[dev]

dont know the specifics, but i assume that to get the name / address for the person who was using a specific IP at a set date/time requires a court order. Now to get a court order, I would also assume some form of evidence would need to be given (granted this could be made up).

On the other hand, it's pretty easy to guess which houses have cable and which do not, after all, how many homes have a cable box on the outside but no cable services? So it could easily be a scam where they use the assumption that someone in the house has downloaded something illegal at some point.

Does the letter give specifics to what you downloaded? Usually they'll give the method of sharing (eg torrent/p2p app), what the file was and a date/time they found you were sharing it.

The main problem with cases like this is, how do you exactly defend yourself? If you prove you weren't in the house on the date/time they say you were sharing the file, that won't prove you weren't sharing it as you don't have to be at a computer to share the file.