So I got a cease and decist letter from my ISP and the ESA today. Funny thing is that the ESA, or at the very least videogames as a whole, is one of the things I respect wholly in this case as a person very much interested in the gaming community; and especially as someone looking to find a *job* in said community.

I'm not sure what to do; I mean, I haven't been downloading videogames since I was too little to afford them myself, and too stupid to realize the implications and ramifications of such a thing. I have a secured wireless internet setup with WPA and what I feel is a pretty strong password. But I got the notice for *a* reason, so what am I supposed to do, wait around for a second notice and/or legal action to come?

Without going into too much detail here, there are a few specific things on the notice that are interesting. First, it says the infringment date was November 30th. The game: Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir (As I currently type looking at my legal copy of Storm of Zehir in my hand right now, as well as the second copy I have purchased from my brother for Christmas). I'm not sure about the IP; to tell you the truth, I don't know my actual IP, besides the static one being sent to my router. The DNS server is just plain wrong (I have all of my computers set up to use OpenDNS, and I believe the dns address in reference is the DNS server of the ISP itself, although I don't know if that's supposed to be the case). That is perhaps the most suspect thing I can find.

I'm worried and I shouldn't have to be. I just wish companies like this would perhaps do a little more research before sending out very scary legal letters to people that live, breathe, and sleep the product they are trying to protect in the first place. I can only pray nothing more will come of this, because there's no way I'll be able to pay court fees when I am currently on the verge of losing my job to the economy.

If there's anyone out there whos reading this and can offer me any suggestions as to what to do, feel free to comment. All I can really think to do is ignore it and continue on as usual, but when the courts are involved, and when what I can only assume would be a very hefty fine is involved, ignoring it might not be the best option.