Hopefully most of you have heard about steam, a wonderful program that allows you to play your games from an account on any computer you own.
Ne way, over the years I have accumulated over 30 games on my steam account however now I cannot access them, and Steam support will not reply to any of my messages.
heres the problem, with my love of adventure games I purchased Monkey Island 2 SE from steam and couldnt wait to play it, i already beat number 1, so upon starting it up I was immediately crashed to my desktop, I got a message about some DRM error.
Later I found my internet was shut off, when I inquired with my internet provider they forwarded me an email from Lucas Arts, stating that I was under investigation for obtaining a pirated copy of Monkey Island through steam.
The long email entitled the file as Monkey.Island.2.Special.Edition.Steam and requested I delete the game immediately any further playing of the game would result in further consequences.
I emailed LucasArts and sent them my receipt from Steam, they replied that I would need to have a Steam representative contact them.
So I emailed Steam and explained the problem and they told me I would need to handle the problem with Lucas Arts, they had my purchase in record but there was nothing more that they could do.
So I deleted the game and signed a waver promising that I would never Pirate again and registered my IP address with the watchlist so my computer could me monotored....
Since I was very irritated with Steam I logged into the Forums and posted a rant under their support section explaining my problem and complaining about not getting any help, I went on to further argue that this is the reason that pirates are created, when gamers get slapped around by the system some of them are prone to become software pirates not wanting to deal with DRM issues I ended the post with a request for Forum users to post their support against DRM and software Piracy. Saying how can we blame gamers for becoming pirates when the new DRM settings are getting honest gamers into Piracy, please petition with me to make a change.
So... immediately my post was locked and deleted.... >:( and Steam informed me that I was now Banned from logging into steam, and the ban would never be lifted, and the reason? Advocating Piracy.....
now I cannot access my steam account or games.... and after 100s of emails and calls to Steam Support I am getting nowhere.....
any help would be appreciated, am I really going to have to consider involving a lawyer?
Trying to get help from Steam Support on the Steam Forums won't work.
The only way to get official Support from them is to open up a Support Ticket with them here:
https://support.steampowered.com/newticket.php
More details about how to go about submitting inquires to Steam Support here:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1223-QROC-4460
Explain your situation in detail, proof of purchase, and whatever other details you deem important.
And, then, you'll have to be patient until they reply (which can take a couple days, up to a week or more sometimes depending on how busy / backlogged they are).
If you did nothing wrong, and if they see you got your game for your account legitimately, then they should fix things for you.
Good luck.
The problem is that they could not help me, I had to deal with Lucas Arts myself by deleting the game I purchased with Steam and signing an agreement to never download and install Pirated software again, Steam admitted somewhere the wires got crossed and they were sorry but there wasn't much they could do about the lawsuit poised from Lucas Arts since they were unwilling to take my receipt as proof.
Therefore I posted my Aggravation on Steam Forums in an attempt to draw a petition and support from steam users, but it was deemed that my post was advocating piracy when it really was not.
That being the case Steam placed a BAN on my account since I had, by their standards advocated piracy, and in their User Agreement any user who advocates piracy must realize that their accounts will be Permanently Banned from any future use.
sorry about the long post....
Apparently Steam takes the stance that if you advocate piracy then your apt to pirating the games you download from them, to avoid lawsuits they strictly adhere to closing suspected Gamers accounts.
Major bummer man.
In hindsight, I guess you shouldn't have signed anything admitting guilt to pirating that game if you didn't.
I guess you should count yourself lucky in the sense that you only lost access to around 30 games.
I know that's still a fair chunk of money and games, but some Users (such as myself) have over 100+ games purchased via Steam.
I've never had any account or billing problems with Steam, and I always keep an up-to-date anti-virus running, firewall, never share my account login details with anyone and keep things legit.
They are rather fussy about anyone suggesting they support piracy in any way on their forums, but, I feel your pain, and DRM is a pain-in-the-aaa and doesn't stop piracy at all, (and Steam in itself is a form of DRM, but it's more acceptable than most, such as when compared to something like UbiSoft's horrible "always must be connected to internet while playing, even a single player game, or get dropped from the game", or some games that install some DRM crap that's equivalent to malware), and often times seems to "punish" the legitimate paying customers rather than the Pirates.
When it comes down to it, as you already signed something admitting to "guilt of piracy" on your part, then you might be out of luck in this case. If you still wanted to use Steam, then, you'd probably have to start all over again with a brand-new account, and any games you had bought before are lost and would have to be re-bought for your new account if you wanted to play any of those same games again.
Or, you can look at alternatives such as http://www.gamersgate.com/
If you had tons of money to burn and wanted to pursue the matter with a Lawyer, then good luck with that.. but, chances are you won't have a leg to stand on (especially if you already signed something equivalent that basically admits to "guilt of piracy" on your part), you just end up wasting your time and money, add stress to your life, and if you look at the big picture, it's not worth it. Steam has a team of lawyers on their side, and basically their wall-of-text EULA already preemptively covers their butt against most cases or claims against them.
