Copyright infringement email

[#1]

Hi,
I have received an email this morning accusing me of copyright infringement saying that I have shared Krypton (2018

Now I have never heard of Krypton (2018 and I have no idea what it is, I have never ever used any file sharing software or watched any content illegally. The date and time of the offence was at a time that neither I or my wife were at home and we can actually prove this as we have till receipts to verify we were not at home.

I have never given anyone else access to my router, my wife and I are the only 2 people who have access so to be accused of this is really worrying for both of us.

All of our neighbours are all elderly (80+) so I can't imagine any of them hacking into my WiFi.

Any suggestions on how I can clear my name?

Also, in my Plusnet account it say's 'Good news - you have no active infringements'. Plus net have confirmed that they sent the email so it's definitely not spam.

[#2]

If it were me the 1st thing I'd do is change my WifI password(s) to ensure my WiFi was secure.

[#3 · Accepted solution]

When was the last time you had a disconnection? Unless you have a static ip, it is entirely possible the address was allocated to someone else at the time of the alleged infringement. When the order came in, the current owner of the ip was probably singled out.

Mark

[#4]

Hi, unfortunately I have no idea when I last had a disconnection. All I know is that only my wife and I are they only people with access, we are using the default password and we have never accessed anything illegal. We use freeview and Netflix. No one ever had access to the password card on the back of the router. I am getting quite upset with this as I have been accused but with no way of accessing the information as to why I have been accused.

[#5]

These people who make these claims of infringement have no qualifications and are not monitored for accuracy.

They are claiming that you have uploaded some bits of a film - they just fire off periodic emails to ISP's containing an ip address, a date and a complaint.

If they don't issue occasional unfounded complaints then their contracts wouldn't get renewed.

There is no consequence to their complaints, regardless of their foundation (or not).

[#6]

If they are making unfounded accusations which in my case I believe they are they should be held to account. I am going to try and collect as much information as possible to prove that I did not upload/download any protected content and if necessary I will take legal action for defamation of character. I know I haven't accessed this content and I'm 99.9% certain that no one else has had access to my password so unless my IP address has been spoofed I can't see any other way that this could have happened unless the accusers are completely incompetent or acting illegally.

[#7]

Probably incompetence.

[#8]

My wife has just reminded me that I accidently turned the router off instead of the computer on the day that the infringement supposedly happened, not sure exactly what time this was though. Is it possible that plus net have recorded the wrong IP address for me?

If this is the case then the whole system of detecting infringements using dynamic IP addresses seems to be very flawed to me.

[#9]

Is it possible that plus net have recorded the wrong IP address for me? 

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Highly plausible.

[#10]

We have worked it out that the router was reset sometime after 17.20 and the infringement took place at 17.57. Not 100% certain if the router was reset before or after the infringement. It looks like I have been blamed for someone else's file sharing activity.

[#11]

Hi @Reklaw,

I know the letter gives a direct link to the CCUK portal to view the infringement information (this is where you're seeing 'Good news - you have no active infringements'), can you check if your member centre has this logged against it? If you click on 'account details' after you've logged in you should see an icon called 'copyrighted content'. I've included an image for reference:

Do you see this icon? If so what happens when you click on it? If not it means no registrations have been assigned and I'd provide a copy of the letter you've received (via a PM to one of the staff here) so we can tally it up with the account to make sure it's not been incorrectly assigned to you. I'd also PM a screenshot of that page showing no icon present. 

I can already see you've changed all your account security information. I'd change your wireless password information too, if you haven't already. It might also be worth having a look at the Plusnet Safeguard section as one of the categories you can block is Peer-to-peer and illegal streaming.

[#12]

Moderators Note.

I've moved this to 'Everything Else' as it isn't a problem with the broadband connection per se.

[#13]

Hi, i can see the copyrighted icon and when I click on the icon and then 'view details of your activity' it says 'good news - you don't currenty have any active infringements' this is alI so confusing and frustrating. I have blocked peer to peer and illegal file streaming (shouldn't this be blocked by default?) I have turned the router off until I can identify exactly what has happened, if I can't then I will canceI the broadband connection. I will attempt to pm you the email that I received.

[#14]

Are Plusnet passing personal information to a third party without the requisite permission to do so?

I wouldn't want any personal information passed to these people.

[#15]

No, I believe the process is that the media companies inform PN of the IP address and PN then send out the email.
The companies don't get the personal data.