Hey friends!

Let’s say (hypothetically) that my friend got a (hypothetical) letter threatening legal action for (hypothetical) copyright violation of adult content, and they provided an IP address which is not quite, but almost the same as my friends own IP address.

If my friends current IP is in the form “12.345.XXX.XXX”, then the provided IP is of the form “12.345.YYY.YYY”, where the X and Y numbers differ, but the first 2 parts are the same (although I obviously changed it here). The provided IP links to the same city as the original, but it is different in the last 2 parts. The provided IP was supposedly recorded back in September. Also, according to whatsmyipaddress[dot]com, both addresses are “Likely Static”.

Could my friends IP have been the prodived one a few months ago, and then changed by my ISP? Can this be linked back to my friend?

I’m not asking for legal advice, simply to understand the IP protocol a bit better.

Also, sorry if this isn’t the correct community to post such a question.

Thanks!

  • Nick_W1@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Yes, yes, and yes. The sender of the letter (not your ISP) is complaining about your friend distributing copywrite content - not downloading it.

    This happens when you are downloading via torrents - because you are also sharing everything you have downloaded. They are complaining about the sharing.

    So, use a VPN, stop sharing torrents, or stop torrenting. Those are the options, if you don’t want to get in trouble.