Seriously? One phone call and email? Not even a letter or postage stamp?
I am all for for being proactive and responsive but a phone call means very little in this situation. What about the email? Is this an "extortion email" or what?
You are "horrified" and "consumed with fear"? You are going to "hope" this goes away? You said you read for 3 days?
Apparently, you still don't quite understand what's going on if you are that upset. Might I suggest you change your attitude fast or get some help or you will get rolled over.
I am not trying to be insulting or condescending here but if you don't stop acting like a frozen deer staring into headlights, no one can help you. "Hoping" isn't a strategy. If you need help, get the help or provide more meaningful information beside your emotional state.
There is no "collective" effort aside from this support community. There is no class-action lawsuit you can join in as people seem to keep asking. Every recipient has the responsibility to handle their own issue in their own way. No one is going to jump in and do it for you.
You can either do the hard work to study and defend yourself or get some professional assistance. ELI provides a paid phone support service for cases and a paid defense letter program. Even with those options, there is some level of responsibility you will have to take on.
People in the past have come to the ELI Forums using it as an emotional-dumping platform as if they were seeking counseling. We have no problems with expressing anxiety, concern, anger, and all the various emotions that come with dealing with the situation. But don't come on these forums with an unempowered or helpless attitude and ZERO information to help your situation. We don't do emotional counseling here. We take meaningful action to fight back. Or at the very least provide a good defense.
Unempowered emotional venting (crying, fear, paralysis, sleeplessness, etc.) engenders no sympathy from me. That shows lack of understanding or backbone. I won't let the ELI Forums become an emotional dumping area so that others can join in with the emotional upsets. I nip it in the bud right away. It helps and serves no one else here but you. It hurts the overall community energy by allowing unempowered attitudes here.
The ELI Forums have always been about empowerment, knowledge, education, defending yourself, and fighting back. The unempowering and pure emotional stuff is not welcome anywhere on the ELI Forums. People who simply want to get into how the letters rule their lives and their emotional states can go post elsewhere on the Internet.
If you have a specific issue you want to talk or ask about, then state it. We will help and support you. If you are simply lost despite all the reading you have done, just be honest. However, no one is going to type a term paper to help you because it is too much to ask. You might have to be prepared to pay for help.
At this point I have only had phone and email contact with a woman connected with HAN and Copyright Services International. I noticed in a blog that said CSI is no longer in service. I know one of the emails I received had a CSI address. I would be interested in being part of a collective of people who are dealing with this issue. I am anticipating that I will be receiving an extortion letter soon. I was given a month to pay the "discounted" rate! When I first got the call I was horrified and have spend days not sleeping well and consumed with fear. I hope that I will not receive a letter and that this just goes away... Time will tell. I hope this doesn't post twice.