My dad told me how his computer got locked up remotely by an agency or something that accused him of having a pirated movie.

1. Dad downloads a movie from an authorized source which he pays a fee to.  It is legal and he can keep it as long as he wants.

2. A few months down the road, his computer won’t work and just says “You have unauthorized media, please delete it.  For questions, call ____.”  And he only has access to the part of his computer where the download is stored.

3.  He calls the number and wants to know how they got onto his computer.

4.  The supervisor explains they’re allowed to search computers for illegal downloads because of certain legislation.

5. My dad does not like this.  He wants to know how they got in.  He explains (angry) that he doesn’t know that they won’t steal the sensitive information on his computer.  (He had credit card numbers stored from his sales.)

6. She explains that their actions are perfectly legal and not to worry, they’re only authorized to search for illegal downloads and won’t look at anything else.

7. Dad doesn’t care.  Once he proves he downloaded the movie legally (and they immediately unlock the rest of his computer, which is instantaneous), the woman apologizes and he tells her to never ever do that again or he’ll bring up charges.

Needless to say, he’s very concerned and looked all this up, because even though it might be legal, it’s still terrifying.  I’m only repeating what he told me, so details aren’t necessarily all straight.  But the government (according to the woman on the phone) lets them do this through computer servers, which bypasses firewalls and the like.

I’ve been poking around, looking for legislation, and haven’t been able to find it, though my searches are admittedly lame.

He doesn’t have the number or email anymore, so I can’t post those or try to investigate the legitimacy of their claim.  All I know is, they didn’t want to give him much info and I don’t know how to help him put extra blocks on his computer to help counteract their getting in again.

I don’t know why a hacker would give him a phone number to call, or even make him delete a measly movie, and that’s the thing that makes me think they might be legitimate.  The only other thing that makes sense is if it’s a movie company illegally policing its own material.  I don’t know.  It’s weird.  If anyone has info on this sort of situation, I’m interested.  Alex thought it might have something to do with the Patriot Act, but I don’t think that allows for policing copyrighted digital media.  Maybe it’s this whole data-sweeping thing.  Either way, this looks remarkably like the Big Brother that everyone in the 70’s was worried about, and I’m not liking it any more than they did.