Internet Downloads, False Accusations, and the Burden of Proof

I received a notice from my ISP (Suddenlink) this morning stating that I had downloaded a copyrighted file from the Internet, a false accusation to be sure. This claim came from a third-party and not directly from my ISP. ISPs and "Internet Police" are getting lots of criticism for taking this position, and even for fabricating a significant number of claims for no apparent reason. This is what you get when you let the entertainment industry use the government to control the Internet:

Notice ID: 4fda424f3c38d007585063dc-18593680
Title: The Lovely Bones
Infringement Source: BitTorrent
Initial Timestamp: 2012-09-29 06:28:12
Recent Timestamp: 2012-09-29 20:53:34
Filename: The.Lovely.Bones.2009.BDRip.XviD-Larceny
IP Address: 74.192.169.220
URL: http://bt.rghost.net/announce
Contact Organization: Suddenlink Communications
Contact Email: DMCA@Suddenlink.net
Contact Country: USA

A few years ago I stopped downloading copyrighted material from the Internet, mostly due to a change in my habits on computers and the Internet. With services like YouTube, Hulu and Netflix, I get most of the movies and shows I want to watch without having to visit the Piratebay or similar sites. I can't remember the last video I actually downloaded, but it's probably been a year or two ago at best. After connecting a WD TV Live box to my television, I don't even have a way to play downloaded movies or shows on the TV anymore. I found the simplicity of the setup is more user-friendly than pirating everything. What I can't stream, I can get a DVD through Netflix and watch it that way.

Arguments Against Intellectual Property aside, the course that we are allowing government and industry to travel down will end in such heavy regulation of the Internet that many will simply abandon it as a productive tool. As with everything that government gets into the business of managing, it turns out to be the worst case scenario. Despite push back by Internet users against SOPA and PIPA, these regulations went into effect anyway.

We can not trust the government to do anything, and regulating the Internet is just one of many tasks that they can not do without harming the market more than helping it. ACTA, SOPA and PIPA would destroy the Internet, but government keeps pushing the same policy packaged with a new name until we stop paying attention and they can get it passed without much public outcry. The reality is that government will pursue a policy against common sense, and ACTA is no more than the latest convoluted way that the state manipulates language to protect industries that benefit from government intervention over the rights of individuals.

These "Internet police" are little more than hired goons from the entertainment industry, and should never be allowed to harass innocent people without cause. ISPs that participate in this scheme tend to let these regulators simply sling accusations without the burden of proof. Legally, it is not the role of the accused to defend their innocence, but for the accuser to prove guilt. Any reversal of this is a perversion of justice, not that government is not inclined to do just that at every moment of it's existence.

If you are falsely accused, make some noise. I'm sharing my experience publicly, because I don't think that anything these groups do should be done behind closed doors away from public scrutiny. I don't expect that many ISPs will not participate in this scheme, so changing providers is rather futile in my opinion.