200,000 U.S. BitTorrent Users Sued

[stryk55]

[citation][nom]Kamab[/nom]Piracy isn't theft. This is a well established point in court, and you are implying people should face criminal charges for piracy, which isn't what the RIAA lobbies for. They just want money (that they wouldn't otherwise have gotten) and to spread fear.[/citation]

Please specify which ruling specify that piracy is not theft.

 

[dgriffs]

I whole-heartedly believe musicians should be payed for their music. However if I dont have the money to buy a cd then I wont buy the cd. If I were to torrent the album, no one is losing money. I wouldn't have bought the album in the first place.

 

[bebangs]

America and Lawsuits are like a magnet. How does it work?
they attrack practically everyone in the united states.

 

[christop]

Watch Anon attack the RIAA.. Shut them down. He hee

 

[cloakster]

The movie studios can sometimes make A LOT of money off pirates and its not due to suing. There have been many movies that I never planned to see in the theater, buy on DVD, or even ever watch. I end up downloading them, watching them and i'd say about 50% i end up really liking. So then I end up buying the movie on DVD and/or tell my friends who then also buy/rent it. That ends up being 3+ DVD sales/rents that would have never happened before. So RIAA, why is pirating hurting sales? Well maybe its because so many movies are shit that people never see the value in buying them (aka Hurt Locker).

 

[jdw_swb]

Hang on......what is there to complain about?

All this talk about freedom and other "rights" is just BS.

If you want to watch a movie, you pay to see it.........downloading from a torrent site is illegal. I'm not saying I don't do it sometimes.....but at least I can be honest and admit the truth about my actions.

 

[zybch]

[citation][nom]drwho1[/nom]20,000 have settled? Why would anyone settle with the RIAA?[/citation]
MASSIVE court costs (even if you win), and thats just for starters.

 

[zybch]

[citation][nom]lisoffl[/nom]TO ALL THOSE GETTING SUED,Just go out and buy a copy of the movie(s)/DVD(s) (with cash only, no tracking) that you are accused of downloading illegally via the lawsuit. Then file a motion/answer with the circuit court or whatever stating that you bought the movie(s)/DVD(s) at a garage/yard sale (i.e. no receipt, no date; they can't use the time and day from your ISP as proof against you).[/citation]
The prob with that approach is the way bittorrent works is by making available to others to bits of the files you are currently downloading. So you're not just downloading a movie or music track, you're also 'distributing' the file or pieces of it as well, something that is seen to be a LOT more illegal than just downloading the content to your PC. Remember, the RIAA don't actually sue you for the real cost of losing a single sale, but for the cost of losing several thousand sales because you've played a part in letting many others get the movie/track as well.

 

[zybch]

[citation][nom]stryk55[/nom]Instead of complaining about the actions/reactions of these groups, how about we avoid the situation completely? Stop pirating digital information, and stop defending those who do so.Wrong is wrong, no matter what the justification. Digital theft is still theft. :-\[/citation]
NO. Its copyright infringement!
There is a VAST difference between the two.

 

[kinggremlin]

[citation][nom]zybch[/nom]NO. Its copyright infringement!There is a VAST difference between the two.[/citation]

No there isn't, except for the people trying to defend their illegal actions by using a different name.

Why is it called identity theft when nothing tangible is stolen? Why isn't it called Identity Infringement? You're acquiring something that doesn't belong to you without the permission of the owner. Anyone learns at an early age that is called stealing or theft regardless of what the "official" legal term is.

You're arguing semantics, and I believe the legal word for that is retarded.

 

[superhighperf]

TO ALL THOSE GETTING SUED,Just go out and buy a copy of the movie(s)/DVD(s) (with cash only, no tracking) that you are accused of downloading illegally via the lawsuit. Then file a motion/answer with the circuit court or whatever stating that you bought the movie(s)/DVD(s) at a garage/yard sale (i.e. no receipt, no date; they can't use the time and day from your ISP as proof against you).


The prob with that approach is the way bittorrent works is by making available to others to bits of the files you are currently downloading. So you're not just downloading a movie or music track, you're also 'distributing' the file or pieces of it as well, something that is seen to be a LOT more illegal than just downloading the content to your PC. Remember, the RIAA don't actually sue you for the real cost of losing a single sale, but for the cost of losing several thousand sales because you've played a part in letting many others get the movie/track as well.

i wanted to make that point but you got it in first.

i also wanted to point out that there is an option in bittorrent to only download and not upload anything. just steal and not share. i wonder if people who do that are still being targeted. in that case buying or even borrowing the movie from friends may help?

is it illegal if i pirate an album that i purchased? say i have a bunch of cassette tapes and don't want to spend the time or energy making digital copies for my mp3 player. should i have to but the album again because i don't want to steal? keep in mind that i would only download and not share the content.

 

[NuclearShadow]

I think everyone needs to stand back for a second and let go of their opinion on piracy just for a second no matter where they stand.

The organization announced in July that it is working with Internet Service providers to monitor the download activity of their users in an effort that is called Copyright Alert System.

This is not okay. Even if your hardcore against piracy certainly you cannot support having everyone's privacy being violated including yours. I question how this can even be legal.

 

[V8VENOM]

About time something was done to stop people from stealing.

Big business, WTF do you know about big business -- have you even worked for a large corporation?? You just want free shit because you too f'in lazy to work to buy it. Stop trying to justify your guilt, you're a thief, plan and simple ... stand up and take responsibility for your actions.

