Source: CNet News. June 30th. Check it out Here.
A week after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden Warned that the government would start cracking down on illegal file sharing, the feds swooped in and seized assets belonging to operators of accused movie-pirating sites.
The government on Wednesday also took control of at least seven of the sites in question: Movies-Links.tv, Now-Movies.com, TVShack.net, Filespump.com, Planetmoviez.com, ZML.com, ThePirateCity.org, Ninjavideo.net, and NinjaThis.net. More than a dozen bank, investment, and advertising accounts were seized, and authorities served search warrants on residences in several different states.
Authorities are searching for operators of the sites as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, according to Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The crimes that the operators are accused of committing weren't clear, but some of the sites are accused of distributing film copies prior to their theatrical release.
As of 3 p.m. PDT, some of the sites were still operating, but government officials said they anticipated the sites would come under government control within hours.
The investigation involved multiple law enforcement groups, including the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and ICE, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security.
Last week, Biden and Victoria Espinel, the U.S. intellectual property enforcement coordinator, told reporters that they wanted to send a message to counterfeiters and pirates that this administration was intent on protecting the nation's intellectual property. Espinel directed a statement at those people who trafficked in phony goods or unauthorized music and movies: "We have committed to putting you out of business."
ICE and the Department of Justice both suggested Wednesday that these types of seizures and investigations are just the beginning.
More to come
That's right boys and girls, the Federal Government is now shutting down websites and Law Firms owned by corporate movie makers are Suing Private Citizens who are using Peer to Peer programs like LimeWire and uTorrent. That's right, they're even shutting down Peer to Peer programs and Suing every day "Joe Blow" users who have downloaded Movies, Games, and MP3's. If you'd like the proof of this happening right now, there's some mess going on about the movie "Hurt Locker" which some guy shared on LimeWire. Now the makers of the movie are Suing the distributers such as the makers of LimeWire and even going as far as to file suite against 5,000 yet un-named people. Don't think they are, that they can't? They ARE!!! Here's Proof!!! The Government themselves have started shutting down domains and are petitioning ISP's for their users names and home addresses so that other law firms can also file suite against home users just for "watching" something online without even having downloaded it to their computer. Seen this picture anywhere lately?
Source: CNet News. June 11th. Check it out Here.
In Arizona, a law firm called White Berberian recently began advertising on its site that it will defend those accused of illegal file sharing by Dunlap Grubb & Weaver. That is the firm, which also goes by the name U.S. Copyright Group, that is filing lawsuits on behalf of filmmakers who claim their movies were pirated by thousands of peer-to-peer users.
In addition to the Oscar-winning film "The Hurt Locker," Dunlap Grubb represents about a dozen movies, including "Far Cry" and "Call of the Wild 3D." The law firm has said that it will sue more than 50,000 alleged file sharers.
So far, it appears thousands of people have received settlement offers from Dunlap Grubb and many are confused about their rights. Typically, people learn about being accused of violating copyright law from their Internet service providers, which inform them that they have received a subpoena to turn over their identity to Dunlap Grubb.
The law firm usually follows up with a form letter informing the accused that someone using their Internet protocol address was illegally sharing one of the films. Dunlap Grubb then tells the accused file sharer that they can settle the case for $1,500 if they move quickly. If they wait, the firm will charge them $2,500 and if they decide to fight it out in court, Dunlap Grubb can ask for up to $150,000
That's right, another 500,000 people are going to be sued. That's Half A Million People!!! Not rich people. Not Hard Core pirates. Not the people who ripped the movie and put it up on the Internet. Normal users or even parents who's kids installed LimeWire and the parents didn't even know what it was, much less that it was technically being used for something "Illegal". LimeWire is just the start too. Now that the Government is in on the action you can bet that all these other Peer to Peer services will be next, and that includes torrents.
It's odd though as I didn't think "Peer to Peer" programs had "Servers" that could be shut down that would stop a program from working but apparently they do. Some how they can shut down programs like LimeWire and uTorrent as well as sue the people who made it and are using it. ISP's are willingly handing over records of everything your IP downloads and every website you visit. Chances are if you even go to what will soon be a "black listed" site your name will go onto a "watch-list" or you'll soon be getting a statement from your ISP quickly followed by a court notice that you are being sued.
YouTube was granted a "Exception" because it actively takes pirated and copyrighted materials down and because it has plenty of content that is "User Made" and not copyrighted. Check out this article on CNet News about the differences between YouTube and LimeWire and how exactly one can be shut down and not the other.
Web copyright: YouTube up, Lime Wire down. Source: CNet News. June 30th
This is only the beginning everyone. The sh!ts hitting the fan and the common people are about to feel the pinch of the Heavy Hand of Corporate Government.
I hear you, brother...and I appreciate you!
http://torrentfreak.com/hurt-locker-sue-lawyer-who-helped-bittorrent-defendants-101124/
Looks like the big end of town does not like to lose money. The lawyers are now trying to defend their business model.
A bit of a necro here but I think it's relevant and the right place to post.
Apparently, in another raid on counterfeit goods and child pornography sites, some innocent sites were hit as well. 84 000 of them.
http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-shuts-down-84000-websites-by-mistake-110216/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed %3A+Torrentfreak+%28Torrentfreak%29
Due process? Who needs it.
