ISP question

[aksman]

my isp has given me a 10gb limit (upload + download) before they cap my speed

now i'm worried if i go WAY over the limit that they may wonder about my downloads (e.g. mp3s, videos, movies, etc)

is this possible? are they allowed to question me about this?

thx for ur help!

[zenon]

That all depends on where you live, but generally, no they won't.

If somebody like the RIAA or MPAA starts to investigate you, they will ask your ISP (in a very unpolite and threatening manner) to give over your personal information. Then you are screwed. The ISP itself generally would not go to these lengths though - for the most part the only thing they will care about is you going over your cap.

If you want to monitor your downloads, I would recommend a program called DU Meter. It keeps track of all of your uploads and downloads every month and is very easy to use.

[v0od0o]

dunno how isps work where you're from, but I think that'd be pretty hard and also pointless for them. They're not the MPAA and you're their client, they should have no interest in what you download, you're downloading not hosting stuff so it should be no prob.
Also if you're getting stuff off p2p it would be a bit hard for them to figure out what you're getting, again why should they spend the effort.
Most probably they'll throttle ur speed when you've gone over the limit and that's it

[v0od0o]

zenon: hehe funny how you and I posted essentially the same thing at the same time

[zenon]

Originally Posted by v0od0o

zenon: hehe funny how you and I posted essentially the same thing at the same time

Great minds think alike.

[bone]

for monitorring you up/download i recommend ISP monitor, even takes count wether you're transferring on local network or over the internet

[aksman]

i live in australia guys, does that make any difference?

thanks for help so far!

[bahnstormer]

Originally Posted by v0od0o

dunno how isps work where you're from, but I think that'd be pretty hard and also pointless for them.
Also if you're getting stuff off p2p it would be a bit hard for them to figure out what you're getting, again why should they spend the effort.

that's FAR from the truth. ANYTHING that comes in or out of your pc
via your connection to your isp, they can have a log of. any password
you type, or program u DL they have access to. of course u'd have
to draw attention to yourself by repeatedly going over your cap
before they'd consider monitoring you...just too many ppl using thier
connection to monitor.

move to the usa. no caps =]

[Overheat]

Costs me an extra £2.50 a month for unlimited access. At £18.50 a month, I'm not complaining. Esp seeing as now that I've sold my old desktop to my Dad, he's putting £10 a month towards it!

[bahnstormer]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=6932197

crazy aussies. .. take a look at that article. pertains to this discussion

[v0od0o]

yeah crazy, following the same logic they should sue camera companies if ppl use it to photograph military areas, or photocopying machines manufacturers because ppl use them to photocopy books... I really dunno how these ppl think.
Anyway about that "hard to analyze p2p sessions" I know that all of ur traffic passes by ur isp, but I meant that some p2p networks use their own protocol (e.g. edonkey), not http, so the ISP basically sees streams of packets, it'd be hard to sort of "reverse engineer" the streams to get meaningful information as to what exactly the user is doing, searching for stuff, downloading which stuff.... I dunno if there are tools that do so but the tools I know of analyze normal http and ftp streams, not custom protocols.
But then again, what's the point.... if an ISP voluntarily got their client to prison, who will want to subscribe with them?

[zenon]

One of the stupidest things we have here in Canada is a "blank media tax". Whenever you buy blank recordable media ( everything from 3 1/2 floppy discs, VHS tapes, audio tapes, CD-Rs, DVD-Rs etc.) you are charged a fee on top of the price. Their rationale is that because you are buying recordable media that could possibly be used for pirating purposes, they will just charge you on every purchase to reimburse content providers like record labels, TV networks, movie studios. etc. It may make sense to them, but it is a completely absurd way of getting around copyrighting problems.

However, most big Canadian chains (like Futureshop) are against this tax and do not charge it.

[SiR_dude]

Originally Posted by zenon

One of the stupidest things we have here in Canada is a "blank media tax".

Really? I've never heard of it

[zenon]

Originally Posted by SiR_dude

Really? I've never heard of it

Ya, all of the stores that charge it do a really good job of covering it up.

It may be that it is a west-coast thing though. I only know for sure that it is charged here - things may be different on your side of the country.

[v0od0o]

looool, that's so stupid it's funny

[aksman]

thanks for advice guys but i'm still weary bout uploading too much, so i'll continue to only upload a few gigs per month (which is still a fair bit IMO)

[drakin]

aksman, fellow aussie!

Mate, dont know which isp your with but i run a pacific net express off peak account 512/128, doesnt have a download limit, but is shaped during the day from 8am till 6pm weekdays (not that i care im at work)

But anyway, i usually download around 50-60gigs a month, with about 15-20 uploaded a month. Never had a problem.

[bigfoot1942]

Originally Posted by bahnstormer

that's FAR from the truth. ANYTHING that comes in or out of your pc
via your connection to your isp, they can have a log of. any password
you type, or program u DL they have access to. of course u'd have
to draw attention to yourself by repeatedly going over your cap
before they'd consider monitoring you...just too many ppl using thier
connection to monitor.

move to the usa. no caps =]

thats BS imho.
Yes, they can log everything. But they wont do that unless they're ordered to by a judge. If they did that because you went over your caps, its none of their business and it would be an invasion of privacy.

[Buba]

Originally Posted by zenon

One of the stupidest things we have here in Canada is a "blank media tax". Whenever you buy blank recordable media ( everything from 3 1/2 floppy discs, VHS tapes, audio tapes, CD-Rs, DVD-Rs etc.) you are charged a fee on top of the price. Their rationale is that because you are buying recordable media that could possibly be used for pirating purposes, they will just charge you on every purchase to reimburse content providers like record labels, TV networks, movie studios. etc. It may make sense to them, but it is a completely absurd way of getting around copyrighting problems.

However, most big Canadian chains (like Futureshop) are against this tax and do not charge it.

I think we have that in Germany, too... At least on some products...

Buba

[Renesis]

Originally Posted by zenon

Ya, all of the stores that charge it do a really good job of covering it up.

It may be that it is a west-coast thing though. I only know for sure that it is charged here - things may be different on your side of the country.

we have it on blank CD's DVD's heck, I had to pay a $15 tax on my iPod for the same reason!