Proxy doesn't do shit for you moron ... look at how many "Anonymous" douch bags were rounded up in the latest raids using nothing but a stupid proxy.

 

[V8VENOM]

[citation][nom]NuclearShadow[/nom]I think everyone needs to stand back for a second and let go of their opinion on piracy just for a second no matter where they stand.This is not okay. Even if your hardcore against piracy certainly you cannot support having everyone's privacy being violated including yours. I question how this can even be legal.[/citation]

It's legal because of all the dumbasses that keep trying to steal ... create a massive problem and what exactly do you expect?? Here take all my hard work and pay for none of it ... this isn't a communistic country, get over it. You don't wanna pay for anything then go to a communistic country and see how much you really like it.

 

[dillonpeterliam]

They tried to do this in Ireland, but the ISP's said "No" and that was that. The ISP's are doing nothing wrong so why should they turn on there customers?

 

[real guy]

I have over 1500 movies, 2000 tv show episodes, and somewhere close to 10000 songs saved on my hard drives. I downloaded all of these over the years through edonkey, limewire, kazaa and most recently the various torrent hosting sites. That being said, i am a thief. I fully admit it, and i am fully aware of the moral reasoning behind it. Anyone posting here or to any number of other message boards defending "our rights" to download copyrighted materials without any compensation going to the copyright holder is an absolute idiot. You people have a child-like sense of entitlement to the world just because the internet makes things easy to steal. And it is stealing, no matter how you look at it. You claim that our constitutional rights are being infringed upon but you've really just distorted your understanding of it to suit your selfish minds. (BTW love that comment about our "God Given Rights outlined in the constitution" because god totally signed off on the constitution... idiot)

Everytime somebody comes up with a valid argument against pirating copyrighted material, you brush it off "dude, stealing a car is so totally different from downloading a movie" and by itself, that's correct. But in reality, 100 people each downloading 100 movies in a year equals... a car! And we're not talking about 100 people with 100 movies, we're talking about millions of people with thousands of movies over the course of several years. Now we can compare it to grand theft auto on a global scale!

Look, the situation is simple; downloading free movies/music is easy and you are statistically unlikely to get caught, that's why we do it. Not because we think it's our right. All i'm asking is for you forum junkies and liberal anti-corporate conspiracy theorists to man up and admit what you're doing, like me.

 

[crisan_tiberiu]

I had alot of downloads aswell BUT i download movies because i cant afford to go and watch / buy them. I live in Romania where the minimum sallary is 200 $ / month...try to live with that. Petrol is twice the price of the US petrol (1,8 $ = 1 litre of petrol...do the mat for the gallon). Every electronic here is atleast 15 % more expensive then in the US... a legal copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit is : 1200 RON = 400 $...seriously...with an income of 200 $ / month ??? how can u afford that I wanna go legal and buy everything i can but simply i cant afford them... we dont have NBC / ABC in Romania's cable networks ...so i cant watch shows then what can i do, i download them via torents.. but i dont download them to make money (multiply and sell them...no way)... yea then i am a tief..a poor tief

 

[azxcvbnm321]

Thanks for being honest. I also used to pirate and occasionally still do. I don't pretend what I do is just or right, I know I'm stealing. It's incredible how many people will delude themselves into justifying their bad and immoral behavior. The RIAA is doing the right thing, I've always thought that they should have gone with this strategy from the very beginning.

As you say, the only thing really keeping people from stealing is fear of being caught. The people being sued will tell their friends and the word will get out that you better not pirate because it could cost you a lot of money. This is a very effective tactic that needs to be expanded to prevent more piracy.

No, lawbreakers have no right to "privacy" to hide their illegal crimes. That's why it's legal for police to use cell phone records and credit card records to track and capture a fugitive.

 

[azxcvbnm321]

Gee, a top of the line Mercades here costs $200,000 in the US. A beachfront property in Hawaii costs millions. I can't afford either so I don't have them. Just because you can't afford something doesn't mean you have the right to steal it.

And you can afford movies, you just choose to spend your money elsewhere. That you want movies so badly means that they are worth something, and probably worth what they are charging, except that it's cheaper to steal them. You are not entitled to anything. You want it, go earn it or make it yourself, but of course that takes a lot more effort than just stealing it.

 

[NuclearShadow]

[citation][nom]V8VENOM[/nom]It's legal because of all the dumbasses that keep trying to steal ... create a massive problem and what exactly do you expect?? Here take all my hard work and pay for none of it ... this isn't a communistic country, get over it. You don't wanna pay for anything then go to a communistic country and see how much you really like it.[/citation]

Your logic is highly flawed. Just because a few people break the law using a certain method does not warrant spying on and trying to control the entire people. Bank robbers normally use a automobile to get away, should all cars then force-ably be equipped with a GPS unit to track everyone just in case the individual does?

Also your assumption is that I am pro-piracy, I am not. I am however pro-civil rights.
I do not believing violating innocent peoples privacy is ever a justified thing.
Your ramblings about communism is also not only off-topic but invalid within itself.
Are you actually suggesting that communist nations do not have currency and that they are more likely to be on the side of civil rights?

Also, why the heck are you even against your own individual rights? Treating everyone like criminals is not the answer to the problem. If you really cannot see that than perhaps a nation built on the very principles of freedom, equality, and yes privacy is not for you.