Man Busted for File-Sharing While House-Sitting

[exfileme]

Never bring a laptop full of illegal movies and music to the house of a file-sharing friend.

Man Busted for File-Sharing While House-Sitting : Read more

 

[LORD_ORION]

Warrant wasn't for him or his property.

So unless he committed a felony while the officers were there, his laptop should be protected by the 4th, regardless if it incriminates him.

 

[Kamab]

What a huge waste of time.

Companies need to learn how to use the nature of file-sharing as a positive instead of going after random people who don't have money.

Can anyone with some law background in this area tell me if its illegal to download a pirated movie (not upload). I BELIEVE the answer is no, it is not Illegal. And then, when does it become illegal? If you upload for some personal gain? If you use torrent software? If uploading the file hurts the copyright holder (I think this is a weak argument)? If your uploading it at no benefit to yourself, what exact law are you violating? And how are you infringing on the movie's copyrights?

Just to be clear I think it's perfectly acceptable to go after sites that host downloads for pirated movies and use that traffic to generate revenue through fees or ads. But seriously, record labels and movie producers need to be welcomed to 2011: the future.

 

[Guest]

Onion is right. This is a gigantic non-story that will be straightened out when he is arraigned.

 

[dalauder]

"If your uploading it at no benefit to yourself, what exact law are you violating? And how are you infringing on the movie's copyrights?"

"No benefit to yourself"--It's not purely altruism because you're thoroughly intending for others to do the same illegal action for you.

The law is distribution of copyrighted material without permission--there's kind of a big warning on that before every movie starts.

If your friend stole a beer truck and you hop on the truck and start giving cases of beer away, I'm pretty sure you're breaking the law. The difference is that stealing and spreading physical stolen property is a lot more blatant and feels like more of a crime than stealing digital property.

"2011: the future"--You're absolutely right. Distribution systems need to recognize the ease with which digital material can be spread and adopt a system more like Steam that doesn't charge you an arm and a leg for everything unless it's new and you really want it right then. Don't they realize how many awesome 5 year old movies I'd buy for $2 if it was available?

 

[kingnoobe]

I'm sick and tired of people using "physical" argument over a copy one. If I copy somebodys ford shelby (of course Ford would be pissed), do you really think he would care (other then now somebody has one like him). There is a huge difference, and it's freaking comparing apples to oranges. It's not the same in any way shape or form.

Not to mention you are allowed to copy a movie if you own the movie, but since movies are usually protected were you can't just thrown them in a dvd drive and burn, most people simply download. Of course there are a lot of people just download to download instead of buying. There argument of "i wouldn't have bought it anyways, so they didn't lose any money". Has way way more merit then any type of physical theft comparison.

 

[Nakal]

Stealing 10s of thousands of dollars of movies/games etc isnt a crime? Not everyone working on a movie gets paid millions you know. Most are hard working people who operate cameras, perform maintenance, do graphics design, audio engineering, set design, etc... when you steal a movie you essentially rob from them just as much as those.. movie stars.

With that said, I think the RIAA and MPAA are just as guilty of robbing artists blind too...

 

[thorkle]

=[citation][nom]Nakal[/nom]Stealing 10s of thousands of dollars of movies/games etc isnt a crime? Not everyone working on a movie gets paid millions you know. Most are hard working people who operate cameras, perform maintenance, do graphics design, audio engineering, set design, etc... when you steal a movie you essentially rob from them just as much as those.. movie stars.With that said, I think the RIAA and MPAA are just as guilty of robbing artists blind too...[/citation]
And who are getting profits from law suits and prosecutions? These people are unaffected in this. They are not being hurt by people stealing because most of the profit that goes to these people is often from customers going to see movies in theaters, or from other such day of release profit generating processes. The big wigs are the ones who often are making money off of the continued sales.

 

[virtualban]

Wish there was an easy solution to copyright protection, inspiring artists and producers to produce quality stuff, and preventing their greed from getting delirious.
So far the Spain solution seems the fair enough. As mentioned in another Tom's' article, it is legal in Spain to share files as long as you don't make profit off it. That restricts the copyright holders attacking at best the torrent and download sites.

