Internet Provider Flagging as pirated

[fcchief]

I purchased Wolfenstein Old Blood and The New Order, I opened and played New Order for a few minutes then exited. My internet provider sent me an email stating that this was pirated and I should delete it or lose my service. Interenet is Xfinity here in SE Michigan. Should I contact them and why am I getting these notices????

[V3LTA]

https://www.reddit.com/r/PiratedGames/comments/19eixb1/why_does_your_isp_care_if_you_torrent_games/

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

If you illegally obtained the games at any point in time, your ISP can do this.

Contact Xfinity, not Steam.

[Withered]

You gotta manually buy the game tho

[davidb11]

I'm sorry, what?
Literally no ISP on the planet can detect if the game you are playing is Pirated.
THat isn't even how ISP work.

LOL wut?
This literally makes no sense.

You couldn't even in a billion years have a way to detect piracy, let alone tell people they can't play a game due to somehow piracy.

[The HopelessGamer™]

I highly doubt your internet provider is going to be looking at your traffic and emailing you about it. If they do, change provider.

Start here:
1. Scan for malware https://www.malwarebytes.com/
2. Deauthorize all other devices https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage
3. Change passwords from a clean computer
4. Generate new backup codes for your Mobile App https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage
5. Revoke the API key https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey (there should be nothing in the APIKEY)

The email you received is most likely a phishing attempt and for that to happen with accurate information such as your email address, ISP and steam activity known, that says to me you have a breach somewhere.

Make sure to follow those steps above and I would probably contact your internet provider and confirm the email as suspicious.

[davidb11]

Yeah, no ISP ever has the ability to detect piracy.
If they could, they'd be able to actually stop it.

[The HopelessGamer™]

Originally posted by davidb11:

Yeah, no ISP ever has the ability to detect piracy.
If they could, they'd be able to actually stop it.

They can to an extent.

If they are monitoring your internet traffic, they will be able to see where you have been and technically see what you have downloaded. Although, to do anything with this information, they would need to be digging pretty deep into the data collected.

However, just because you visit a shady site does not mean you are doing anything shady. It could of been an advert that pops up from a site that got hacked so with that in mind, your ISP should not be guessing and making assumptions.

They cannot monitor whats on your computer ethically either.

[davidb11]

Originally posted by The HopelessGamer™:

Originally posted by davidb11:

Yeah, no ISP ever has the ability to detect piracy.
If they could, they'd be able to actually stop it.

They can to an extent.

If they are monitoring your internet traffic, they will be able to see where you have been and technically see what you have downloaded. Although, to do anything with this information, they would need to be digging pretty deep into the data collected.

However, just because you visit a shady site does not mean you are doing anything shady. It could of been an advert that pops up from a site that got hacked so with that in mind, your ISP should not be guessing and making assumptions.

They cannot monitor whats on your computer ethically either.

Yeah. That's a fair point.

Which is why I'm not sure why Hotsauce said what he did.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

If certain flagged files were known by the ISP through other means as illegal, they can send out an email for you to stop or have your service terminated.

Ask me how I know, personally.

Comcast sucks. I stopped using them ages ago.

[davidb11]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

If certain flagged files were known by the ISP through other means as illegal, they can send out an email for you to stop or have your service terminated.

Ask me how I know, personally.

Comcast sucks. I stopped using them ages ago.

:nkCool:

That is really weird.
But alright.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by davidb11:

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

If certain flagged files were known by the ISP through other means as illegal, they can send out an email for you to stop or have your service terminated.

Ask me how I know, personally.

Comcast sucks. I stopped using them ages ago.

That is really weird.
But alright.

Disney flagged a bunch of stuff years ago like End Game that I was not leaving the house during covid to watch in a theater.

[The HopelessGamer™]

Originally posted by davidb11:

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

If certain flagged files were known by the ISP through other means as illegal, they can send out an email for you to stop or have your service terminated.

Ask me how I know, personally.

Comcast sucks. I stopped using them ages ago.

:nkCool:

That is really weird.
But alright.

As I said, they would need to be digging very deep into the collected data which, benefits... no one really. Not even the ISP itself.