Pirate Bay faces new legal threat

[demoleft]

Source: bbc

The world's most high-profile file-sharing website the Pirate Bay faces a new volley of legal action.

Thirteen Hollywood production companies have filed a new lawsuit to try to get the website shut down.

In April the site's founders were found guilty of breaking copyright law and were sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay $4.5m (£3m) in damages.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8173388.stm

[Pavulon]

1. Working hard to improve the distribution method

dynamic vpn tunnels and other ways of hiding content sure to be coming online for this soon.

[Wickerman]

2. If the industry spent half as much on programmers as they do on attorneys

we'd have had viable delivery methods of all media 5 years ago and would enjoy "on demand" everything today. Instead, the industries chose to go after single moms, "pirates" like PB, and Universities so that they could clamp down on those who were pioneering new technologies. Yes, they were stealing content, but they were responding to a demand that the industry should have been meeting instead of fighting.

Once again private enterprise has a failure of imagination and responds by using the government to deal with their incompetence.

[and-justice-for-all]

3. So I shouldnt be making copies of CDs and sharing them?

Because I do not see the difference between that and file sharing.

[Angleae]

11. Both are illegal.

[and-justice-for-all]

16. so why do they make blank disc for music, dvd?

I think it is more illegal to resell copied music/dvd then it is to just share it.

I share music with friends, friends who are unable to buy music. One is a single mother who can not afford to run out and buy CDs or purchase music online...

I disagree with the file sharing rhetoric, if sharing is such a crime them they need to stop selling blank disc.

[Zywiec]

17. I guess you're not very techno-savvy

Just imagine using discs for storing file backups!!

How about DVDs for backing up home-made videotapes!!!

Do you really think that blank discs have no other use than illegally copying material??

[and-justice-for-all]

18. Uh, they are used for music and dvd as well turd...

If it was such an issue then they should have created formats just for file back ups, home made video and such. But no, it all fits on the same disc rather then specific ones.

[high density]

20. Well luckily your supposed ignorance of copyright law doesn't dictate the situation.

If it is that confusing then I would recommend that you remove the DVD/CD burner from your computer.

[and-justice-for-all]

21. OK

:eyes:

[Seedersandleechers]

4. So I don't understand

Pirate Bay is just one of many. What about Isohunt, Demonid, etc., why don't we hear about them?
They are up a running - same as before.

[provis99]

6. Isohunt can't be sued; they're based in Canada, where file downloading is legal.

[4lbs]

7. Pirate Bay publicly flouted the legal authorities and pretty much dared them to come after them.

The others didn't do that.

[Born Free]

12. Pirate Bay is running OK

"Pirate Bay is just one of many. What about Isohunt, Demonid, etc., why don't we hear about them?
They are up a running - same as before."


I just checked and all 5 of my seeds on The Pirate Bay show the tracker connection as being OK - my current seeds have been running between 75-79 days.It has been a while since I looked at the settings but I think it checks the connection every half hour. I have checked several times after reading of The Pirate Bay demise and even their sale but each time I check the torrents I am seeding and they seem OK. I especially like The Pirate bay for images, it is really easy to upload a image and link to it in a forum and there are no limits, checks or other bs, the only downside is it is easy to "lose" your image and not be able to easily find it again unless you remember to use good tags. I realize some illegal activity may go on through The Pirate bay, but there is a lot of legal sharing as well, it depends on the individual, some will steal everything they can, any time they can, and others, may not.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. meh,.. xtremespeeds.net is where its at now anyways

[Seedersandleechers]

14. I find them

really limited. They don't have a lot of torrents to pick from, but, that may change the longer they are up.

[tomm2thumbs]

8. I always thought it was strange you could share books, magazines, newspapers - but not movies

Hell, we've got libraries to share books and they are RUN by the local governments. Isn't that taking money from publisher's pocketbooks? What about magazines that are left in waiting rooms for literally hundreds of people to read and never purchase themselves.

Just curious how the distinction changed over time that books were institutionalized sharing and movies was not, and they are both copyrighted so ...

[eggplant]

9. Your analogy is wrong.

Most libraries freely offer CDs and movies for check out. You can take them home, play them, and return them. You just can't copy them.

You also can't xerox complete books that you check out, either. The type of content isn't the issue.

[closeupready]

15. Yes, correct. I suppose technically you need written permission from the publisher

in order to make a complete copy of a book, but otherwise, it's illegal.

[704wipes]

19. yes, certainly no one rips cds from the library to their harddrive

I would be shocked if someone said they did...

[gvstn]

10. Libraries share movies

I think it has to do with making a copy. Libraries now loan movies and music CDs for you to watch/listen to but not copy.

The question is why were film/music companies so short-sighted as to not be able to see that making their product digital would make it easier to copy? My guess is greed got in the way. Instead of 33 cents for a vinyl LP they were told 15 cents for a digital CD (or some amount per unit). 18 cents less per unit when you are selling billions of units adds up fast. They couldn't foresee that someone would be able to buy a $25 dollar DVD/RW unit to burn their own CD/DVD at home when their commercial burners were 100,000s of dollars. They probably thought/were told copy protection could be achieved by software if the need ever arose. It probably would have worked if not for the internet where decrypting software is a 2 minute google search away for anyone and everyone no need to figure it out yourself.

[sofa king]

22. Actually, I think converting may be permissible, too.

One of the many, many untruths and distortions being created by the music industry's legal teams is that CDs are "copied," and if they're "copied" they are being stolen.

But most average computer users have no idea how to make a lossless copy of a CD. Instead what they do is convert the CDs files to the shitty MP3 format, with a resulting loss in quality and a complete change in file format, using electrons, computers and software purchased by the user, not the CD maker.

If you take a digital picture of a Jasper Johns painting, blow it up, print it, and put it on your wall for your own personal use, are you an art thief? What did you "steal" from Jasper Johns, besides reflected photons? How is Jasper Johns harmed?

Furthermore, the concept of personal use is not yet dead. You can make a personal digital copy of all the music you own.

Recall that when the great CD hoodwink was introduced in the first place, Phillips told you that CDs were indestructible, wouldn't skip, sounded better than LPs, and would last forever. Well, they lied about all those things, and you paid for all those CDs anyway. Now they're getting old and it turns out that most modern CDs won't last more than about fifteen years no matter how well you take care of them. So if you own a scratched up Metallica CD (one of the good ones, before And Justice For All), go to the library and check out an album you already have, and copy that CD instead of your own broken one, is that stealing?

Edit: The process works in the same way with films, but in that case, people prefer to make nearly identical copies of their DVDs. However, you can also find AVI and MP4 versions of some films, which are conversions. Someday, a lawyer who knows what she's doing is going to exploit the conversion angle and send Hollywood into conniptions.

[gvstn]

23. Interesting

Thanks for the information. I never thought of the digital picture analogy.

Don't get me started on how we were sold down the river on how indestructible CDs were supposed to be. And you are right about them not lasting as they age no matter how few plays they may have gotten. I've been waiting for at least 10 years for the new superior music format to debut. I think I'll be waiting at least 5 more. The fact that they put DVDs on the same type of disc guaranteed that things won't change soon.

I have a huge collection of music CDs that never delivered what I was promised. I have no compunction about finding an online version (preferably flac) of an occasional song whether I own the CD or not. I figure it all works out even in the end. (Or in this case the record companies have made a killing off me and a few pilfered singles helps assuage my anger at pulling out an old CD and having to try it in 3 different players to get one that will read it. ;)

[PfcHammer]

13. Usenet ftw