 

[enforcer22]

[citation][nom]dalauder[/nom]Don't they realize how many awesome 5 year old movies I'd buy for $2 if it was available?[/citation]

Im with you there. A steam like service for movies where i can download my movies where ever i want and drm free other then authentication to download more of what i buy. and i can watch them online or offline? the people who make movies would actually get a lot of money from me. Last time i paid cash for a movie was when VHS was still the main medium. I'm just not a fan of having to keep track of a bunch of box's. I would defiantly re buy all my movies again (which got stolen by a old roomate) which i could not get back unless i wanted to buy it again. A steam like system would avoid this situation all together. I would say i would have hundreds of movies in such a collection on such a service if it were available. Hell i would even buy new movies again.

 

[distanted]

[citation][nom]kingnoobe[/nom]I'm sick and tired of people using "physical" argument over a copy one.There is a huge difference, and it's freaking comparing apples to oranges. It's not the same in any way shape or form. There argument of "i wouldn't have bought it anyways, so they didn't lose any money". Has way way more merit then any type of physical theft comparison.[/citation]
There will always be those who can't be bothered to understand why just because the item is easily reproduced it isn't legal or right to do so. If you need more apples to wrap your mind around: how about sneaking into a theater without paying to watch a movie, or hiring someone to clean your house and not paying them? You haven't physically stolen anything, but you have received other people's services without the required compensation. And, that so-called argument that 'I wouldn't have bought the movie anyway' has absolutely zero merit. If you can't or won't pay the cost...don't watch it. It is that simple. If not paying was a valid option, then why should anyone pay? And if nobody pays, why have large crews working for months producing products just to give them away? Hope you like free-ware games and youtube videos.

 

[eddieroolz]

I would have thought that, at least under the Canadian law (which I know to a degree) this would be classified as unreasonable search and seizure for Martin. They were not looking for him, and so even if they find incriminating evidence on his laptop, he should not be accused.

 

[Guest]

A society that says "sharing is wrong" will fail sooner or later. Law makers should consider a compromise like collecting a symbolic internet tax from those who declare that they take part in non-profit file sharing. This tax should cover any downloaded content that was ever legally sold or rented.

 

[reggieray]

Seig Heil, your tax dollars hard at work catching these dangerous people.

 

[memadmax]

This happened in sweden... and apparently they don't screw around.
Their search and seizure laws are apparently more hardcore too...

 

[killerclick]

Why do you have to illegally download movies and software? Why simply not do it? It can't be that hard to not go to torrent sites.

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]Kamab[/nom]What a huge waste of time.Companies need to learn how to use the nature of file-sharing as a positive instead of going after random people who don't have money.Can anyone with some law background in this area tell me if its illegal to download a pirated movie (not upload). I BELIEVE the answer is no, it is not Illegal. And then, when does it become illegal? If you upload for some personal gain? If you use torrent software? If uploading the file hurts the copyright holder (I think this is a weak argument)? If your uploading it at no benefit to yourself, what exact law are you violating? And how are you infringing on the movie's copyrights?Just to be clear I think it's perfectly acceptable to go after sites that host downloads for pirated movies and use that traffic to generate revenue through fees or ads. But seriously, record labels and movie producers need to be welcomed to 2011: the future.[/citation]

technically is possession of stolen goods, and feinging ignorance in this day and age? cant do that, at least with pirated things.

but he will get off with any lawer because no warrent, unless he committed a crime there

 

[happyballz]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]technically is possession of stolen goods, and feinging ignorance in this day and age? cant do that, at least with pirated things.but he will get off with any lawer because no warrent, unless he committed a crime there[/citation]

What stolen goods!? He did not steal anything... He never physically went to a store and stolen anything, what he has on his computer are nothing more than zeros and ones.

I do not know about sweden or wherver this happened and their laws but how can you be automatically be labled as "stealing movies" by simply having movie or torrent files on your computer!? For all they know he actually have all of these damn movies at HIS own house and ligally wanted to get a copy for his viewing on the computer without carrying all the damn DVDs.

Go pound sand MPAA, I'm tired of you trying to spend my money to protect your property because you cannot compete or are too greedy.

I seriously have not seen such a greedy politician group as we have these days, how can they look themselfes in th mirror everyday after they whore themselves to every big corporation around?

On the sidenote: http/www.dslreports.com/shownews/US-Censorship-Bill-Gets-Even-Worse-114165

 

[Djhg2000]

Would everyone please learn the difference between copying and stealing already?

 

[applegetsmelaid]

When I was a kid I was always taught that it was good to share. Now I can get sued for it.