I still like using Steam, it's convenient, I have easy access to my games Library all in one interface, and about 95+% of the time if I do buy a game I'll wait 'til it's on a good discounted sale price. But, I've been cutting back on my spending, so I only perhaps get the odd deal once in a while for some game I may have had my eye on for some time that I really wanted.
Anyways, where was I.. I think from the details you've given, you might be fighting a lost-cause if you try to pursue it. So, like I suggested, you might just have to cut your losses and start anew with a fresh account, or use some other method to get games (Such as GamersGate or Retail Stores).
Best regards.
Are they allowed to just totally shut down youre account with all 30-odd games in it just because they 'suspect' you of pirating one of them? They must realise how unfair that is. If you genuinely didn't pirate any of those games then they've basically judged you guilty before giving you a chance to prove your innocence. And then they tell you to sort it out with LucasArts?
Thats like having someone from HMV coming round your house and burning your entire DVD collection because they suspect you might have pirated The Dark Knight, and then telling you to sort it out with Warner Bros.
When a zero-tolerance sance would be fair, Steam seem to be taking a minus-30-tolerance stance on Piracy.
I hope you sort it out Erenoth
I really don't have any advice for you but to keep trying and if you have a close friend (like you actually know) that uses Steam, ask him/her to access their forums and/or send a ticket and explain the situation in detail and say that you're sorry, but were just angry etc. and ask what you should do.
If Steam offers to unlock your account and maybe give you store credit for the price of the game, I suggest you take it.
Yeah, you should've reacted more subtly (I realise it's unfair, but it usually brings more complications than solutions) and signing the papers also might have been a mistake.
Erenoth02, I'm afraid your situation is very very common. This is how Steam works nowadays and there's little to do about it. They're simply abusing their dominance on the market and not caring about individual customers having swarms of new people continuously coming in. I keep hearing about accounts being closed just because of people posting somewhere a link to SteamCalculator (http://www.steamcalculator.com/) with the worth of their account - apparently some Steam Alert Bots can easily interpret all kinds of statements accompanying such links as attempts to sell your account. Other times your criticism of DRM is considered confirmation that you pirate games.
The best and only protection/prevention for this is the same as for being arrested in totalitarian countries - do not stand out in any way when discussing Steam, never criticize them, and mention your account id as little as possible.
Your only hope is keep bugging the Steam support. Be aware though that it's very common that Steam doesn't lift such hastily given bans. Try to seek out other people in similar situation (maybe some who recovered their account).
Quote from: anian on Sat 28/05/2011 11:11:06...and signing the papers also might have been a mistake.
As a side note, contrary to popular belief not everything you sign has that much binding power - depends on the document, the deal and the circumstances of signing. Nevertheless, going against LucasArts or Valves lawyers doesn't seem like something a single unhappy customer would have a chance succeeding at, unless there were huge sums of money at stake.
Btw a very important warning - Steam sent a couple of months ago a kind of questionare and a system check sort of probe, I thought about filling it out, but a friend said it found everything he had installed on his pc, not only some pirated stuff he had, but stuff he thought he deleted months ago or only had some files left on the disk. Next day I saw the think pop up and just clicked no.
So if you have (or had) any pirated software, don't fill and send out those, I mean, it's not just being banned from Steam, it's a serious privacy probing...and I for one only like to be probed by aliens.
Jeez I was quite shocked reading this topic. I knew Steam uses intrusive manners with DRM (the main reason why I decided to never install it again even though I bought some games that use it, I use pirated versions for those games even though I actually bought them) but this is beyond ridiculous and right in the alley of scary totalitarian regimes.
I guess there is noone to protect users from overpowering companies in this world and it truly saddens me. I also was shocked that your provider just shut you down just because some company sent a email, what the hell. You had to sign something that incriminates you even though you did nothing wrong (if I can trust you on that ;)). And then steam just covers up anyone who gets in their way. You might have said some stupid and harsh things but the claim you advocated piracy gives them all the freedom to cover up anyone who asks the wrong questions.
But let's see it in perspective, you paid for a service and they denied it. Even though they might worked out the legal stuff to put them out of the line of fire, they are still denying paying customers their goods. The only way this is ever going to stop is to make people aware what sticky situations this can get them into. I only talk about paying customers since the people who pirate have no worries. This is the world up side down, and it has to stop. Right now. I think the media should do their job and tell the people that DRM and aggressive anti piracy actions will fuck paying customers over, if people stop buying games in this way then maybe they will learn. Maybe bad publicity is enough, but we must not let them intimidate us.
I never fooled myself and knew Steam could pull the plug on my account anytime they wanted but I couldn't be arsed to do anything about it, after reading your story, I think it's about time I start using it as little as possible.
I'd be more concerned with LucasArts' and the internet provider's behaviour. Cutting off internet access because they suspected piracy? Ouch.
To play devil's advocate, I can understand Valve cutting you off, since you did the equivalent of walking into their living room and shitting on the carpet. You say you didn't advocate piracy, but you at least condoned it.
