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.
So... because you buy a lot that entitles you to pirate too?
As I said, stealing is stealing. Just let the punishment fit the crime. White collar criminals get squat compared to the damage done.
Your attitude reminds me of Eddie Murphy's story when the ice cream truck came by and the kids that could afford it would get their ice cream, then get in a line and sing to the less fortunate
"You ain't got no ice cream"
"Cause your momma's on welfare"
I guess if you think of it as buying in bulk to get a discount.
LOL. All this sophistry...just to give Jafo heartburn... beware of his kind of Zantac.
Here's the deal for me (granted it's simple minded...the OP understood us really well):
Lo Tignov .... Thou Shalt Not Steal. Doesn't mention quantity, streaming, internetz, rationalizations or anything else. It's real simple.
Just don't do it.
No way Doc, it can't be that simple!
Oh, you make me want to pirate something now!! (I'm not tech savvy enough, and I'm afraid of getting nailed with one of these letters. I have enough stress in my life right now).
The government decided piracy doesn't hurt the industry as much as it claimed, either. Check it out here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20002304-261.htmlAnd a few years back, when the writer strike took place, the industry didn't seem to give a crap about the real creativity that lines their pockets, which proved a lot to me in MY mind.
Now THAT is a Well Informed Article. Thank You for finding that m'lady, well done.
"Consumers may use pirated goods to 'sample' music, movies, software, or electronic games before purchasing legitimate copies," the GAO continued. "(This) may lead to increased sales of legitimate goods."
This shows me there is a "small" hope that the Entire Government isn't corrupted and bribed all to hell and back.....yet.
Oh my....Raven's naiveté is showing...
They're so damned corrupt they give corruption a bad name!
An article that is well informed would have numbers backing it up. That whole article isn't defending piracy, it's just saying that it's difficult to say exactly how bad it is. That quote is as much a guess as anything else.
It's also nice how you left out the very next sentence from the article:
Indeed. I didn't leave out the next sentence on purpose though, honestly I didn't even read the whole thing. The reason I would think that article is well informed is because it is based on the report from the Government Themselves. I'm sure they Do have numbers or some idea as to what the numbers are, but of course unless you get your hands on a copy of the whole report we wouldn't have any idea what those numbers really are.
I never said Piracy wasn't harmful, of course it is. It's Stealing as well, which I think is Wrong. I'm not trying to defend "Piracy", never was nor would I. I just used that sentence to prove a point that many Many people have said over time. that some "Pirates" do use illegal copies of games for nothing more or less to see if the game is worth their money since the game doesn't have a demo. I'm Not defending that action, just stating that it's a Fact. Even the Government sees that as a Fact which is why they mention it in the article which is based on the report the Government did.
Maybe one of the reasons it said the GAO found that piracy is large and harmful is because the term "piracy" is so all inclusive of so many different goods. If you follow the links in these articles, it starts to become clear that the majority of the pirating that the government seems interested in stopping, involves counterfeit items...weapons, pharmaceuticals, personal care items, etc. These things ARE very harmful, and certainly are dangerous. To quote from the 2010 JOINT STRATEGIC PLAN ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ENFORCEMENT, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/intellectualproperty/intellectualproperty_strategic_plan.pdfCounterfeit products can pose a significant risk to public health, such as toothpaste with dangerous amounts of diethylene glycol (a chemical used in brake fluid), military systems with untested and ineffective components to protect U.S. and allied soldiers, auto parts of unknown quality that play critical roles in securing passengers and suspect semiconductors used in life-saving defibrillators. Protecting intellectual property rights, consistent with our international obligations, ensures adherence and compliance with numerous public health and safety regulations designed to protect our communities.A large portion of the document consists of what the government intends to do about pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. I think that is their focus, that's the part of piracy that they see as dangerous, and it sure is a lot more lucrative than downloading an mp3.
Precisely, the US Government should never ever be involved in this... and certainly NOT at taxpayers expense. The movie and music industries rake in trillions... the burden and cost should be theirs. Furthermore, the pursuance of pirates/file sharers should be a civil matter anyway. The laws were put in place to enable producers to protect their copyright materials.. not the government's. Therefore, the government is not aggrieved and has no right or responsibility to pursue persons who infringe a civil law.
Yeah, yeah, it's stealing, blah, blah, blah. It still comes down to the owner of the property to seek the aid of law enforcement and the courts... using the laws the government put in place. Government is NOT law enforcement, and it certainly has no judicial powers, so the onus belongs to the property owner to exercise his/her rights within the framework provided.
Put another way... you don't buy a dog to bark yourself. Same with government... it doesn't empower law enforcement to go chasing criminals itself. Yup, this situation is all wrong.
