I was dumb, and now I don’t know the next step

I downloaded something off the internet, something that caused my internet (Spectrum) to be notified, and shut down the internet. This was about a month ago. The internet went back on, things were fine again.

Yesterday, my provider was notified again by the file, and shut the internet off again. This was out of my power. I didn’t interact with it or use it. But I deleted it immediately after I found out.

I shouldn’t have done it, but if I did, I definitely should have used a VPN…

What’s caused my provider to be pinged about this? And what can I do to stop it?

Call support. I doubt that the disconnection was a result of you downloading something. Plus, your ISP wouldn’t know anything about the files you have on your PC if they’re not constantly connected to the internet.

only logical thing would mean u have torrent software running in the background minimized and you are constantly seeding. Because say if you had the program closed…Spectrum is not gonna know you still have “File B” on your hardrive.

Your isp responded to a request from a rightsholder that made a claim about you downloading their content. If you have been downloading torrents without a vpn there could be a claim for every file you downloaded and they could arrive at anytime to your ISP.

Are you running any tormenting software in the background?

If you’re torrenting something that might violate DMCA, it’s best to disable seeding (uploading) in your torrent client. And configure the client to stop as soon as the download is completed. Or use leechers and download them normally.

Edit: you can also use private trackers.

It was. they dropped the name of what I downloaded.

(torrented)

That’s true. Before I uninstalled the software, it had some sort of “run in background” checkmark turned on. I turned it off, and then proceeded to delete the software.

I’m pretty sure I was. Before I uninstalled the software, The software had a little checkmark that said “start when computer boots up” or something along those lines.

Then you likely still had your torrent client running in the background actively sharing that file. You ISP wouldn’t be able to see just a file sitting on your hard drive otherwise.