Internet Nazi says, "No movie for joo!"

So yeah, I like the internet, and I like it fast. I like being connected, plugged-in, wired, . . . [insert you own euphemism here.] But last night the unthinkable happened. My internet was not working! Now, I am an engineer so I should be able to fix such things so I calmly begin searching for the problem. Hmm, all the wires are connected, no obvious signs of damage. I take it to the next step, unplug the modem and reset all of the electronics . . . still nothing. Ok, don’t panic, this has happened before; you just have to call Cox Communications and have the modem reset from their end, no problem. After a few minutes of awful hold music and pointless button pushing to get to the right person I am getting the modem reset. But, what is this? Still no internet for me. So we (the tech girl and I) decide that the modem must have taken its final packet of data and headed to that great Radio Shack in the sky. They will send a technician out in the morning. I ask if they can do the evening seeing as how I am supposed to be at work in the morning, but that is a no go.

After an internetless evening I awaken to a new day filled with the hopes of my internet being restored and working better than ever. The cable guy finally gets to the house. They gave me a time frame between eight and ten. Guess when the guy shows up? I am sure I don’t have to tell you that he shows up about 9:50. So he tinkers with the modem for a while, doing all the things I did the night before. Finally, he measures the signal from the cable company and discovers it is too hot (they are sending me too much juice.) So we get that under control, but still no internet. So he connects a new modem and all looks well. But then, and this is where it starts getting interesting (and by interesting, I mean makes my blood start to boil.)
Cable Guy calls the company to tell them that he has switched out my modem and he is just reporting it in. Here is a transcript of what I hear from his end of the conversation:

“Yeah, this is . . . I am with Cox Communications in Ruston . . . blah blah blah . . . something about switching out modems . . . blah blah. . . IT’S BEEN WHAT? Are you sure? Well do you want to talk to him?”

So I nervously take the phone from Cable Guy and they proceed to tell me that my internet account has been suspended for inappropriate activity. I am like, can you be more specific? They tell me that apparently I have been downloading movies and that Cox Communications does not allow that. Now my first thought is that they think I have downloaded some sort of girly movie. So I dig deeper for more information. Apparently, Cox does not allow you to download ANY movie of any type. No funny short from IFilm, no XMen III trailer, no commercial for LOST, nothing, nada, zilch. So I ask them when they put this into place and they tell me that it has always been that way. So I ask them to point me to where I can find this in writing; they will have to get back to me on that. So I ask for more details of my suspension, but I get nothing.

So there you have it, I am a convicted movie downloader. I have been tried and proven guilty before I even knew it was so wrong. Now, I do think that there is a problem in our country with some of the content of the internet. But if I want to download a video of a guy cutting a tree down and watching it fall on his car, there shouldn’t be someone out there telling me that I can’t. So I am still trying to get to the bottom of this, surely there is some misunderstanding. Don’t worry, I will keep you informed. But if it is true that Cox will not let me download any sort of movie at all then I am going to have to find a new service. Oh, well, I always wanted Direct TV anyway. But I am NOT giving up my DVR!