Is file downloading on campus allowed? Stuff such as movies and tv shows. Note that file sharing in Canada is legal as long it is for personal use. Thanks!!!

Connections may be throttled after awhile. I'm assuming dl speed wireless is slow anyways

Originally Posted by ledzeppelin6

Is file downloading on campus allowed? Stuff such as movies and tv shows. Note that file sharing in Canada is legal as long it is for personal use. Thanks!!!

Certain files are tracked, and the (typically American) company will send an email to the user the account is registered to, in this case the university. They can track you down because you need to log on with your MacID to use the internet. I'm not sure what the rules are at McMaster, but a friend of mine at UofT got her internet access blocked last week for downloading a movie on campus that was being tracked.
So yeah...I wouldn't exactly use the word "legal", especially if you're not downloading Canadian content.

That said, I never have heard of anything like that happening at Mac, but it is a possibility.

Depends how your downloading it, but seeing as I downloaded probably 50-100 gigs of movies/shows off the web and first year and not even a notice, I wouldn't be horribly concerned. Also wireless speed isn't great unless you come to campus late at night or weekends anyways

I've downloaded close to 40gigs and so far nothings happened to me

loool i've downloaded what you guys downloaded the whole year in a day and nothing...
internet speeds are quick .. up to 6.1mb/s at some places, others are like 3kb/s lol

Originally Posted by starfish

Certain files are tracked, and the (typically American) company will send an email to the user the account is registered to, in this case the university. They can track you down because you need to log on with your MacID to use the internet. I'm not sure what the rules are at McMaster, but a friend of mine at UofT got her internet access blocked last week for downloading a movie on campus that was being tracked.
So yeah...I wouldn't exactly use the word "legal", especially if you're not downloading Canadian content.

That said, I never have heard of anything like that happening at Mac, but it is a possibility.

Yeah, you keep believing that American companies can do anything to you here, especially since Canadian providers keep that information confidential. Proof? Been downloading for over 6 years and not a single message.

The torrents on campus are blocked tho.

But as long as not you are fine, I had to redownload my Steam library during summer. Went over 100 gigabytes and nothing.

Originally Posted by AngryBean

Yeah, you keep believing that American companies can do anything to you here, especially since Canadian providers keep that information confidential. Proof? Been downloading for over 6 years and not a single message.

The torrents on campus are blocked tho.

But as long as not you are fine, I had to redownload my Steam library during summer. Went over 100 gigabytes and nothing.

You've been doing it for 6 years and not a single message, I downloaded three things at my parents' house and my dad (who the internet is registered to) got an email from Cogeco on behalf of Paramount Pictures threatening legal action. Whether or not it could have been anything more than a threat is another story, but you're naive to think that Canadian providers will keep that confidential.

Originally Posted by starfish

You've been doing it for 6 years and not a single message, I downloaded three things at my parents' house and my dad (who the internet is registered to) got an email from Cogeco on behalf of Paramount Pictures threatening legal action. Whether or not it could have been anything more than a threat is another story, but you're naive to think that Canadian providers will keep that confidential.

At our off campus house, I just finished torrenting 6 seasons of the simpsons plus a bunch of other things like shows, movies and a couple books, along with my many other of my housemates, and no messages with Bell. I have no idea what you would have had to download to get a message from them

Originally Posted by starfish

You've been doing it for 6 years and not a single message, I downloaded three things at my parents' house and my dad (who the internet is registered to) got an email from Cogeco on behalf of Paramount Pictures threatening legal action. Whether or not it could have been anything more than a threat is another story, but you're naive to think that Canadian providers will keep that confidential.

How long ago did it happen?

Originally Posted by Snowman

At our off campus house, I just finished torrenting 6 seasons of the simpsons plus a bunch of other things like shows, movies and a couple books, along with my many other of my housemates, and no messages with Bell. I have no idea what you would have had to download to get a message from them

It was The Soloist (I think, I was downloading a few at the same time), and the same thing happened to a friend downloading Madagascar.

Originally Posted by AngryBean

How long ago did it happen?

The Soloist was a couple of years ago; Madagascar was about a month ago.

So you people are the ones slowing down the internet lol

My sister downloaded a season of weeds and my dad got an email from paramount... but that's the risk you run when downloading torrents. Even still, all they said was not to do it anymore lol

Still doesnt scare me enough. Wonder what neighborhood you people are from, neighborhood where your own internet providers spy on you.

Just be careful. American companies will seldom pursue YOU for legal action, but they will pursue the ISP. In turn, the ISP may cut your internet.