And people were worried about an off switch for the internet!? Seems to me they already have one of sorts if they can just wipe out 84,000 sites by "accident."
That really is some pretty sloppy work.
2+2=5
Attacking the defendant's lawyers with sanctions is something that was common in Egypt under Mubarak.
Honestly, I'm tired of the government getting involved in civil cases as another form of corporate subsidy. While businesses have a right to protect their IPs, providing they offer the product in the region (it's kinda hard to make money from people you aren't selling to) , I don't want my tax dollars going for this when we got millions of better uses for government funding.
Catch some real criminals, and by that I don't mean pot smokers.
I agree with you, but only to a point. The ultimate reality is that our society is changing rapidly as a new era dawns in the industrialized world. This new era is the era of networked computation, and has begun to radically change the dynamics of our industrial society. This is a period where Computers have not only shifted how we interact with our world, but the shape of industry itself. If we consider the impacts of the threshing machine ( thresher ) on both farm life and the farm markets, we can see the same trends that are now happening with the advent of computers. Computers allow for greater productivity from fewer workers, while our economic system, which uses a market based on production exchange, grows weaker due to the decline in labor needs that drive these markets. In general, our government is attempting to stem these growing weakness by aiding corporate interests through these acts of IP protection. Yet, these actions are not necessarily designed as corporate subsidy, but are meant to maintain social stability which is also weakening. The problem is that these actions are designed to maintain social and governmental stability while completely ignoring the fact that regional and oligarchical governmental bodies are ultimately losing meaning. The result is that our government strengthens these corporate interests, which have begun to grow stronger than most countries, at the expense of its own strength, which is something that has become apparent over the course of the last few years.
I said earlier in the argument/debate that it sets a dangerous precedent when government becomes corporate policemen and actively pursue what should always remain in the civil courts.
A key part of your sentence backs this up... "at the expense of its own strength" Once government starts scratching the backs of corporate figures there is no turning back, and given the capitalistic nature of corporations, back scratching is just the beginning. Next comes the manicures and peticures... the massages and being waited on hand and foot in the sauna.
In other words, government compromises its integrity and its ability to govern effectively. How? Why? Because corporate lobbyist wield much political power, not just wealth... and politicians are dumb suckers for political donations. Yup, once corporate figures are able to influence government the battle for honesty in government is lost. The money is too great a lure and politicians are weak... hence the government elected by the people becomes merely a puppet to the banks and corporations, and far removed from being public servants.
The other significant part of this sentence is.... "corporate interests, which have become stronger than most countries" That in itself is one scary thing!!! Like what happens if the top dozen or so corporations merge with a bank or three and become political rogues intent on toppling the US Government?
All I can say is the dumb ass politicians should never have got into be with the pricks in the first place. Accepting those political bribes... er, donations was the second biggest mistake they ever made.
The first wasn't losing all integrity upon being sworn in, but in fact being an unfortunate accident of birth.
Here, Corporations (literally) are regarded as "People" when it comes to criminal law and theft is theft. Law is a thing I'm not expert in, but seems to me that if a Corp. causes a death, it is a criminal as well as civil matter.
It is true that corporations are considered "People" in the US, though they are not actually bound by criminal laws in the same way as a normal person. It is a legal gray area, since most criminal law requires a direct act of will, be it through malice or some other thoughtful action, and a corporation do not actually have a will of its own. Thus, most corporations only have to worry about liabilities which are generally civil matters. Even in the case where a corporation actively takes action which kills or maims individuals, these institutions are usually only held accountable through liability lawsuits, filed by these individuals directly.
Why anybody would regard a corporation as "people" beats me. Sure a corporation is made up of individuals, but those individuals usually have limited liability and are protected from singular law suits and/or charges.
It would be fantastic, however, if various corporate individuals were made 100% accountable when their companies practically steal the land/homes from under 'real' people [using highly questionable practices] to build factories and or offices.
Another instance of where corporate individuals should be held criminally liable is when they are made aware of dangerous [to health] practices and/or substances, yet still forged ahead without concern for the rank and file employees who were exposed to it/them. One such instance is asbestos and a company called James Hardy Ltd here in Oz. The company was warned about workers exposure to the product, yet did little or nothing to protect them until the evidence was made public world-wide.
For the people who have died/become terminally ill, and those families who have lost a bread winner, there certainly should be a great number of corporate bastards behind bars with Bubba.
That's why it is so, so wrong!!! Members of a corporate body can do some quite despicable things and never, ever face justice for their crimes. And why is it so? Because corporate figures have been allowed to grease the palms of politicians and legislators with political bribes... er, donations for far too long.
Don't know all the gory details but corporate boards and officers can be held personally liable/accountable for corporate actions. (Something often forgotten when a person gets promoted to an officer status.)
Not in the world I've come to know!!! However, it would be most pleasing if this were true more often than not.... 'cause far too often corporate thugs get away with shit the ordinary Joe goes to the chair [or prison] for. Personally, if I had my way, there'd be no distinction and they'd get zapped/hung/locked up just the same.
As for bankers [the originators/instigators of corporate greed] if there was a wall somewhere that was long enough, I'm sure there's a firing squad that could use the practice.
I'm thinking the Great Wall of China would be about the proper length for such an ambitious endeavor.
Yeah.... but only just. However, an extension into Russia would ensure it is.
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