Illegal software in Canada

rtp

I had to downgrade (crack) to windows 7 since my windows 10 key was not working. I will immigrating to Canada soon and needless to say I have a lot of music, video, and office (cracked), and few games (cracked). Should I be worried?

Elied

As far as I have been told by people already living there, they themselves have illegally downloaded all of their music and have never been aproached legally because of it. No idea about the other things though.

Ziad87

I doubt that they would check your laptop that thoroughly. I tried looking online and couldn't find any reported cases of such incidents. Of course that's not conclusive evidence.

I would expect them to ask you to turn on the laptop to make sure that it's functioning and it hasn't been tampered with. So to be safe, make sure that you're using one of the BIOS OEM cracks that are pretty hard to detect (if you need more help with this send me a message). Also make sure you're Desktop and common Libraries don't contain files that are obviously pirated. I would suggest that you just encrypt all your pirated files into an archive (you can use 7zip or any similar application) and hide it in some obscure directory. In addition, just uninstall the games and Office (you can store the setup files for those in that same encrypted archive).

I doubt that they would ask you to decrypt the archive (that's if they even find it) and you can just say you forgot the password or don't know what the file is :P. You can even split the archive into much smaller files and rename them to look like temp Windows files if you want to be extra cautious.

Worst case is that they would confiscate your hardware but I don't think they will deny you entry over such a small issue. Canada also has pretty lax piracy laws when compared to other countries like the US.

rtp

Ok thanks for the info guys! Love you!

Ziad87

By the way, if you still want to torrent in Canada, I suggest getting a seed box or at least a VPN proxy (those are the cheapest and can cost around $40/year). From what I understand, ISPs now send you warnings for downloading/sharing pirated media.

Good luck with your immigration! I hope everything goes well.

rtp

Ziad87 wroteBy the way, if you still want to torrent in Canada, I suggest getting a seed box or at least a VPN proxy (those are the cheapest and can cost around $40/year). From what I understand, ISPs now send you warnings for downloading/sharing pirated media.

Good luck with your immigration! I hope everything goes well.

Yeah i read about the new law, apparently they are warning people for using torrent. I will most likely subscribe to
PIA (https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/)

Thank you for the warning and suggestion!

bermudapineapple

I wouldn't risk it. I think it's better to go completely legit in countries where you aren't sure what to expect.

I guess it's like having child porn on your computer. No one's going to suspect you or snoop around your computer looking for it, but if, by chance, they just happen to find it, the crime is so serious that your life would probably never be the same.

I don't blame you for asking this question. Lebanon has no law so we take laws for granted.

But outside Lebanon, and especially in civilized and organized countries, do not fuck with the law. Remember that you CANNOT plead ignorance.

Die_Kapitan

tt400 wroteI wouldn't risk it. I think it's better to go completely legit in countries where you aren't sure what to expect.

I guess it's like having child porn on your computer. No one's going to suspect you or snoop around your computer looking for it, but if, by chance, they just happen to find it, the crime is so serious that your life would probably never be the same.

I don't blame you for asking this question. Lebanon has no law so we take laws for granted.

But outside Lebanon, and especially in civilized and organized countries, do not fuck with the law. Remember that you CANNOT plead ignorance.

Piracy isn't in the same ballpark as child porn, dude, it's not even in the same league, hell, it's not even the same sport. Lots of Americans pirate stuff as corporations (or the state, but aren't they the same?) don't care if an individual pirates stuff, Johnny Law won't take you to prison because you pirated a game.

rolf

Ziad87 wroteBy the way, if you still want to torrent in Canada, I suggest getting a seed box or at least a VPN proxy (those are the cheapest and can cost around $40/year). From what I understand, ISPs now send you warnings for downloading/sharing pirated media.

Exactly. The main concern is monitoring when you use Bittorrent.
Because Bittorrent serves content too they can sue the user for illegally broadcasting copyrighted material or something like that.

tt400 wrote I guess it's like having child porn on your computer.