Anyhoo, good luck getting things back in shape. Did you get your internet back on line?
P.S. That Steam Calculator is scary. I'm not sure I'd trust it with my id.
Quote from: Kweepa on Sat 28/05/2011 15:39:18To play devil's advocate, I can understand Valve cutting you off, since you did the equivalent of walking into their living room and shitting on the carpet. You say you didn't advocate piracy, but you at least condoned it.
They could have banned him just from the forums. Taking away the games you legally bought doesn't seem very legal to me.
Quote from: Kweepa on Sat 28/05/2011 15:39:18P.S. That Steam Calculator is scary. I'm not sure I'd trust it with my id.
Anyone can put your id in there. I mean, actually just your Steam name is needed.
You paid for those 30+ games. They have NO right to take them from you. They bitch about piracy = stealing and then they steal from you. It's the exact ridiculous hypocrisy that is why I am a peg-legged-eye-patched-and-proud Pirate. The industry needs to wake the f**k up and realize that the ONLY people their anti-piracy nonsense affects are their legitimate customers. We pirates don't suffer in the slightest from their gestapo tactics. In fact what they did is worse. Because you don't have your games (that you paid for). Piracy doesn't deprive them of their product, their thievery deprives you of things you've paid for. And they get away with it. It's disgusting.
You should NEVER EVER EVER x 10 have signed that bullshit from Lucas Arts/Steam admitting to piracy because now you have no leg to stand on, sadly.
I love the irony that in trying to stamp out piracy all they do is create more pirates.
I'm afraid that now you have no choice.
They have forced you into my world.
The peg-leg takes a little getting used to but the parrots are a hoot.
Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Sat 28/05/2011 16:10:17
You should NEVER EVER EVER x 10 have signed that bullshit from Lucas Arts/Steam admitting to piracy because now you have no leg to stand on, sadly.
I doubt signing that thing could be of much importance in a legal case. The validity of any suspicious written statement can be easily questioned, especially if the person signing it was forced to do it, as it is the case here.
I too doubt the validity of that 'contract'. If it's signed under duress and/or without a lawyer present it's simple not valid (at least not in the UK)
I've never had any problem with Steam. Even on a certain occasion when I kept getting an error for a purchase I was trying to make, I sent a support ticket and got a reply later that evening.
Having said that, I've seen lots of threads on the Steam forums with people complaining about DRM and such - there's a thread updating as we speak, with people complaining about Assassin's Creed 2's DRM, and talking about how it doesn't stop piracy, is draconian, and how only pirates get a fair deal - but nobody seems to be locking it. There's another asking specifically how many people would buy the game if it didn't have such DRM, again unlocked. I'm certainly have no love for DRM, but I'd question it's effect on increasing the number of pirated copies being downloaded. Long-term pirates are pirates by choice, and will pirate a game regardless. Very few, I would think, are, for want of a better word, political pirates; or rather, a minor amount compared to the total.
If Steam banned everybody who brought up DRM and piracy on the forums, you'd be seeing dozens, if not hundreds, of accounts disappearing.
As to whether or not Valve is abusing it's power, I can't say the media is alive with stories of over-banning. EA mistakenly locked someone out of their EA account a month or so back, and gaming sites were awash with the story, demanding to know how it happened. If Valve were wantonly banning people left and right, we'd be hearing about it.
And as I've said before, in relation to pirating anything, the best course of action is simply not to buy the offending product. Pirating because you disagree with DRM is a weak argument in my opinion.
As to the Steam survey scanning the programs installed on your computer, yes, this is true. It scanned mine and it knew I was using perfectly legal copies of ZoneAlarm, Avira, Firefox, GiMP, and other innocuous software. I don't think Valve needs to know this information, so I didn't submit it. You aren't under any obligation. But I've never heard a story of Valve spotting a pirated copy of, for instance, Photoshop, and notifying Adobe or banning the users account for endorsing piracy.
So, in short, I don't have a problem with Steam or Valve. They've never prevented me from playing anything I've purchased from them.
Yes, their EULA, like most, might lay down the law a little thick, and I know nobody ever reads an EULA, but you can't really complain when they lay the smack down for violating something in the small print. It sucks, its not really fair (in the grander sense of the word), but they can do it.
What the hell would anyone use the Steam Calculator for anyway? If you want to see how much you spent, look at your receipts. If you want to use it wave your Steam-engorged genitals around, then you are, unfortunately, a prat.
@Erenoth02: The fact that Valve, if that is indeed who it was, got in touch with LucasArts, who in turn got in touch with your ISP, is pretty amazing to me. The fact that you signed a contract is even more amazing. Can I ask what country you are in, and who your ISP is? Was this the first time you've been accused of pirating?
We partially have the shitty "Three Strikes" law here in Ireland, but I've yet to hear of a case of it being enacted.
