U.S. Resume Controversial File-Sharing Domain Seizures

[Twiggster]

Oh yeah ****ers. I've used it. Prosecute me here in Denmark you stupid twats. I'm married to a successful lawyer who says you can't.
Is it worth your time and money to follow up everyone who uses an "illegal" site. Go for it, losers.
BTW - most of the musicians whose music was posted on RnBXclusive actually posted their songs on there. SOCA grasping at straws.

[bertcocaine]

In addition, the Serious Organised Crime Agency is threatening users of RnBXclusive that they face 10 years in prison if they downloaded music through the site.

So if I go into a shop, and steal a CD, I could get 10 years in prison? Like to see that get through the appeals court if some cranky judge was stupid enough to pass such a sentence. Seriously, that's just intimidation, cannot possibly be a real threat.

[riise94]

Well I've just finished my second dvd torrent of the evening. Now onto soulseek for a few albums and while I'm online I'll check out 20-30 music blogs and download some more

[tottenham28]

Well I've just finished my second dvd torrent of the evening. Now onto soulseek for a few albums and while I'm online I'll check out 20-30 music blogs and download some more

Same here mate, did a couple of Russell Peters a few hours back...The man's hilarious too! It will be years off before the U.S 'officially' ****s us....we know its coming, lets enjoy it while we can!

[bertcocaine]

I've just downloaded the latest episode of the big bang theory. If they don't want that to happen, they should consider not having a 6 month delay in letting the UK broadcast it. Very few programs have a reasonable delay, most it's a week or more. Only one I can think of that is ok is South Park, which broadcasts around 36 hours later in the UK, but I can live with that. Same problem is actually hurting some programs, which get lower viewing figures than they would if they didn't have the time delay. They create inequality, then go after people for trying to redress the balance and simply catch up..

One great thing about torrents - it's changed the movie/dvd/film channel/tv markets, now they have much shorter times than previous where they squeezed as many days as possible into each format before moving on to maximise revenue. Now they don't bother cause everyone just downloads it even more if they try. The internet is the only medium on the planet that can actually change the world, because it breaks down controls and prevents any entity from exerting control.

it's cheesy, but completely accurate:

It's US against the world. There can be only one!

[Bunkertor]

Hm, i thought it was unsafe to download via torrent...

[riise94]

Hm, i thought it was unsafe to download via torrent...

Well sometimes you can end up with something you don't want (ie a film that has been renamed by some idiot who spent hours uploading it) but generally it's pretty safe and quick.

[Bunkertor]

But is it also safe to suck the new Madonna wis Vuze ?

[bertcocaine]

suck the new Madonna

Is this some new locker room slang I'm not familiar with?

If you are talking about the risk of IPs being identified via torrents, that is possible, and despite what some believe the various guard software programs that promise to protect can't really do that, at the end of the day torrents that are publicly accessible can be used to trace the source IP. BUT, it's like Twitter, the sheer volume of people and the variety of locations, not to mention the fact that the ISP must co-operate makes it pretty hard for the feds to get anywhere. There was a small scandal when a law firm in the UK tried doing that, and managed to get a list of IPs from a couple of big ISPs, then started sending threatening letters demanding money or else taking to court, but they aren't around anymore. It seems that announcing to the press that Anonymous is a joke and no threat to them was a bad idea. And somehow, when they got their website back, their database was publicly available to download for a few hours.. and ended up on a torrent or 50.

A good example of Anonymous taking a useful approach and making an excellent point, unlike hacking the CIA website (which to me is like TPing a teacher's house - fun but pretty ****ing stupid and pointless)

[TscHeChan]

I've just downloaded the latest episode of the big bang theory. If they don't want that to happen, they should consider not having a 6 month delay in letting the UK broadcast it.

...and thats the big point! the music and film industry failed to adjust their marketing strategy years ago to offer films and music worldwide over the internet. there´s no chance to see new us-series in europe if you don´t download them illegal. i´m not saying that i would pay for every movie or series i watch over the net, but there are many people out there who would. and now that even people who would like to pay their favorite movie or series have to download them per torrent, the industry starting to sue them (and want to make new laws like acta, sopa...) instead of offering an adequate service!!
btw, i bought the first 5 seasons of "its always sunny in philadelphia" lately because there are still some people who deserve to get paid for their genius work

and now somehting funny: anon hacked a us gov site (http://www.ftc.gov/) this week and put up that video:

[bertcocaine]

yeah exactly. For me it's completely daft, big bang for example is on free to air TV in the UK (so I'm not stealing from anyone, just 'time shifting' into the future. ) while another couple of examples in recent years are The Walking Dead (1 week delay, FX channel which is a subscription I have) and Stargate Universe (2+ week delay, Sky subscription channel that I have).

