has anyone received a letter from there isp yet.and what will you do if you receive one.

[Mr FuFu]

For what?

american ISP's are supposed to be send out letters to anyone downloading copyrighted material

[m0o5]

I figure that's something between 75 and a hundred truckloads of letters a week, per ISP?

But no problemo Americans! It seems that .. (on the bright side ..)

.. if you continue pirating content, your connection will be capped at near dial-up speeds for two to three days.

.. you don't have to go to jail .. at all! (You had me worried there )

Seriously, I'm not sure what they're trying to achieve here .. one needs their internet for warez and capping speeds will stop it from spreading? What are they thinking? Pirated content was there long before The Internet and will surely outlive it. Can't be stopped .. Ask local nerds for advice about anonymous downloading (mention the words proxy, anonymous downloading, Tor Project, TorGuard - they'll know). Or trade floppies/CD-Rs/zip disks/HDs/USB sticks/DDS/QIC/cassettes with your friends 90's style! .. Revive BBS!? Have faith!

[LockHood]

I haven't still tried a hand at anonymity on the net . So many confusions . If I were to use a proxy or a VPN , the ISP will know wouldn't they ? How do they know one is downloading copywrited content anyway ? Do they spy on everything we do ? Is that legal ?

nope