Quote from: LimpingFish on Sat 28/05/2011 20:21:06
As to whether or not Valve is abusing it's power, I can't say the media is alive with stories of over-banning. EA mistakenly locked someone out of their EA account a month or so back, and gaming sites were awash with the story, demanding to know how it happened. If Valve were wantonly banning people left and right, we'd be hearing about it.
There are lots of articles about this. I heard more stories about Valve over-banning than about that EA problem - that one about EA
on purpose (not mistakenly) locking out a client of his EA account. To be fair, these Steam bans seem like a relatively new trend and for sure I'd like some more solid and unbiased info about them. I started following news about Steam bans after that famous case of Steam banning all people who said things making them suspect of having a pirated Garry's Mod.
Quote
So, in short, I don't have a problem with Steam or Valve. They've never prevented me from playing anything I've purchased from them.
So far.
So far I'm really enjoying Steam as a service too. I also like pretty much everything else about Valve. But I'm not enjoying the possibility of being randomly banned someday. And their banning tactics seem illegal and scary to me - basically they steal legally purchased games from people.
Quote
Yes, their EULA, like most, might lay down the law a little thick, and I know nobody ever reads an EULA, but you can't really complain when they lay the smack down for violating something in the small print.
Sure you can make a valid complaint (at least in the EU), especially if that particular EULA violates customer rights, but not only then. Nevertheless, it ultimately doesn't matter because you won't start a legal case like this just for a couple 100$ or less.
Quote from: Ascovel on Sat 28/05/2011 21:14:21
Sure you can make a valid complain (at least in the EU), especially if that particular EULA violates customer rights, but not only then. Nevertheless, it ultimately doesn't matter because you won't start a legal case like this just for a couple 100$ or less.
The EFF would probably take a case like this if the problem could be shown to be widespread.
I personally don't use Steam much, but this sounds really unfun.
What I hate these days are the fact we pay big money for unfinished games and big names and then later on end up having to pay for DLC's that really should of been with the game in the first place and that cost us a stupid amount of money, JUST so these companies can get even more money. But still we don't do nothing about this! And still we buy all these games and DLC's.
It is very sad to see all these companies being run today with nothing but money on their minds. Profits, profis and more profis with huge yearly payouts to investors. And people in higher positions having huge wages when those who really do all the hard work making these games get probably paid ALOT less, and in some cases don't recieve what they are supposed to recieve. I also hate the fact that all these larger companies buy in all the other ones. I miss the old days with these smaller companies making their own games, and most of them releasing their own games. Giving great customer support and so on.
I don't want to take this offtopic and maybe it would be interesting to create a new tread about what I am gonna say now, I believe us humans are starting to accept way too much from both companies and in general from people controlling the world and such. We will dislike prices going up, changes being done and so on but what do we do to stop it? Are we getting too lazy or what?
I find it strange that your copy of MI2 SE at all got mistaken for being a pirated version in the first place. If there are bugs in the Steam system that can end up reporting games as pirated when their not then I find this a very serious problem. And that Steam could not contact LucasArts is also strange. Their a part of their "content providers" (or what ever to call them) so sending them an email should not be much of a problem. Then again LucasArts should of been able to resolve this between them and Steam(Valve) in the first place if you ask me.
Also I am also interested in knowing where you live having your internet taken of by your ISP and everything...
I also wish you good luck of getting access to your account again and if there is anything I can do to help let me know and I will gladly help you out!
Quote from: Ascovel on Sat 28/05/2011 21:14:21
There are lots of articles about this. I heard more stories about Valve over-banning than about that EA problem - that one about EA on purpose (not mistakenly) locking out a client of his EA account.
So far I'm really enjoying Steam as a service too. I also like pretty much everything else about Valve. But I'm not enjoying the possibility of being randomly banned someday. And their banning tactics seem illegal and scary to me - basically they steal legally purchased games from people.
The EA ban was ultimately claimed by EA to have been a mistake, due to computer error. The story is, though, that it was an over-zealous moderator who decided to ban the user from the forums and somehow managed to also ban him from his account, so who knows? The ban was lifted afterwards. Why the story caused such interest was because the "victim" claimed to have been banned from his EA account due
solely to his actions on the EA forums, which is clearly not acceptable. And if Valve banned the OP from
all his purchased games, over something he said on the forum, then this is also not acceptable. But since EULAs are, as I alluded to, so encompassing as to cover a company under almost
all circumstances, there isn't a lot he can do about it. Although, as Calin said, the EFF might know better.
I wouldn't call Valve bans "random" - it's not like they're sticking a pin in a list of user names, and banning somebody because they
might have done something wrong. The Modern Warfare 2 bans were only for that single game, not account-wide, and the innocent caught up in them had their bans lifted and received some form of restitution. As Gabe Newell said:
"The problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version. This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game. This wasn't a game-specific mistake. Steam allows us to manage and reverse these erroneous bans (about 12,000 erroneous bans over two weeks)."
So an admittance of guilt, and an explanation, if a little flimsy, were offered.
The Garry's Mod situation was also, as far as I can tell, a ban from that specific game, not an entire account, and a sting operation by the games developer to combat pirates.
