Biggest BitTorrent Downloading Case in U.S. History Targets 23,000 Defendants

[anthonyk]

Just so I make sure I'm up to speed, it's cool to steal from big corporations (for various reasons on either side of the border)?

But still not cool to steal from, say, your friendly local trackday photog?

Nobody's suggesting that the digital nature of the stuff they're stealing makes a difference, are they?

(BTW, that levy on blank media to offset piracy is f'ed up. Yeesh.)

[Avatard]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

Yes, it is, but let me run something by you here. What if you were a photographer, who used recordable media to send images to your clients, but were forced to pay a 'levy' to the recording and movie industries on every blank CD/DVD that you purchased?

You see that's the position, that we're in, here in Canada. My work gets ripped off, just like theirs does. I have no recourse other than petitioning the thieves for redress, or suing them. I don't get any of that money, that's pinched from me when I buy blanks. I don't get to 'opt out' of paying it, for my legitimate use of blank recording media.

Here, in Canada, none of the illegal downloading cases have been successful, since the day that the industry managed to have that levy passed into law. The reasoning is that they asked for a way that they could be paid, for those illegal downloads, and the GOT IT. So of course, now, they want changes in the law so that they get two bites at the apple. All well and good, but what about protection for MY intellectual property?

Your "What if you...?" argument falls on deaf ears, with me, because all that I see is unequal treatment under the law.

I'm in recording, and audio.

I remember the DAT tax.

Remember DAT tape? Came out around the time of CD? It was supposed to be the replacement for cassette tapes, as the CD replaced vinyl (recordable CDs and computer DAWs would ultimately kill the need for the format entirely some years later).

The media was digital, like the CD, and was to offer recording at 48Khz, slightly better, but incompatible with the 44.1Khz rate of CDs in order to prevent copying.

Inexplicably, US regulatory bullshit fucked that up. It was feared the quality would be still too good. They added copy protection flags, but oddly, also allowed recording at 44.1 (?). It went back and forth, and finally, they just decided to tax the media, to offset the piracy (yeah, the logic is flawed, but play along).

End result, when all the dust settled?

DAT took so long to define legally, it tanked in the marketplace, and became a mastering format for professionals WHO MADE FUCKING CDs by "default" (it was more affordable than the professional "DASH" format).

So now, the people who would supposedly be getting ripped off (like, say; ME), would theoretically get just compensation from those supposedly stealing (say; ME) from the taxes on the tapes they purchased.

Oddly, I never saw any of that money...

Hmmm.



Papa, I feel your pain...this is a legacy tax from this very fucking debacle I speak of. Someone's keeping the money, and it's not the professionals that this legislation pretends to protect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMh6O7HuI08

[Tmall]

[OneSickPsycho]

Originally Posted by tmall

awesome

[Rangerscott]

You dont take away from them. They just dont make money. No one is hacking into their bank accounts and actually taking money away.

[derf]

I kinda gotta side with foojimoh, just because its an asshole move, the original act is still illegal. It might be better if they try and find a sustainable business model rather than suing their customers, but in the meantime, we are still going of archaic digital laws that have been used in BS ways that they were never intended to be used.

[Tmall]

Originally Posted by derf

I kinda gotta side with foojimoh, just because its an asshole move, the original act is still illegal. It might be better if they try and find a sustainable business model rather than suing their customers, but in the meantime, we are still going of archaic digital laws that have been used in BS ways that they were never intended to be used.

You also cannot walk a duck in nyc on xmas eve, (fake stupid law, but you get the idea) that doesn't make walking ducks wrong.


In other words, I ain't going to buy their shit to begin with, so the money they're losing doesn't exist.

Before the "try to justify it" crowd pops in, I'm not justifying. I don't give two shits about the profits of the media. Motherfuckers make more bank in a week than the majority of us will see in a lifetime. If they have to make due with the second tier of personal jet instead of the top tier, I can still sleep soundly at night.

[Particle Man]

Originally Posted by derf

I kinda gotta side with foojimoh, just because its an asshole move, the original act is still illegal. It might be better if they try and find a sustainable business model rather than suing their customers, but in the meantime, we are still going of archaic digital laws that have been used in BS ways that they were never intended to be used.

I wasn't saying he/she/it is right or wrong (although the analogy drawn is, IMHO, flawed). I just don't believe in trolls. So far, I haven't really seen a post of substance or even a simple introduction that would cause me to take 'em seriously.

Hence the "troll" reference.

If I wanted just random people popping in just to say random non-forum related shit and then leave, I'd log in to CF.

[EpyonXero]

Book hits #1 on Amazon thanks to piracy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_862248.html

Mark reviewed a funny parody of a kid's picture book called Go the Fuck to Sleep late last month, and it's since gone to be the number one bestseller on Amazon.
Except, it hasn't been published yet. It's reached the number one slot on the strength of pre-orders.

How did this remarkable thing occur? Piracy.

In an age of e-books, piracy has been a rising concern amongst publishers for a few years, although none of the publishers contacted by The Bay Citizen could recall a PDF of a book going viral in the vein of "Go the Fuck to Sleep." This volume had a few key properties that enabled its electronic popularity: an undeniable title, a good-looking cover and a short length, making it easy to read, post and pass on. Also, the long lag time between the book's pre-sale (it was originally scheduled to go on sale in October) and the buzz made online sharing necessary.
'Go the F--- to Sleep': The Case of the Viral PDF

[pauldun170]

That's it...
I can't contribute in this thread anymore until I start seeing some informed opinions.

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/

until then