Help and Support

1. What's 'Get it Right from a Genuine Site' all about?

We've teamed up with the 'Get it Right from a Genuine Site' campaign to help Internet users get the content they love from a genuine provider.

The campaign is backed by the UK's biggest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the UK government. It's been set up to let Internet users know if they've been sharing copyrighted content online without the permission of the copyright holder - and to offer useful information about genuine providers, where users can get music, films, TV programmes and games legitimately.

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2. Why have I received an email about sharing copyrighted content?

We'll send you an email if we've been told that your Internet connection has been used to share copyright information online without the permission of the copyright holder. Follow the links in the email to see the name of the peer-to-peer software program being used, together with full details about the content that has been shared.

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3. What does sharing copyrighted content mean?

Peer-2-peer software can be used to access and download digital content freely and easily. However, when you use this, you could unwittingly be sharing copyrighted files without the owner's permission. When you download a copyrighted file, anyone else who's using the same peer-to-peer software can automatically download it from you, meaning you've shared copyrighted content with them.

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4. How do you know what I've been sharing?

Copyright holders join peer-to-peer networks to check where their music, films or TV shows are being shared. If they see their content being shared, they'll take a note of the Internet Protocol (IP) address, the date and time it happened, and contact us through the Get it Right from a Genuine Site campaign. We'll then send you an email about it.

It's important to note that there is no monitoring of file sharing by Internet Service Providers. The checking of activity is done by content owners on peer-to-peer networks only. When there's an instance of alleged infringement, it's carefully checked before information is sent to the applicable ISP and the email is sent to the customer.

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5. How do I stop sharing content?

The easiest and most effective way to stop sharing content is to completely remove all peer-to-peer programs from your computer or device.

You should find the peer-to-peer software on the list of installed programs or in the Applications folder. If you're not sure what these could be, look for common names like BitTorrent, uTorrent, iLivid and Tixati.

Once you've deleted each piece of software, reboot your computer. If you've got other devices, like tablets and smartphones, follow the same steps with each one.

Some media devices such as Kodi boxes may have been customised with unapproved add-ons which use peer-to-peer networks to get access to copyrighted content. If you use one of these, make sure you're using approved add-ons.

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6. Can I use peer-to-peer software to share legal material?

Using peer-to-peer software isn't illegal, but it means you're at risk of sharing copyrighted files unintentionally. If you don't want to delete your peer-to-peer software, make sure you aren't sharing copyrighted material by following these steps:

1. Find all the peer-to-peer software applications on your computer and any other device that uses your broadband connection.
2. Change the personal settings for each of these programs to make sure you only share the material you want to, and have authorisation for.
3. Check the settings after every software update. Sometimes updates can reverse settings and open folders up to sharing, without you realising. If you have automatic updates on it may be worth switching to manual updates to stop this happening.
4. Make sure the software's always switched off when you're not using it.

You'll find more information about this on the 'Get it Right from a Genuine Site' website.

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7. Why should I stop using peer-to-peer software?

UK law protects copyrighted materials. Unauthorised file sharing or any other infringement of a song, album, TV show or film is a breach of the law and therefore an illegal act. If you share copyrighted content you must stop copyright infringement of any nature, and remove or disable any file sharing software that is sharing and distributing copyrighted content illegally.

We'll keep sending you emails if you keep sharing online content. As stated above, it's important you stop sharing online content without the right holder's permission because this is not only against the law but is also a breach of our Acceptable Use Policy.

This means that the right holders could ultimately get the civil courts involved when their content is shared without their permission. This is why we want you to take the steps set out above and in the emails we send to stop this from happening again.

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8. I think someone else has been using my wireless connection, what can I do?

John Lewis Broadband routers come with a secure Wi-Fi password, so unless you've shared this with anyone else, you shouldn't need to change it. If you're using your own router and it hasn't got a Wi-Fi password, it's a good idea to set one up. Make sure only the people you trust are using your Internet connection, by keeping your Wi-Fi password secure.

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9. Are my personal details being shared?

The 'Get it Right from a Genuine Site' campaign is built around a commitment to respect your privacy rights. The campaign is compliant with applicable data protection legislation and with best practices as published by the ICO (Information Commissioner's Office).

The way the 'Get it Right from a Genuine Site' campaign works is that the copyright holders monitor peer-to-peer networks to identify instances where their content is shared without permission. They identify the Internet Protocol (IP) address using those networks but they don't know any details about the account holders. The copyright holders then provide these Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to us and we use them to send out the emails about the sharing of copyrighted content.

We'll never share your personal information with the 'Get it Right from a Genuine Site' campaign unless we're required to by a court order or otherwise permitted to do so under applicable data protection legislation.

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10. What if I think the infringement information is wrong?

You'll find a link in My Account to the Get it Right site, where you can see the IP address used to share the copyrighted content. The IP address might not look familiar as they aren't usually permanent and might change when you connect to the Internet. If peer-to-peer software is left running it can share files to the Internet at any time, so you might not recognise the time and date of the infringement.

If you don't think you've shared copyrighted files without permission, and you don't use peer-to-peer networks, it's a good idea to make sure your Wi-Fi network's secured and no-one else is using your Internet connection without your approval.

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11. Where can I find out more?

If you'd like to know more about this initiative, check out Get it Right from a Genuine Site. To learn about copyright in general, visit BBC Copyright Aware and The Copyright Hub.

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