[amer1337]

my friend just got a letter from cablevision saying theyre going to be sueing him for illegal music and movie downloads. with a list of things hes downloaded and saying they obviously have proof that he has been downloading things. somewhere along the lines of 1,000 per song and 10,000 per movie.

Is there anything he can do to mabye lessen or (farfetched) completely get off from this? or is he basically screwed

[Omsion]

Well...has he been downloading? Best not answer that one.

Regardless, the majority of "proof" will be a lovely unreliable IP. It may be easily defendable from that standpoint - at least the precedent of IP proof being useless is there.
If he's willing to fight it out...he'll probably end up only losing lawyer fees as the case gets dropped, as the industry groups really don't like to go court, especially since evrey case that has gone to court has been ruled against them. If he's not willing, they'll probably stick him under "amnesty" , and probably a fine that isn't as large as the letter threatens (the letter essentially acts as coercion towards this end - aka "don't be fighting us or you'll get owned" - except not, except for aforementioned lawyer fees).
Not a lawyer, of course, but this seems the general trend from what you get off the net.

Either way, if he is downloading - good idea to stop right about now.
I'd tell him to take amnesty if he really was downloading - while tons of people would love to see more sticking it to the man - I can't reccommend that on good faith (even though I'm one of those who'd love to see the industry groups smacked 10 feet headfirst into the ground...)

[FireMogle]

If he has a wireless router and its unsecured then they have no case.

[CJ145]

I seriously doubt that Cablevision (which would be his isp) would be suing him. Did you see this letter your self? And if you did a scan would be great since I have never seen an ISP sue a user for downloading.

[amer1337]

all i know has been from him based on conversation no physical letter seen. but its been verefied by his parents and my best friend, ill ask him tonight to get me a copy of it.
do wireless routers really ruin their case? ive told him a million times not to download things or at least not as much as he was downloading, kid doesnt listen

[bchur83]

As far as I have seen, downloading doesnt usually seem to be the problem, but sharing does present the problem. I work for an ISP and we have received 2 Cease & Desist letters stating to tell a customer to remove offending content, in the 3 years I have worked here. I would question it if it states it's from the ISP. They will not sue the customer, but the MPAA or RIAA will.

[thideras]

Originally Posted by amer1337

all i know has been from him based on conversation no physical letter seen. but its been verefied by his parents and my best friend, ill ask him tonight to get me a copy of it.
do wireless routers really ruin their case? ive told him a million times not to download things or at least not as much as he was downloading, kid doesnt listen

I doubt the wireless router would get him off the hook. It is HIS router and HIS responsibility to secure it

Plus, if he was downloading it...he had it coming. Sorry to say