As to forum bans resulting in account bans, it's not mentioned in the Steam Forum Guidelines (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?=651173), so if this is indeed why the OP was banned from his account then has grounds for a reversal.
All of which makes me sound like a Valve apologist, which I'm not. But underneath legitimate concerns over DRM and consumer rights, there's a lot of hysteria and demonizing.
EDIT: Steam's EULA (http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/) actually makes for interesting reading. Particularly the "Term and Termination" section.
Quote from: LimpingFish on Sat 28/05/2011 22:05:47
EDIT: Steam's EULA (http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/) actually makes for interesting reading. Particularly the "Term and Termination" section.
Well pretty much the whole EULA is a big "Click I AGREE to give up all your rights" and stuff like
QuoteVALVE DOES NOT GUARANTEE CONTINUOUS, ERROR-FREE, VIRUS-FREE OR SECURE OPERATION AND ACCESS TO STEAM, THE SOFTWARE, YOUR ACCOUNT AND/OR YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS(S).
just makes me think that whole paragraphs could've been substituted with :P smileys
Quote from: anian on Sat 28/05/2011 23:33:15
Well pretty much the whole EULA is a big "Click I AGREE to give up all your rights"...
Basically, yeah. Commercial EULAs are generally anti-consumer/user, designed to protect the interests of a commercial entity, and pretty much the digital equivalent of a fat "No Refunds!" sign.
But that's the shitty state of affairs we generally find ourselves in today.
I'd be curious to see the email from LucasArts and the Agreement Erenoth was told to sign (and who told him to sign it, and under threat of what legal action?)
I mean, if the game was bought legitimately, there was no account sharing involved, no piracy involved, no hacked account problem, no wrongdoing on Erenoth's part, then yes I agree that Steam should not have banned/closed his account on him and they should have been able to help him resolve things.
I'd also be interested in the content of the waver. I agree with Calin etc. that you signed it under duress and that it should not be construed as an admission of guilt. I also agree that you are the victim here, and that you should consider legal recourse (provided the facts are as you stated and you truly believe yourself to be innocent of piracy). Basically the company has defrauded you of money and/or services and defamed your good name by labeling you as a pirate. If you are contemplating legal action you should collect all correspondence on this matter and print it.
I must say it is unfortunate that you deleted the game in question, since it would be the only hard evidence of whether or not it was a pirated copy. Presumably Lucas-Arts would be able to verify that if subpoenaed. It may not matter: if it was legit then you've been wronged by Steam (fraud and defamation). If it was pirated then you've been wronged by Steam (fraud and piracy on their behalf). In fact, you could probably save money by reporting Steam as the purveyor of pirated goods and get their ISP to shut them down. Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones....
Quote from: Barbarian on Sat 28/05/2011 07:08:16
Major bummer man.
In hindsight, I guess you shouldn't have signed anything admitting guilt to pirating that game if you didn't.
I guess you should count yourself lucky in the sense that you only lost access to around 30 games.
I know that's still a fair chunk of money and games, but some Users (such as myself) have over 100+ games purchased via Steam.
I've never had any account or billing problems with Steam, and I always keep an up-to-date anti-virus running, firewall, never share my account login details with anyone and keep things legit.
They are rather fussy about anyone suggesting they support piracy in any way on their forums, but, I feel your pain, and DRM is a pain-in-the-aaa and doesn't stop piracy at all, (and Steam in itself is a form of DRM, but it's more acceptable than most, such as when compared to something like UbiSoft's horrible "always must be connected to internet while playing, even a single player game, or get dropped from the game", or some games that install some DRM crap that's equivalent to malware), and often times seems to "punish" the legitimate paying customers rather than the Pirates.
When it comes down to it, as you already signed something admitting to "guilt of piracy" on your part, then you might be out of luck in this case. If you still wanted to use Steam, then, you'd probably have to start all over again with a brand-new account, and any games you had bought before are lost and would have to be re-bought for your new account if you wanted to play any of those same games again.
Or, you can look at alternatives such as http://www.gamersgate.com/
If you had tons of money to burn and wanted to pursue the matter with a Lawyer, then good luck with that.. but, chances are you won't have a leg to stand on (especially if you already signed something equivalent that basically admits to "guilt of piracy" on your part), you just end up wasting your time and money, add stress to your life, and if you look at the big picture, it's not worth it. Steam has a team of lawyers on their side, and basically their wall-of-text EULA already preemptively covers their butt against most cases or claims against them.
I still like using Steam, it's convenient, I have easy access to my games Library all in one interface, and about 95+% of the time if I do buy a game I'll wait 'til it's on a good discounted sale price. But, I've been cutting back on my spending, so I only perhaps get the odd deal once in a while for some game I may have had my eye on for some time that I really wanted.
Anyways, where was I.. I think from the details you've given, you might be fighting a lost-cause if you try to pursue it. So, like I suggested, you might just have to cut your losses and start anew with a fresh account, or use some other method to get games (Such as GamersGate or Retail Stores).