But as always, the rich and powerful find ways to wrap government around its finger and get it to do their dirty work,
Yep...and so should theft and child abuse. Why on earth should we tie up the criminal Justice system chasing after silly things like criminals?
Oh, yeah....
Maybe if the pricing for DVD's, Games etc was a bit more realistic then ordinary people might think twice before downloading illegally. In my opinion paying $40 to $50 for a movie on DVD your probably only going to watch once or twice is ridiculous. Make the prices attractive and people may be willing to spend the money instead of going the illegal route. Games are the same. $100 for a game is daylight robbery. $40 for a music CD is also outrageous. I don't support piracy in any way but just going out and suing people and not doing anything about the industries involved in the rip off pricing is counter productive. I wait with bated breath to hear the arguments supporting the current pricing practices. Yes the musician has to make a living, yes the actor has to make a living and yes the games developer and publishers have to make a living. But seriously is an actor worth $20 million per movie. How many millions does a musician need (or how many houses and private jets for that matter). My only real sympathies lay with the software producers and publishers. Like i said before, make the pricing realistic and people may start to buy the product instead of "stealing" it.
In an ideal world if a product is too expensive...you don't buy it. If/when no-one buys it the price changes.
No-where in that process is the option labelled "thieve it instead".
Now...
Telling a manufacturer to "either lower a price or I will steal it from you" is called 'extortion' and is itself actionable in Law.
Bitching about a product price-point is called 'free speech' and is quite legal and even protected constitutionally....
But theft is not.
There's a reason he put stealing in quotes. Piracy is not theft. It is not stealing. The legal distinction makes this very clear.
If anyone is interested in reading a good article about piracy - there's one here: http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html
Make your own conclusions.
No...piracy is the unlawful boarding [and seizing] of a ship so when we go all semantic 'piracy' in this thread's instance is simply..."the noble art of shafting the establishment for one's own personal gain".
An entirely different translation.
Or...let's put it all another way.
Where in God's [or any other] Law does it specifically state "Piracy is protected by the institution of [common/civil/criminal] Law and is held as an inalienable right of all citizens."?
Buggered if I ever saw that one....
Amidst all this relatively pointless debating over the morality of piracy people are forgetting the implications of the OP: Only the innocent and the daft will get hurt by this new witch hunt.
I think that is worth holding in mind. Everyone here agrees that, to some extent, piracy is naughty. What people seem to have wildly differing views on is what a pirate is.
Is it your daughter that's downloading Justin Bieber's latest pile of wank?
Or is it the person hosting the mall-ware ridden site that she found it on?
One of them is the worst kind of pirate, breaking the law to make easy money while immune to retribution, and one of them is your daughter.
How can an innocent get hurt by this? Presumably, just about the only way you'd get sued is if they tracked your IP over a P2P network and found out it's you seeding or downloading something - which kind of goes against "innocent".
Both, it's still breaking the law....
Read my post. Specifically, the last couple paragraphs.
Basically, it's going to cost more than it's worth. All because the corporate shills are worried they won't be able to buy that new boat...
When I was in grammar school, there were several times where my teacher would hold the entire class in for recess, until every single student turned in their math test and got an A. Now tell me, is it really fair to punish every student when you can't figure out a way to make the precious few do their work?
I think not.
Unless someone uses your IP, which any decent hacker can do. Honestly you don't even need to be a hacker, just have a wireless router and find stupid people in your own neighborhood who leave their network "open" or "unsecured". Log in, install and fire up your P2P program, and off you go getting someone else sued while you get the loot...er, stolen goods...my bad.
Hey, you know what I just thought of? Look down at the bottom of the screen under the posting box. See where it has the Stardock legal info? It says:
The point you make is very true Raven X, and can be accepted no matter your stance on piracy.
It is very easy for hackers, or even people with a wireless router who find people in their neighbourhood who have open/unsecured networks, to basically do stuff via your connection and then suddenly for the poor computer-illiterate sucker "Innocent, until proven guilty - it was nice knowing you."
Now, if it was a lot harder to impersonate someone else by using their connection, that *might* be different...
But it's not, so I think the burden of proof should be higher.
Best regards,Steven.
With child abuse there is a distinct and defenseless victim... it should be pursued as criminal matter. However, when corporations can bully governments into becoming law enforcement, judge, jury and executioner, to pursue what should be civil matters, we move ever closer to a fascist state, run by CEO's.
The criminal justice system should be there to prosecute criminals, I agree, but the music and movie industries abuse that system to pursue matters which belong in the civil courts... and that is where the real crime lies... average and low-income taxpayers paying through the nose to protect the effing wealthy.
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