Copyright Infringement Notices and Abuse Notices

Learn about the legal implications and best practices for responding to copyright infringement and internet piracy.

Last published at: September 14th, 2023

A copyright infringement notice is typically from a third-party firm on behalf of a network like NBC Universal in response to unauthorized, illegal distribution (downloading, hosting, or uploading) of copyrighted material such as TV shows, Movies, or Music.

This is typically the result of trying to get TV shows, movies, music, or software for free by pirating them from online sources.

If we receive a copyright infringement notice for your account, the network team will reach out to notify you and the notice will be put into your account record. We recommend stopping any attempts to get/distribute media from unverified sources. In addition, delete all copies of the data and any software that may have been installed to gain access to the media.

 

Network or Server Abuse Notices

A network or server abuse notice is typically from a business, data center, or security company in response to a device (computer, phone, router) maliciously attacking its systems from your network.

This is usually the result of a compromised device, such as a hacked router or computer with malware/virus on it.

If we receive an abuse notice for your account, the network team will reach out to notify you and the notice will be put into your account records. The recommended action for an abuse notice is to typically hire an IT professional to verify and clean up all of the devices on your network to ensure none of them are compromised.

 

Resulting Action

If you don't believe you took any actions that resulted in these notices, then it may be someone else. Friends, family, or neighbors who have your Wi-Fi password may have utilized your internet to cause this notice. If your Wi-Fi password isn't strong enough a bad actor could easily access your Wi-Fi. If you believe this is the case, we recommend changing the Wi-Fi password and making it something more complicated. If we manage your equipment, we can help change the Wi-Fi password.

United is legally liable for enforcing copyright infringement and abuse notices.

If you get several notices on your account, we may temporarily disable your service until any issues are resolved. 

If you continue to get notices against your account with no significant effort to resolve them on the account owner's end, additional repercussions may be enforced.