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HADOPI Letter


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Well I got one today and it wasn't me who did it either. As many will know I have a B&B and it appears one of my guests has abused my hospitality (and my Internet access) and used Bittorrent software to download something illegally. Of course they can't give the IP address of the actual PC just that of the router, the date and the time. It could have been any of the three couples we had here at the time.

The most obvious thing to do is stop the free WiFi access but we have been offering it for many years without problem and to compete we really need to carry on offering it. I have had a look around the Internet to see if there is software available but it all seems very expensive and geared to hotels that have hundreds of rooms.

As I understand it the more popular clients tend to use particular ports so I thought about blocking them on my router. I contacted Orange and asked about this but their 'technical' people don't seem to understand ports and things. I asked for second line support but they were equally as unhelpful and suggested I contact HADOPI which I have done via email and will await their response although I am not that confident that they will help me with a solution. More recent Bittorrent clients also pick ports at random it seems so I would have to block whole groups of ports.

So the big question is does anyone know of a solution? I seem to remember years ago somebody in either the B&B or Gites part of the forum mentioned some software but I can't find it now, probably 'fell off' the forum with age.

Many thanks in advance.

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Bummer.

Realistically, you cant just stop offering access - it is too important to tourists nowadays.

I remember a thread a while back where someone suggesting setting up an old PC as a server that filters all traffic. From what I remember, this is supposedly quite easy (I am computer illiterate so cant help you at all!) and does not demand much processing power so an older PC would work fine.

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Perhaps it was the FON idea? This has the advantage of potentially giving you free wifi access when/if you travel.

Depending on your router, you can share a restricted amount of bandwidth with a second wifi access name (My FitzBox can do this). Alternatively you can put a second wireless access point into a router port and throttle back the bandwidth available.

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[quote user="NormanH"]Doesn't Orange do a 'hotspot' system whereby the visitor can connect to a part of your Wifi, but with their own identifier, so what they do remains their responsibility?
I have that with Free.
[/quote]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Yes Orange offers 'hotspot' which I have activated. It is free for Orange Mobile users providing they also have an Orange router and Internet package at home and they have activated it on theirs.

So I have activated it on my router and on the Orange website. The part of your WiFi they are connecting to is nothing to do with you, they are talking directly with Orange who hold their 'Hotspot' login information and information on what exactly they access and how. Therefore the all the HADOPI thing becomes their problem not yours. There of course a catch for non Orange users, you have to buy time from them and the tariffs are as follows.

1 hour maximum to be used within 30 consecutive days - €4,50

24 hours uninterrupted use - €9.90

10 hours maximum to be used within 30 consecutive days - €10

All the above times start from your first login. There are apps for both Android and Apple users on their respective stores or you can pay via the Orange website.

Unfortunatly for my own protection this seems to be the way to go.

Always the same some greedy barperson has now spoilt it for all my future guests.

 

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[quote user="Pickles"]Perhaps it was the FON idea? This has the advantage of potentially giving you free wifi access when/if you travel.
Depending on your router, you can share a restricted amount of bandwidth with a second wifi access name (My FitzBox can do this). Alternatively you can put a second wireless access point into a router port and throttle back the bandwidth available.
[/quote]

Unfortunatly your ISP in France has to SFR to use Fon according to their website other than that it seems a good idea.

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[quote user="woolybanana"]Quillan, forgive my hardbaked cynicism, but is this letter you received genuine. My understanding is that Hadopi will only call if there have been multiple infractions over a longish period.[/quote]

It is genuine, I checked the header. The first is sent by email which what I have. It is the same as PPP got back in 2008 which I came across in the forum when trying to find the link to the solution I thought I had seen. If it was for multiple infractions I would have thought they would have said so but the text is singular.

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[quote user="Lachouette"]I'd read on another forum that HADOPI had been repealed - obviously not. We were contacted by Gites de France a couple of years ago and recommended to use http://www.touristobox.com to monitor guest usage. Needless to say, it's not free.

Jan
[/quote]

Looking at their website and the map of where you can get a connection they seem to be mainly tourist offices with just one or private ones i.e. B&B's.

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It is not quite so simple.

http://www.franceculture.fr/2013-07-10-hadopi-le-debut-de-la-fin

http://obsession.nouvelobs.com/high-tech/20130913.OBS6948/hadopi-quand-francois-hollande-zappe-le-debat.html

The cutting off from the internet part was rescinded.

The powers of HADOPI are to be/being transferred to the CSA at some point....

For the present, the fines etc still exist.

And, it is still the responsibility of the wifi provider to ensure that it is not used for any downloading of copyrighted material.

