Copyright infringement?

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randombetch

randombetch

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So I recently downloaded a movie for my English class (it's stupid because I had access to the movie in my school's computer clusters, but I didn't want to walk over) via torrents. Today, my computer started getting really slow and there was a popup on the lower right hand corner of my task bar asking if I'd like to turn on virus protection (claiming it was part of Windows Vista). Since I had been having trouble installing virus protection, I guessed the program I downloaded was finally working so I clicked "install" and then my computer started getting overrun with these popups and random software that started scanning my computer.

Obviously, I must have clicked "install" to a virus or something, because my computer became flooded with these scanning programs. And after I restarted my computer, when I logged in, my wallpaper had change, my desktop was gone, my taskbar was gone, and there was a window claiming that I had violated copyright laws and listed some of the torrent trackers that were associated with my IP address. The window had the RIAA and MPAA logos on it, and it presented me with two options - going to court or paying a settlement fee (didn't say how much). What's scary is that it also listed my school's name and the technology department of my school through which it got my IP address. Then I got the blue screen of death and my computer rebooted on it's own.

So I guess I have two questions: 1) Am I f***ed or was this just all part of some really elaborate virus? It could be that the virus and copyright violation notice are completely unrelated and just coincidental (it was the first time I had restarted my computer in a while...), and 2) Do med schools care about copyright infringement violations?
 
randombetch said:
So I recently downloaded a movie for my English class (it's stupid because I had access to the movie in my school's computer clusters, but I didn't want to walk over) via torrents. Today, my computer started getting really slow and there was a popup on the lower right hand corner of my task bar asking if I'd like to turn on virus protection (claiming it was part of Windows Vista). Since I had been having trouble installing virus protection, I guessed the program I downloaded was finally working so I clicked "install" and then my computer started getting overrun with these popups and random software that started scanning my computer.

Obviously, I must have clicked "install" to a virus or something, because my computer became flooded with these scanning programs. And after I restarted my computer, when I logged in, my wallpaper had change, my desktop was gone, my taskbar was gone, and there was a window claiming that I had violated copyright laws and listed some of the torrent trackers that were associated with my IP address. The window had the RIAA and MPAA logos on it, and it presented me with two options - going to court or paying a settlement fee (didn't say how much). What's scary is that it also listed my school's name and the technology department of my school through which it got my IP address. Then I got the blue screen of death and my computer rebooted on it's own.

So I guess I have two questions: 1) Am I f***ed or was this just all part of some really elaborate virus? It could be that the virus and copyright violation notice are completely unrelated and just coincidental (it was the first time I had restarted my computer in a while...), and 2) Do med schools care about copyright infringement violations?
Click to expand...

1. Virus, Virus, Virus

2 No. Do you imagine they think people they admit have never used NAPSTER or LIMEWIRE or something to that nature?
 
randombetch said:
So I recently downloaded a movie for my English class (it's stupid because I had access to the movie in my school's computer clusters, but I didn't want to walk over) via torrents. Today, my computer started getting really slow and there was a popup on the lower right hand corner of my task bar asking if I'd like to turn on virus protection (claiming it was part of Windows Vista). Since I had been having trouble installing virus protection, I guessed the program I downloaded was finally working so I clicked "install" and then my computer started getting overrun with these popups and random software that started scanning my computer.

Obviously, I must have clicked "install" to a virus or something, because my computer became flooded with these scanning programs. And after I restarted my computer, when I logged in, my wallpaper had change, my desktop was gone, my taskbar was gone, and there was a window claiming that I had violated copyright laws and listed some of the torrent trackers that were associated with my IP address. The window had the RIAA and MPAA logos on it, and it presented me with two options - going to court or paying a settlement fee (didn't say how much). What's scary is that it also listed my school's name and the technology department of my school through which it got my IP address. Then I got the blue screen of death and my computer rebooted on it's own.

So I guess I have two questions: 1) Am I f***ed or was this just all part of some really elaborate virus? It could be that the virus and copyright violation notice are completely unrelated and just coincidental (it was the first time I had restarted my computer in a while...), and 2) Do med schools care about copyright infringement violations?
Click to expand...

They (the would be plaintiff) can't mess with your computer. It's a virus. What was the site?
 
It's virus. Your IP address is easy to obtain more than you think. For example, by doing an easy DOS command, I can figure out your IP address and the provider by having an MSN chat with you.
 
Well, I'm glad everyone's been telling me it's a virus. 😀

I guess the school's technology department's just our "ISP," which is why they listed it...

Thanks guys.
 
lol, they don't ask you to pay a settlement fee over the internet. They generally try and make examples out of the guys they catch and send squads of lawyers over to hustle you. I'm guessing the "settlement fee" probably goes straight into an offshore account or whatever the internet guys bank from.

It's crazy how advanced some of these viruses are. I had one that disabled my computer updates (including malwarebytes which i suggest you use) and i had to go into my LAN settings to change it. There was one that altered my screen size to incredibly large so i could see maybe only 1/30th of my usual screen (thus making it a pain to fix). There were some with program files that kept randomly naming themselves so i couldn't even find them. Honestly, it makes you wonder why some people so gifted at computer programming are such pricks.
 
Hah, and I bet that virus was from the torrent. That's actually cruelly clever on someone's part to whomever hosted the torrent.
 
If you're smart about it, torrents are pretty safe. Admittedly, I caught something from a torrent site once, but I use more precautions now. Haven't had a problem since.
 
I'm really surprised you dared to download a torrent on a college campus though. It then reflects on the university not an internet company. At least that's what we were told at orientation, but they said something like how college campus internet connections are monitored more closely than in private homes and if you're caught you're screwed.
 
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