Sky sports lost my business due to not showing many games, and the stupid 3pm UEFA blackout agreement. I'm not paying £25 a month to them to watch less than ten games a season, when match tickets are only £28 (alright slightly higher when it's a 'big' game, but generally televised anyway, like Merseyside derby) and that's excluding the fact that I'd have to pay ESPN another £10 a month just in case they ever show one (which they rarely ever do!)

20th Century business plans in the 21st Century. Muppets one and all.

[ren123rock]

But is it also safe to suck the new Madonna wis Vuze ?

No, it isn´t.

As long as you use P2P software (i.e. simultaneously also upload whatever you´re downloading) there´s a pretty good chance you end up with a cease-and-desist letter and a fine. Which you shouldn´t pay, of course.

[bertcocaine]

there´s a pretty good chance you end up with a cease-and-desist letter and a fine

Funny that, I've been downloading torrents for years, know many others that have also, don't know anyone that's ever had any form of contact from anyone over the issue. I would say possible, but hardly a 'pretty good chance'.

[TscHeChan]

Funny that, I've been downloading torrents for years, know many others that have also, don't know anyone that's ever had any form of contact from anyone over the issue. I would say possible, but hardly a 'pretty good chance'.

in germany there are law firms who are specialized in sending out those letters (in fact they do nothing else) and in some cases the industry make more money from that than from selling their products!
saw that on german tv a few weeks ago

[ren123rock]

Funny that, I've been downloading torrents for years, know many others that have also, don't know anyone that's ever had any form of contact from anyone over the issue. I would say possible, but hardly a 'pretty good chance'.

I know 5 people in person and maybe another 100 from a mosc board I post on. The fines were in the €700-1500 range; People who fought the cease-and-desist letter usually negotiated the fine down significantly (to the €300 area) or ended up paying nothing at all.

The biggest number of cease-and-desist letters was apparently send out after "Casino Royale" was released. There´s also a porn studio (Purzel Video) which is relentlessly sending out letters. They are also incredibly good at taking down OCH links within hours.

[bertcocaine]

yeah that's what happened here too, but they shot themselves in the foot, and then the court threw out the first cases anyway so it died off, not heard anything about it since. It was also restricted to a couple of ISPs who decided to co-operate in advance, while most told the law firm to get bent. Given that most of what I download is US sourced and recent events have shown they do make progress chasing across the water to the UK I'm taking a lack of anything happening about this as a good sign, only seems to happen if the 'culprit' has their own domain and is actively making money out of it, nothing on torrenting at all.

Suspect in case where you did get such a letter, it's just attempts at bullying and no actual action would be taken. For a start, for a standard internet user, most have wireless routers. How could you prove the person whose name is on the broadband contract was the person using the internet, and that it wasn't just some random person accessing the wireless? You couldn't, so it wouldn't stand up to even a poor lawyer in court.

[ren123rock]

The music industry should consider going back to vinyl. Seriously.

First of all, vinyl is so much cooler and nothing beats looking at a well designed album cover while listening to a record you´ve really been waiting for.
Second of all, the quality, after converting the analog signal to mp3 or whatever, might not satisfy some downloaders so there´s a chance you get some more buyers in the long run.

Here´s what I would do if I was, let´s say, Jay-Z and Rick Rubin: releasing 3 different versions of the next Jay-Z album.
1. regular vinyl. Cool artwork, lyrics etc. = €15
2. regular vinyl. Cool artwork, lyrics etc plus amazon (or best buy etc.) coupon worth €xy, to be used exclusively on turntables = €35
3. a nice box-set consisting of regular vinyl, cool artwork, lyrics etc

All following Def Jam releases come as vinyl only (€15) or vinyl plus coupon (€35).

[Bunkertor]

Funny that, I've been downloading torrents for years, know many others that have also, don't know anyone that's ever had any form of contact from anyone over the issue. I would say possible, but hardly a 'pretty good chance'.

A friend of mine is lawyer and he had two clients that had been charged with downloading stuff.

[DEAD_MAN_WALKING]

Im still waiting to this day for a knock on the door for my activities in the p2p world...

C*nts cant take what i dont have.

[TscHeChan]

that sums up the discussion bert and i had a few posts above