Best regards.
The paper I signed wasn't exactly admitting to piracy it was only a promise that I would never pirate, there was nothing on the paper admitting to guilt and it was through Lucas Arts to keep them from pursuing a Lawsuit, I filled in my IP address and signed promising I would not pirate, kind of like a promise ring lol... nothing to do with Steam though
It was one of those agreements concerned parents have their teens sign when they are worried that they may be tempted to try downloading illegally and allow monitoring.
Quote from: Barbarian on Sun 29/05/2011 00:39:40
I'd be curious to see the email from LucasArts and the Agreement Erenoth was told to sign (and who told him to sign it, and under threat of what legal action?)
I mean, if the game was bought legitimately, there was no account sharing involved, no piracy involved, no hacked account problem, no wrongdoing on Erenoth's part, then yes I agree that Steam should not have banned/closed his account on him and they should have been able to help him resolve things.
And here you go.......
Subject: Copyright Infringement Notice ID: 288-2783875
From: Richard Lional <rlional@noanet.net>
Date: Wed, Sep 29, 2010 05:52 PM
To: "support@scall.us" <support@scail.us>
Cc: abuse <abuse@noanet.net>
To Whom It May Concern:
We have received this complaint from an automated system that pertains to a user associated
with your IP block or using an IP spoofed as the same. We are presuming that you will take
appropriate action and will resolve our trouble ticket. Please feel free to reply to the ticket to reopen
if you have questions or concerns.
NoaNet Network Operations
-----Original Message-----
From: lucas_arts-no-reply@copyright-compliance.com [lucas_arts-no-reply@copyrightcompliance.
com]
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 9:21 AM
To: abuse
Subject: Copyright Infringement Notice ID: 288-2783875
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Northwest Internet
Notice ID: 288-2783875
Notice Date: 27 Sep 2010 16:17:07 GMT
Dear Sir or Madam:
Lucas Arts, and its affiliated companies (collectively, " Lucas Arts") are the exclusive owners of
copyrights and other proprietary rights in numerous software properties, including but not limited
to Lucas Arts.
It has come to our attention that Affiliated Internet is the service provider for the IP address
listed below, from which unauthorized distribution (downloading, installing, file
serving, or other similar activities) of Lucas Arts property(s) listed below is taking
place. We believe that the Internet access of the user engaging in this infringement is provided by
Affiliated Internet or a downstream service provider who purchases this connectivity from
Affiliated Internet.
This unauthorized copying and distribution constitutes copyright infringement under Section 106
of the U.S. Copyright Act. Depending upon the type of Illegal service Affiliated Internet is providing to
this IP address, it may have legal and/or equitable liability if it does not expeditiously remove or
disable access to the property(s) listed below, or if it fails to implement a policy that provides for
termination of subscribers who are infringers (see, 13 U.S.C. 532).
Despite the above, Lucas Arts believes that the entire Internet community benefits when these
matters are resolved cooperatively. We urge you to take immediate action to stop this infringing
activity and immediately inform us of the results of your actions or face legal matters. We appreciate your efforts toward this common goal.
The undersigned has a good faith belief that use of the property(s) in the manner described
herein is not authorized by Lucas Arts, its agent or the law. The information contained in this
notification is accurate. Under penalty of perjury and/or seizure, the undersigned is authorized to act on behalf of Lucas Arts with respect to this matter.
Please send us a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter,
making sure to reference the Notice ID number above in your response if you wish to avoid a lawsuit.
Lucas_Arts@copyrightcompliance.
com?subject=RE%3A%20Copyrights0Infringement%s0Notice%20ID%3A%20298
%2D2983875
If you do not wish to reply by email, please use our Web Interface by clicking on the following link:
http://webreply.bagtsp.com/webreply/webreply.jsp?customerid=29w&commhash=991116af784b0
a12d8cad586e1ddc81d
Note: If your email program has inserted line breaks into either the email or web links above, you
can copy and paste the entire link in to you email program, or favorite web browser, respectively.
Please be advised that this letter is not and is not intended to be a complete statement of the
facts or law as they may pertain to this matter or of Lucas Arts' positions, rights or remedies, legal
or equitable, all of which are specifically reserved.
Regards,
Mack Ishilana
BtyTTP.com Inc.
PO Box 1314 - Los Gatos, CA 95031
Phone:: 488-321-2305 fax:: 488-321-2299
Lucas_Arts@copyright-compliance.com
*pgp public key is available on the key server at <http://pgp.mit.edu>.
Note: The information transmitted in this Notice is intended only for the person or entity to which it
is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, reproduction,
retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this
information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received
this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from all computers.
