How do the police find people who download music illegally?

Question

The same with any other illegal activity (warez, bootleg videos) on the internet. Aside from someone witnessing the download and reporting the offender, how can the law enforcement find them?

I find it a little hard to believe that there are "black boxes" on the computer and that they watch everyone just waiting for an offense. If they did that, they would be able to catch EVERY criminal and there are probably millions out there. I'm just curious as to how they actually do it.

Answer 1

Law Enforcement can get your Internet Service Provider, and subsequent I.P. Address(Internet Protocol) and watch your traffic if they think a violation is occuring. Thank god for the patriot act..

While it's not like they have a glass eye into your computer, if you're moving 2,000gigs a day, it's going to draw suspicision. This is why the only time you hear about anybody getting in trouble for this kind of stuff, is when they have tens of thousands of illegal files on their computer. Usually this is not a job for your regular police officer, and is left to special federal task forces who deal solely with the issue.

Answer 2

police have nothing to do with it, but federal authorities do, and the record labels trying to stop it. yes, every computer has a unique IP address. You share that address with other people using the same internet provider, but the record companies and federal authorities can contact them and find out exactly what address the illegal downloads are coming from. By the way, yesterday a woman was fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for illegal downloads. It's a crime and a person could go to prison for it. It's stealing. Sure lots of people do it but that doesn't make it right. If you like a song and artist enough to download their song, then you should respect the hard work they've done and pay them for the song.

Answer 3

Whenever you visit a website,your IP address is saved to the site.So any defaming or illegal activities done at the site can be traced to your home using the IP address.
The IP address is unique to every computer;with that it can be traced to your Internet service provider through which your contact can be given out to the police.
The FBI use these methods to trace Internet criminals.
This does not work effectively in underdeveloped countries where Internet cafes are open for public use so people who commit crime in such areas may get away with it because they pay to browse on the Internet, go away and may never return to that particular Internet cafe.That explains why there are lots of Nigerian Scammers still in business.

Answer 4

I love the answers that have been provided and really can't add more - however, I did want to say that I never believed anyone could be picked up for their dalliances, but a student I taught last year in high school told me that she was picked up for this very same thing. I don't know the details of her activity, but she said they located her through her IP address. She had to appear in court and was fined. If I'm not mistaken - it was upwards in the $10,000 range...

Answer 5

IP address.. says where your internet connection is, I believe..

And by asking that question, lol, kinda says ''I download music illegally, what can I do to not be caught and cited by my local police?"

Answer 6

They can red flag people who are sharing large quantities of music, movies etc. I heard that they go after people who are sharing 800 or more music files on line. They probably have computer nerds tracking these sights for the FBI and then they only go after the biggest fish.

Answer 7

We wait for people to admit it online then we bith about putting our doughnut down to arrest the illegal CD or DVD to
sell so we can pay off our dmn doughnut bill off!

Answer 8

Trace the IP address

Answer 9

YUP yer busted, were gonna be their tonight to pick yer butt up for downloading illegals materials,,,,, gotta pick us up some donuts frst then were comin.......
cops are funny,,,,,