When I bought my sweet new laptop here, I was actually surprised. You see, there was another Toshiba laptop there, in the display case (this one was NOT in the display case at all), that was $549.00. That one had less memory and a smaller hard drive in it. Meaning this one, at $498.00 had better specs and was cheaper. Not usually the way things go.

When the cashier rang it up, I fully expected it to be a mistake and the register to ring it up at $600-700. It did not. It rang up at $498.00, just like the price tag said. I snapped it up and brought it home. When I got it here, I discovered something odd. The tape around the box had already been cut open. Not only that, but a big sticker sealing the plastic bag the laptop was in inside the box had been torn, like the laptop had been out. I thought at first maybe it was a display computer. Not so.

The computer already had a name attached to it. AnhDao Phaly. It had at least 50 pictures in the recycle bin, yes the recycle bin was full. It had programs installed on it – printer drivers, html editor software, QuickBooks, and BitTorrent. I didn’t actually know BitTorrent was on the computer. Certainly I hadn’t tried to use it. I uninstalled a few of the programs and then wanted to play on the internet so I left off doing that and got on the ‘net to play. I’d had a few things to do, like help BFF’s mom look for term life insurance online quotes.

So I went on my merry little way. Then all of a sudden, this morning, BFF’s internet connection was deactivated. We called and were told that someone had used BitTorrent to download a file illegally. The first call we made, they wouldn’t tell us what the file was, just that it was illegally downloaded using BitTorrent. Ok, first off, I find it very upsetting that they are even able to track where we go and what we do, as to me, that’s a complete invasion of my privacy. But in any case, knowing that my computer was a “used” one, I figured it probably had BitTorrent on it.

Here’s the kicker. I found BitTorrent, uninstalled it, and we called the ISP back. They made a big f’ing production out of it, demanding to know exactly which computer had BitTorrent installed, had it been removed (excuse me, but BitTorrent IS A LEGAL SOFTWARE TO HAVE ON YOUR COMPUTER), blah blah blah. Then came the BIG kicker. The file that was “downloaded” was Adobe Illustrator. A program that I have heard of, have used on a friend’s computer who had it, but have never had on my own computer, have never attempted to even obtain for my computer. I have Photoshop, I like Photoshop. I don’t need it. I don’t want it.

They made me read off my installed programs list. They made me search my computer for the file. Now the stupid thing is, although I can tell you now, I DON’T have it and NEVER DID have it, I could have been lying. How the hell would they know? But in any case, if they wanted me to, I could take my computer to the office and they could look at it all the wanted to. I don’t have it. I never did have it. They wouldn’t find it.

So then the guy is finally satisfied that the problem is taken care of and decides that he can re-activate the internet. He says it’ll take 2-24 hours to reactivate. It was back on in 30 minutes. However, I know he was lying anyways. How? Easy….

1. It was a click of the mouse to turn us back on. It would have been instantaneous.
2. They never gave a warning, which IS required. They HAVE to let us know there was a problem and the guy even SAID that BFF should have received an email letting her know there was a problem. None was received.
3. Um, sorry to say, but as soon as we call and say we’ll take care of the problem you are required to turn the connection back on. Some programs cannot be uninstalled without connection to the internet. I know this for a fact because I have had those programs on my computers in the past.
4. They cannot legally ask what is installed on my computer, nor can they ask me to find an installation file on my computer without court papers stating I must provide the information. That is a violation of my rights. I could have refused, but they were refusing to turn the internet connection back on unless I complied, so I did, as my BFF needed the connection.

However, both she and her mom are extremely upset with the ISP and may very well look into other options soon. Especially since frankly, they wouldn’t even tell us when this file was supposedly downloaded, making us even more suspicious that it was just an excuse given to us for them having shut us down accidentally.

Nobody has any file sharing software on their computers now. I removed the BitTorrent (didn’t even want it, because I have no need for it). So if they try to say there’s still something going on, there’s going to be a war waged.

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