Evidentiary Information:
Notice ID: 288-2783875
Asset: Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge.Steam
Protocol: www.SteamPowered.com
IP Address: 63.136.127.512
DNS:
File Name: Monkey.Island.2.LeChucks.Revenge.Special.Edition-SteamApps
File Size: 1452850339
Timestamp: 4 Sep 2010 01:07:32 GMT
Last Seen Date: 26 Sep 2010 23:16:07 GMT Username (if available):
Quote from: Baron on Sun 29/05/2011 03:54:58
I'd also be interested in the content of the waver. I agree with Calin etc. that you signed it under duress and that it should not be construed as an admission of guilt. I also agree that you are the victim here, and that you should consider legal recourse (provided the facts are as you stated and you truly believe yourself to be innocent of piracy). Basically the company has defrauded you of money and/or services and defamed your good name by labeling you as a pirate. If you are contemplating legal action you should collect all correspondence on this matter and print it.
I must say it is unfortunate that you deleted the game in question, since it would be the only hard evidence of whether or not it was a pirated copy. Presumably Lucas-Arts would be able to verify that if subpoenaed. It may not matter: if it was legit then you've been wronged by Steam (fraud and defamation). If it was pirated then you've been wronged by Steam (fraud and piracy on their behalf). In fact, you could probably save money by reporting Steam as the purveyor of pirated goods and get their ISP to shut them down. Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones....
Office of Copyright Affairs and Mediation Services
Lucas Arts
Illegal Downloading Agreement
I understand that I have been accused of violating Lucas Arts policy regarding inappropriate copyright use, specifically illegal downloading of files from the internet through www.steampowered.com. Weather or not this case is valid I hereby agree that I will never engage in the illegal activities of copyright infringement.
_________________
Your Signature
I acknowledge the following:
____ P2P technology enables millions of computer users around the world to find and trade digital files
with each other. By using a P2P computer program, a user can scan the hard drives of millions of people
and instantly acquire (download) content with the click of a mouse. At the same time, that user can enable
the millions of people on the P2P network to copy the contents of his or her hard drive. While P2P
technology itself can be used for legitimate purposes, the predominant â€" indeed, almost exclusive â€" use of
P2P networks have been to trade copyrighted music, movies, pictures, and software. From a legal standpoint,
this activity violates copyright holders’ exclusive rights to copy and distribute their works. From a practical
standpoint, this activity threatens the entertainment industry’s ability to succeed in the evolving digital
marketplace.
____ I will be aware that establishing internal file downloading systems such as Steam/www.steampowered.com on local area networks (or “LANsâ€), enabling them to trade copyrighted files without accessing the public Internet is no
less illegal and presents many of the same problems as larger P2P systems.
____ If a person uses Affiliated Internet resources, i.e. the internet network or hardware, to
download illegal files, the Affiliated Internet has a responsibility to take action against a User to protect the
entire community.
I, _________________________, understand the rules regarding illegal
downloading and sharing of files. I agree on this date, ____________________, that I
will never use Internet resources to obtain illegal files. I understand that any
infractions will result in sanctions with the possibility of legal action and fines. I understand that a copy of this form will be kept as part of Lucas Arts files.
________________________ _________________________
Your Signature Legal Guardian Signature
And now to show the benefits of Steam Customer Support!
4 Message by Support Tech Ray on Sat, 28th May 2011 12:49 pm
Hello Richie,
Thank you for contacting Steam Support.
We are investigating this issue further. As soon as we have more information, we will update your ticket.
5 Message by Support Tech Ray on Sat, 28th May 2011 12:58 pm
Hello Richie,
We have a zero tolerance policy towards the advocation/admission of software piracy. I have reviewed the ban and confirmed that it was applied correctly.
There will be no lifting on this permanent ban and you will not be able to access your Steam account at any time in the future.
This matter is now resolved.
Thank you for contacting Steam Support.
So they can't even tell themselves that you legally bought the game and therefore they will keep the ban and take your legally bought games from you.. Then again the ban was because of your forum thread?
I'd go the legal way with this if there is any cheap way of doing it..
Looks like a bunch of legalize mumbo-jumbo and it seems like LucasArts should be after SteamPowered instead as apparently they are the ones supplying Users with "illegal downloads".
Don't know what else to suggest other than what I had mentioned previously. You may be in the right and done nothing wrong, but it would probably be a waste of time, effort and money to try and pursue things legally against them.
My sympathies. I'd probably be rather frustrated and peeved-off too if something similar happened to me and I did no wrong doing.
PS: Another thought.. the whole thing could be a type of elaborate scam and/or hoax from the supposed office of "LucasArts" (which could be a hacker / phisher / general-trouble-maker, etc..), and I also suggest no one click on any of those links as seen in that email-notice-letter and not reply to the email addresses. What real proof is there that the notice was actually from LucasArts? The domains listed/used in that email-notice also seem quite inconsistent.
I dunno, the whole thing just seems very odd.
PPS: Found a thread on Steam forums, that basically had the same Monkey Island 2 problem and an email posted by a User (unless that was you),
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php824395
but the sender's email is different than the email you posted here.
Also, your email later says it was from:
Regards,
Mack Ishilana
BtyTTP.com Inc.
And the email posted on Steam is supposed to be from:
Mark Ishikawa
BayTSP.com Inc.
