-mail from the webmaster of the website thanking me for my interest. He had also seen the comments I posted in the forum.

[Jimbo]

mhh strannge, so you posted a link to see if you could find your friend?

Im a bit confused!

could you send me that link please


Cheers, Jimbo

[Woodlouse2002]

He posted a thread about music in Brighton in the 60's here at SimV. He then found a webpage about it all. The webmaster of that page tracked him with his ip address to here and the thread, and then emailed him.

Basically, all you need to do is go to a webpage for the webmaster to be able to track you down.

[Fozzer]

LOL i didn't have a program on, i saved all, i mean a friend!, saved them to disk about 5 months ago, then he had to re-install windows, and i, i mean he put the music back on!
MY friend has no software on, just music from a past installation...

So not AS illegal but im just trying to find out about everythin works!

Cheers,

Jimbo

Hi Jimbo...!

You are fine...
..as long as the Heavy Gang don't chain you naked, upside-down, to the ceiling, poke you with electric cattle prods and demand that you tell them where you got your music files from... ...!
...otherwise you will be fine.. ...!.
LOL... ...!

Paul.

[Jimbo]

( Oh rite, im nicely reasured now

LOL

Jimbo!

[Hagar]

Here's the topic I referred to. http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=music;action=display;num=1102803809

This is the e-mail I received the following morning.

Hello, I saw you were on Brightonbeat today, and posted a nice message to your friends on simviation, thanks for visiting us.
Two things why not leave a similar message on brightonbeat, Bill and the other guys would be thrilled.

I was trying to point out that if they want to they can track down every site you visit while you're online.

[TacitBlue]

So... Pete can tell when we look at naughty sites!?  ;D

[Fozzer]

Here's the topic I referred to. http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=music;action=display;num=1102803809

This is the e-mail I received the following morning.

I was trying to point out that if they want to they can track down every site you visit while you're online.

Hello, I saw you were on Brightonbeat today, and posted a nice message to your friends on simviation, thanks for visiting us.
Two things why not leave a similar message on brightonbeat, Bill and the other guys would be thrilled."

Blimey Doug...

The "Old Bill" on the Brighton beat are after us for being on "dodgy" sites.... ...!
There's nothing like the thrill a Copper has when he catches you up to no good.... ...!

LOL...!

Cheers Doug...!

Paul.

[Jared]

[quote]So... Pete can tell when we look at naughty sites!?

[Scorpiоn]

Easy then!  Get all your stuff, take Fozzer's CD route, smash your old hard drive, and start new with a shiny new 250GB!  And never do the naughty again!

Unless hard drives have developed binary telepathy...

[TacitBlue]

...smash your old hard drive, and start new with a shiny new 250GB!

Believe me, I would love to!

[jknight8907]

Usually it doesn't matter if they find the goods on your hard drive.

Here's how they catch you: Every time you connect to the internet, your computer is assigned an IP address (internet protocol address) by your ISP. Each IP address can exist only singularly. This means that right now, your IP address is completely unique. Your ISP keeps a log of what IP address was assigned to who at what time. That's the catch. The Feds who are probing computers connected to networks such as KaZaA and Gnutella log that IP address along with time/date info. Then they can subpoena the ISPs logs to find out which subscriber had that IP address on that date and time.

Then they get address, phone number, name, etc from the ISP and you're busted.

Ways around this? Err...*cough*. Not much works. A program called PeerGuardian blocks probes from IP addresses known to be used by the FBI, RIAA, MPAA, etc. If you're so inclined, you could hack another computer and use that as a blind proxy to route your downloads through. In that case, whoever you have hacked is busted, not you. Well, most of the time.

The moral of this story? DON'T STEAL COPYRIGHTED MATERIALS.