Internet Piracy!

[pecad0re]

Internet Piracy CHARGES!!!


I've just been on this site www.internetpiracy.net.tc and i found out that people that download music through peer to peer programs can be caught and charged! omg thats terrible!, i mean, literally everyone downloads music from internet without even thinking about any consequenses. These 3 kids in Australia were caught and downloading music from their home pc's, and might face 5 years in jail or have to pay $60,500. Thats just unbelievable. I mean, shouldnt they go after the people who invented the programs like Kazza and emule etc. Anyways spread the word to your friends or you might be caught next lol

[brokencrow]

Yar! They ran out of witches to burn at the stake?

[[SwordF!sh]]

Oh the big players are also facing lawsuits. The bit torrent networks are being targeted at the moment.

I look at it like we are in a golden age of easy access (to movies, games, music). This will undoubtably end for the masses. There will always be ways to get things but it's about limiting joe average access. I came across a forum posting describing newer members as google engineers. You truely don't have to know much nowadays with search engines pointing you too endless help. As TorrentSpy said 'take Google to court' it indexes stuff better than our engine.

Technically speaking we will see much heavier encryption schemes and online verification. Even now you can download say Quake4 and play it offline using cracks. But the online play cannot be cracked. No freeby there. WMV files use DRM and that works. Download the file all you like. You can't play it though.

Taking people to court will sway some public opinion but it is far from addressing the issue. Technical people will do technical things to again shift obtainability (I think that is a made up word) of free stuff out of Joe Averages reach. Even with Goggles help.

[SirDice]

2 things...

1) Why should creators of software be charged when users (mis)use it for illegal purposes? That would mean they also should charge MS or Linus Torvalds because hackers use Windows or Linux to do illegal things..

2) Just because everybody does it, that doesn't make it legal.. Copying music/software/movies etc. is illegal in most countries..

[nihil]

These 3 kids in Australia were caught and downloading music from their home pc's, and might face 5 years in jail or have to pay $60,500

That's $60,500 per indictment by the way

There were not "kids downloading music to their home PCs"..............they were running a file sharing/swapping network, which is a completely different scale of operation, and how they got caught.

The authorities cannot really be bothered trying to track people who just download a few files...........it is the uploaders that they are interested. It is just the same as with drugs, where the police are more interested in the dealers that the users. They only have so much resource and that approach gives them a bigger "bang per buck" so to speak.

Curiously, I have met a number of people even in my own age group or older who have the delusion that "if its on the net it must be legal" I generally disillusion them with the comment that child pornography is also on the net and certainly isn't legal

I agree with the sentiment that it is not the software providers who are at fault. On that logic virtually every operating system and e-mail provider in the World would be guilty.

Anyway, there is a fair amount of stuff that is actually free and legitimate, as artistes use the medium to promote themselves and their live performances (which is where they make their money).

I do, however, dispute the banal comments about "this costs the industry $X per annum"..........it doesn't, because these people have no intention of buying a legitimate copy.

A lot of this stuff seems to be outfits like the RIAA "sabre rattling" to impress their subscribers (funders!) who want it to placate their stockholders.

Remember that there is always the "sneakernet"..............and at a conservative estimate I would say that at least 25% of the CDs/DVDs in this town are pirated.

Please do not get me wrong, I am not condoning piracy, in fact I am probably the only person on this site who has actually lost a job to cutbacks resulting from piracy, and that was in the days of cassettes!

[rcgreen]

[list=1][*]First of all, it isn't piracy.

Piracy is stopping a ship on the high seas and robbing people by putting
their lives in danger. Lots of that going on here eh?
[*]Secondly, since when do the jugglers and clowns deserve to live like royalty?

It's high time that entertainers remember history. The king sat on his throne
and called for a jester to tell some jokes and cheer him up. If the king
wasn't amused, he had the jester beheaded. In a democratic country, the
voters are the royalty. Maybe we could start by beheading Oprah.
[*]Third, There are no technical answers to moral and political questions.[/list=1]

A copyright is not like owning real property. It is a license to a temporary
monopoly on the sale of a work of literature, music, etc. It is granted
by government, and government can take it away. Now who on this forum
votes?

[phishphreek]

I feel really bad for all the people with open access points who are going to show up on these lists.

Availabe from my apartment alone... there are 55 OPEN access points out of the 61 available. Only 5 are using WEP and only ONE! is using WPA... (that'd be me)

I only did a quick scan with kismet walking from wall to wall in my apartment. I was using a PCMCIA network card with no external antenna. I didn't even get into the car or walk the sidewalks with my laptop! My apartment complex is huge... based on how many APs are available from my apartment alone.. I'd guess that there are over 500+ open access points in my complex. It'll make for an interesting weekend doing a war drive around the complex and through the courtyards.

Do you think that charges can stick againt someone who was taken advantage of? I mean... they didn't do the downloading. You'll find no reference to the downloaded material on their PC(s)...

I'm not taking advantage of these users... but I'm sure someone is.

Not to mention... kismet tells me that there are at least two different NICs out there constantly probing networks but never joining... (grabbing passwords or encrypted packets trying to crack WEP maybe?)

I've been considering posting a flyer on the community bullitin board to raise awareness and offering to help secure the APs in my free time.

[nihil]

rcgreen

First of all, it isn't piracy.

Time you joined the 21st Century mate...........it is called "piracy" and has been for the past 30 or more years. That which you refer to is "piracy on the high seas"

What I am referring to is the manufacture and distribution of copyrighted media. File sharing is merely a copyright infringement and in some countries this might even be reduced to a mere infringement of the EULA.

Secondly, since when do the jugglers and clowns deserve to live like royalty?

That also misses the point, it is not the performers who are that concerned, it is the recording companies .................they are the ones who make the money out of media sales. The actual performers make relatively little, their money comes from concerts and TV, and the contracts that they have with the recording companies.

Third, There are no technical answers to moral and political questions.

But there are to legal questions , and that is what this is.

Do you think that charges can stick againt someone who was taken advantage of? I mean... they didn't do the downloading. You'll find no reference to the downloaded material on their PC(s)...

Almost certainly not, as you say there is no evidence.

[rcgreen]

Time you joined the 21st Century mate...........it is called "piracy" and has been for the past 30 or more years.

Funny how it's only the entertainment biz that calls it piracy. Normal people
call it "copyright infringment", but that doesn't sound bloodthirsty enough.
Not exactly in the class of rape robbery and murder.

[rapier57]

... Maybe we could start by beheading Oprah.

Then, all my prayers would be answered.