Just stay away from that.

rtp

There is a new law in canada that allows ISP to monitor for torrent and stuff, so a simple VPN should do the trick. Once am there am not worried, I was just worried that my laptop will be examined for pirated stuff...

Am not into child porn, FYI.

Thanks for all advises.

bermudapineapple

Die_Kapitan wrote
tt400 wroteI wouldn't risk it. I think it's better to go completely legit in countries where you aren't sure what to expect.

I guess it's like having child porn on your computer. No one's going to suspect you or snoop around your computer looking for it, but if, by chance, they just happen to find it, the crime is so serious that your life would probably never be the same.

I don't blame you for asking this question. Lebanon has no law so we take laws for granted.

But outside Lebanon, and especially in civilized and organized countries, do not fuck with the law. Remember that you CANNOT plead ignorance.
Piracy isn't in the same ballpark as child porn, dude, it's not even in the same league, hell, it's not even the same sport. Lots of Americans pirate stuff as corporations (or the state, but aren't they the same?) don't care if an individual pirates stuff, Johnny Law won't take you to prison because you pirated a game.

I didn't say piracy was like child porn or that the criminal offense was the same. I said having pirated software on your computer is similar to having child porn on your computer for the reasons I stated in the first post.

bermudapineapple

rolf wrote Just stay away from that.

Shit, I didn't know. Thanks, man.

Salloum

Don't sweat it man. If you are really worried, you can hide them somewhere on your disk they wouldn't look. But Canadians are pretty cool overall, it's not like the US. I lived there for years and years. You have nothing to worry about.

rolf

Salloum wroteYou have nothing to worry about.

In any case you can use axencrypt to encrypt your files, but the few times I've used it, I ended up forgetting my passphrase and ended up with a bunch of unusable encrypted files, so not sure if I should recommend it.

Georges00

rolf wrote
Salloum wroteYou have nothing to worry about.
In any case you can use axencrypt to encrypt your files, but the few times I've used it, I ended up forgetting my passphrase and ended up with a bunch of unusable encrypted files, so not sure if I should recommend it.

Afrter TrueCrypt disappeared and it got linked to NSA, I'm not suree if you can still trust encryption software.

rtp

Salloum wroteDon't sweat it man. If you are really worried, you can hide them somewhere on your disk they wouldn't look. But Canadians are pretty cool overall, it's not like the US. I lived there for years and years. You have nothing to worry about.

I'm in Canada now, they are chilled.

samer

Georges00 wrote I'm not sure if you can still trust encryption software.

According to Edward Snowden:

Encryption works. Properly implemented strong crypto systems are one of the few things that you can rely on.

bermudapineapple

Georges00 wrote
rolf wrote
Salloum wroteYou have nothing to worry about.
In any case you can use axencrypt to encrypt your files, but the few times I've used it, I ended up forgetting my passphrase and ended up with a bunch of unusable encrypted files, so not sure if I should recommend it.
Afrter TrueCrypt disappeared and it got linked to NSA, I'm not suree if you can still trust encryption software.

TrueCrypt never got linked to the NSA. There was absolutely no evidence to those claims.

On the contrary, the US government has been stopped a few times by TrueCrypt in the past; you can look up some of the stories.

TrueCrypt is open-source freeware and nothing the likes of a backdoor have ever been found in it.

eliashh

Hey I lived in Toronto for a few years. Don't worry. Almost all my music, moves, and games are torrented. Never got checked at the airport. The only thing they might do is open your laptop if you have it carried in hand. They did that to me. They used this device and ran it over my laptop's keyboard. They didn't turn it on though so don't be worried ;).
About torrenting in Canada, don't worry. I torrented A WHOLE LOT there lol. Having 50 down and 25 up is a blessing. I literally downloaded movies in minutes and streamed all my vids at around 720/1080/4k. You will love the internet there :).