"Mack Ishilana" and "Mark Ishikawa"? Hehe. What are they twin brothers from the Twilight Zone. Bizarre.
And part of your email your posted reads: "If you do not wish to reply by email, please use our Web Interface by clicking on the following link:
*******webreply.bagtsp.***"
The domains listed are different too.
Seems like some inconsistencies, and it could very well be a big scam of some kind.
Also, this "zapper221" User who posted on the Steam forums (and is Banned) does admit to piracy of video-games and music:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php905979
What a sucky tale! Yet another reason why Steam will never ever be on my computer. I got a perma-ban from YouTube a few months ago, it's not fun, and it's impossible to contest. But your Steam problem should certainly be taken higher. If Steam regulates what you can buy on it how did a pirated copy slip through? Anyway, sounds like a bunch of ****'s run it..!
You do realize LucasArts is and always has been one word. This looks like a scam.
No company would be so stupid that they would sell their product on steam then go on to call that company a pirate network. I wouldn't even know how anyone would illegally access content from steam.
I would send a really polite letter to steam support saying it was irresponsible of you to post on the forums in that way.
BTW, the majority of those urls in the email are dead. Looks more like a scam now.
Always do research before you ever respond to any email like this.
Your steam account is probably hacked btw, and password changed.
Edit...
After a little research, BayTSP are a company who notoriously send emails to ISPs to forward on to you when they detect you have been illegally accessing copyright material. I've had a couple myself from them regarding TV shows I certainly did not pirate. :p
Luckily in Australia, it's against privacy laws for the isp to release those details to the studios or companies. It was tested in court and the ISP's won.
For a ruthless company like BayTSP to include major web address errors seems very unusual.
Yep, it's a scam.
The address lucasarts@copyright-compliance.com is also registered to BayTSP, which means you haven't been contacted by LucasArts themselves.
As for the waiver you signed, the "Office of Copyright Affairs and Mediation Services" doesn't seem to exist, according to Google.
Also:
"I will be aware that establishing internal file downloading systems such as Steam/www.steampowered.com on local area networks (or “LANsâ€), enabling them to trade copyrighted files without accessing the public Internet is no less illegal and presents many of the same problems as larger P2P systems. "
...is absolute nonsense.
The whole thing is a scam.
Quote from: LimpingFish on Sun 29/05/2011 21:25:48
Yep, it's a scam.
The address lucasarts@copyright-compliance.com is also registered to BayTSP, which means you haven't been contacted by LucasArts themselves.
As for the waiver you signed, the "Office of Copyright Affairs and Mediation Services" doesn't seem to exist, according to Google.
Also:
"I will be aware that establishing internal file downloading systems such as Steam/www.steampowered.com on local area networks (or “LANsâ€), enabling them to trade copyrighted files without accessing the public Internet is no less illegal and presents many of the same problems as larger P2P systems. "
...is absolute nonsense.
The whole thing is a scam.
So when I replied to the supposed Lucas Arts email.. a hacker accessed my account and at the same time posted on the Forums causing a Ban of my account... therefore I couldn't access steam support through the forums and since my password was changed I couldn't access my games..
I sent a lost password request to Steam and actually got a reply to my email, and changed the password.
now I have access to my games again, but I will probably want to change my email if thats possible.
:-\ somehow they had accessed steam on my own computer... Trend Micro Pro found spyware and Trojans in my steam folders which were blocking me from accesing the steam library.
once deleted and reinstalled steam worked perfectly with my new password.
So did they get in by my IP adress? if so.. is there a "LEGAL" way to mask/hide/protect my IP address?
There is a program called Hide-My-IP, not expensive and it claims that it will hide your ip address which will keep hackers from invading your privacy or accessing your computer, it also protects from Identity theft..
perhaps im over thinking this?
Yikes! This is bad. I'm glad you've got to the bottom of this. As a new user of Steam I was beginning to get worried about what I had let myself in for.
So does this mean that you were not actually banned from the forums by Steam because of your comments about piracy? You should most definitely tell them about this. It could be that they're already aware of it, but they can warn others. Also there must be a bunch of other unofficial Steam Forums out there where you can spread the word abou this.
I hope they will remove the ban, im suprised they didnt catch that the lucas arts email was a fake. When I forwarded it to them they took it as a serious problem and told me to handle it as i could not.
My friend, Ben who started me on steam has had his account hacked many times, but thats because he plays online a lot, apparently its easy to take ones gamer tag from an online game and have steam send you their password.
However steam guard has just been put into place so if your new to steam you should update your account with steam guard they give you a code for account recovery and it is free.
I have 186 games on steam and have never had problems with it at all. I love steam.
Sorry to hear that youre having problems.
If signing that weird testimony is all they can hold against you, any lawyer could rip them a new one.
Sue.
Better would be to find a lawyer who can just counsel and tell if it's worth it. AGS forums is probably not it.
You might end up on a settlement and some pocket money, plus your games back.
At least i can play games again but I'm still banned from the forums, not the worst thing, and since I cant log into steams web page neither can a hacker... lol maybe I'm better off