Unfortunately, there is no simple/cheap solution for you Quillan.

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Only the email Norman but it is correct and not a scam. I believe, from what I have read, the "courrier recommande" is the next step should you continue to carry out illegal downloads.

Danny, you got there before me. I have been doing my research and HADOPI is closing and it's function is being moved to the CSA just as you rightly said. The option of cutting people off has now been removed and the fines changed to between 150 Euros and 600 Euros. Apparently this change on cutting people off is due to a 'joined' case (that means multiple mutiple people in the same case with the same problem) being presented to the ECHR about having their Internet cut off and winning.

Until the change in 2014 (the year the law changes and the function moves to the CSA) HADOPI, its website and function still remain.

So in answer to Nomoss question they technically it is correct the HADOPI will go but not yet. As some have said before Wiki is not always correct. There is a lot of stuff in the French Press, even this month, if you want to Google it.

Interestingly there were some figures mentioned in one of the French newspapers I found and whilst loads of letters have been emailed and posted just over 50 people have ever been prosecuted since its conception.

 

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[quote user="Quillan"][quote user="Pickles"]Perhaps it was the FON idea? This has the advantage of potentially giving you free wifi access when/if you travel.

Depending on your router, you can share a restricted amount of bandwidth with a second wifi access name (My FitzBox can do this). Alternatively you can put a second wireless access point into a router port and throttle back the bandwidth available.

[/quote]

Unfortunatly your ISP in France has to SFR to use Fon according to their website other than that it seems a good idea.[/quote]

I may be misreading the blurb but I was under the impression that you do not "have to" be an SFR customer - it just gives you another route. You can plug a FON WiFi access point into an existing router and join the "community" direct rather than via SFR. In the UK you don't have to be with BT (which is a FON Partner) to add FON

[quote]Frequently Asked Questions

Membership and access

There are two easy ways of becoming a Fon member. 

1. Through a Fon partner (see our partners). 

Fon partners with some of the world’s leading telcos, including:

Belgacom, BT, MTC, Netia,   Oi, SFR, SoftBank and ZON. If you are a

customer of one of our partners, you may already be a Fon member! All

you have to do is activate Fon. Please contact your internet provider to

find out more about activating Fon. 

2. By buying a Fon device and sharing a little bit of your WiFi with the Fon network (see our devices).

Our devices work by splitting your WiFi signal into two. A private

one that is just for you, and a public one, which you share with the

rest of the Fon network. Both networks are secure, and since the public

signal is created from the unused portion of your bandwidth, you will

still be able to enjoy the same connection speeds as before.

Additionally, you will not be held liable for the use of your public

network. 

As a sharing Fon member, you will be able to enjoy millions of free Fon hotspots all around the world.

I’m not a Fon member. Can I still use your hotspots?

Yes! You can buy an access pass at any of our hotspots. [/quote]

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[quote user="NormanH"]There is also the possibility that I mention in another thread of using a 3G booster, so people connect via 3G not via Wifi

[/quote]

Ah but then they would:

a) have to have a dongle or smartphone

b) have to have an account with (in your case) Free

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Having myself got a letter some years ago from HADOPI, I wrote back to them and asked what it was I was supposed to have downloaded. They came back with a specific date and specific film that caused the transgression; so they appear to do "one offs"

I remember when this first came out, that there was on offer a download of some software to your computer offered by the Hadopi organisation that blocked P2P and could be offered as the only proof that you had not done the evil deed. Orange appear to have offered a similar system some time ago. If you are with Orange, the you could ask if it still exists:

www.numerama.com/magazine/15943-hadopi-orange-lance-sa-protection-contre-le-telechargement-illegal-payante.html

Both our son's lycées offer an open web, one takes everyones MAC address so they can (I assume) track who does what after they were nicked by HADOPI the other one has blocked SABNZB, but not the P2P sites, go figure!!

2 euros a month was the offer then. I am with SFR and no naked P2P takes place here!
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That's right, someone illegally downloading say a copyrighted film belonging to Universal Studios is nothing whatsoever to do with the French or HADOPI until Universal Studios complain to them about it.

The thing which makes HADOPI such a pathetic and ineffectual tool is that it is solely concerned with P2P or bit torrent downloading and only naive newbys - or those who have no fear of getting caught because they are using someone else's connection - use that, cue Quillian !

There are literally thousands of sites on the internet where you can download just about anything you care to mention as plain compressed files, often with names which give no indication whatsoever of their content, and you can do that 24/7/365 with absolutely zero risk of coming to the attention of HODOPI or anybody else.

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