You Received a Copyright Notice From Your ISP. Now What?

What you have actually received

Your internet provider has forwarded an allegation from a third party. Under Canada's notice-and-notice regime the provider is legally required to pass it on; it has not assessed whether it is accurate, and forwarding it is not an accusation by your provider.

Your account has not been suspended, nothing has been removed, and your identity has not been disclosed to whoever sent it. Those are three separate things people commonly assume have happened.

Do not pay anything

Since 2018 the Copyright Act has prohibited these notices from containing a settlement demand, an offer to settle, a request for personal information, or a link to anything that does. A forwarded notice asking you to pay to resolve the matter does not comply with the statute.

Do not click links inside it, do not send money, and do not reply with personal information. If you believe the notice raises something real, the right move is advice from a lawyer, not a payment to a stranger.

Work out what was actually on your network

A notice identifies an IP address at a point in time. That address covers your whole household and anyone using your connection, which is a wider net than most people picture.

This is the genuinely useful thing to do with a notice: treat it as a prompt to look at your own network. It is not unusual for the underlying cause to be something the account holder knew nothing about.

• Check who has your Wi-Fi password, including guests and former housemates.
• Confirm your network is on WPA2 or WPA3 with a password that is not the default.
• Look at what is installed on shared devices, particularly anything sold preloaded.
• Note the date and time in the notice and think about what was happening then.

Keep it, and keep it in proportion

Save the notice. If more arrive, the pattern matters, and having the originals is better than reconstructing them later.

At the same time, a single forwarded notice is a long way from a legal proceeding. Statutory damages for non-commercial infringement in Canada are capped between $100 and $5,000 in total across all works and all proceedings, and the step from a notice to a claim requires a court order to identify you first. The right response is attention, not panic.

Where a legitimate service fits

The reason any of this matters when choosing a provider is that the question 'what am I actually paying for' has a real answer, and it is worth asking. A service that will not discuss it, or that answers with a guarantee rather than an explanation, has told you something.

Our copyright policy sets out our position, and our page on Canadian law covers the broader question without reassurance.

Questions

Will my internet be cut off?

Notice-and-notice does not require or authorise a provider to suspend service, and forwarding a notice is the extent of the obligation. Your own contract with the provider is a separate matter and worth reading if notices recur.

Should I reply to the notice?

There is no obligation to reply, and replying with personal information to an unknown third party is a bad idea. If you think the matter is serious, speak to a lawyer rather than corresponding with the sender.