said by Asmodeus :

what is your answer to getting a dmca/mpaa/riaa notification on files that are named to copyrighted material, but the actual data is either not what is described via the file name or is just junk...? since p2p is nothing more than multiple users giving up chunks of data to other peers in a swarm recombining that data from those other sources, then how are the xxaa's knowing what you are getting or serving...?

said by NormanS :

It is just a notice of violation of the DMCA. If the MPAA was actually going to sue, you probably would hear about it through registered U.S.P.S. mail.

You will hear a lot of speculation about downloading. Forget about it. Nobody has been sued for downloading. It is the uploading which is the problem. P2P, or "Peer-To-Peer" filesharing means just that: "File Sharing". With BitTorrent, you upload as you download. The classic Gnutella, and similar, networks involve setting up a shared folder. You do this over a public network (the Internet) and you invite any member of the public to find your shared files.

There are a few ways you can try to foil detection, and there may be a few defenses which will work in your favor in a legal system designed to favor the defense ("innocent until proven guilty"); but the ultimate question is: "Is it worth the trouble"?

If you want to avoid these kinds of letters, you need to avoid file sharing applications. They will nail you on the unauthorized distribution of copyright protected content.

Limit your use of P2P to files you are authorized to share.

said by spike010101 :

encryption has nothing to do with it. Anyone can query a tracker and find out who is downloading what file.

said by snipper_cr :

I have not read the TOS, but if thats the case, then simply making a website is a violation of the TOS.

said by snipper_cr :

Lets say, I upload family pics to a server, say, angelfire, and others access it. Based on your post, that is a violation of TOS.

Sending an email, uploads a file to a server and is then accessed by the end client.

Heck... your posting here is a file made viewable to anyone.

said by NetFixer :

And then, there are those who either don't know the difference (or at least pretend that they don't know the difference) between downloading and making a file available on a server for others to download. Doing the latter is also a violation of the Comcast TOS for residential customers regardless of the file's intellectual property status.