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US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

torrentfreak.com

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Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#131

Post by thinkloop »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #118
thinkloop wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Only the original copy must be paid for. We are only paying for the original copy, but distributing that payment over many people and over time so it doesn't hurt as much - which single person is going to pay $10K or $1M or $50M for a song or movie?

> which single person is going to pay $1M or $50 million for a song or movie? Why not crowdfund those amounts instead? That way, all creators get paid before the work even starts and the result can be safely released into the public domain. We need to develop alternative business models like this in order to replace copyright. Cultural works must be treated like an investment.

> Why not crowdfund those amounts instead? That way, all creators get paid before the work even starts and the result can be safely released into the public domain.

Then shouldn't every business have to follow the same rules? Making a "copy" of an iPhone costs $20 or $30, should Apple have to crowdsource their factory and IP then sell iPhones by weight or value of raw material? Why do content creators get screwed because physics doesn't let them attach an atom to their creation? The vast majortiy of what you pay for in any product is the creation, not the material.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#132

Post by forgotmypw17 »

>Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what >they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for. >I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can't stop us all ... >after all, we're all alike. -The Mentor

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#133

Post by unishark »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #108
SllX wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not disagreeing in principle, but there are criminal statutes on the books put there by Congress for copyright infringement, and it is the Federal government’s job to enforce these laws.

I don't think New Zealand has a "Congress"? You're not trying to say USA has the right to make laws in other countries are you? I mean I know USA does this, but it seems indefensible?

According to the article, court documents list victims and crimes occurring in New York and New Jersey. Supposedly this group misled distributors there into giving them copies of movies which had not been released.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#134

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

f00zz wrote: post #70
matheusmoreira wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Piracy destroys jobs, opportunity and initiative. So what? Let them be destroyed. I'd rather sacrifice some jobs than watch gigantic media conglomerates take over the computing industry and destroy our computing freedom with their DRM. There is no other way for them to enforce copyright in the 21st century so that's exactly what they'll try to do. They won't rest until every computer available to the public is lock…

Eh, artists have bills to pay. I try to buy e-books to support my favorite sci-fi authors, but it feels a bit silly that downloading the epub from libgen is literally less hassle than buying it on Google Play.

> Eh, artists have bills to pay

Indeed, and we should support those who create the works we enjoy, but consider that the model of buying individual works from a publisher is rooted in the obsolete requirement to create a physical good upon which the work is distributed.

Given that we now live in an age where the cost of distribution is effectively $0, perhaps we need to find a new model for compensating creative works.

Personally, I'm a big fan of things like Patreon, which let me support people who's work I enjoy more-or-less directly and allows creators to keep their creations free for all to enjoy.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#135

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

rbanffy wrote: post #77
f00zz wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, artists have bills to pay. I try to buy e-books to support my favorite sci-fi authors, but it feels a bit silly that downloading the epub from libgen is literally less hassle than buying it on Google Play.

And this is one of the key selling points of piracy - having the product you want easily available while the other options (physical disk, download) may not be available in your region.

It was the insight that "Piracy is a service problem" that led Valve to create Steam.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#136

Post by nybble41 »

tanzann wrote: post #61
antihero wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes perfect sense when you realise that law enforcement's historical and primary goal, over and above protection of us, is the protection of capital.

Isn't that caused mainly by lobbying and so? Some context. Generally speaking money in practice means power just because it allows lobbying and hiring good lawyers. And power basically is ability to have someone else solving one's problems.

"Lobbying" just means presenting your position on an issue. Money can help with making a persuasive presentation, to a point, but lobbying per se is never the cause of the problem. You can blame that on the people with way too much power who listen to the lobbyists and do as they ask—instead of actually doing their jobs and representing the interests of all their constituents.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#137

Post by senko »

AlwaysRock wrote: post #92
intotheabyss wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone pirating content was never going to pay for it in the first place, so you haven't really lost anything. If anything, having your shit pirated gives you more exposure, so I'd say it's a net positive overall.

That's not really true. I pirated when I was young and couldn't afford things and later when I could afford things I'd purchase from those same creators. Al la the first hit is free.

You agree with the parent.

When you were young, you wouldn't have bought it even if you didn't pirate it. However, since you pirated it, you felt happy (or even morally obliged) to purchase from same creators, later, when you had the means.

Ie. in that case, the piracy increased exposure and indirectly increased sales.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#138

Post by unishark »

NotSammyHagar wrote: post #41
mrandish wrote: post #23

I'm concerned our justice systems is expending enormous resources investigating and prosecuting these cases as felony crimes on behalf of the MPAA and RIAA lobbies (which have a revolving door of former fed prosecutors as employees/lobbyists). The cases are more properly pursued in civil court where the pirates should be sued for the damages they cause (not agreeing with MPAA's damage assessment, that's for the judge…

How about similar aggression towards arresting and pursuing the people doing ransomware.

There was a big story a few months ago about the feds going after international phone scammer rings with a bunch of arrests. Also a big Nigerian scammer ring last year. They also include indictments of people mostly overseas.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#139

Post by Karunamon »

johnchristopher wrote: post #107
rbanffy wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this is one of the key selling points of piracy - having the product you want easily available while the other options (physical disk, download) may not be available in your region.

Yeah, no. When I was a teen and wanted pirated games I had to put a lot of time into it (downloading/getting the CD's) then hunt for working cracks and then later deal with the consequences of installing cracks. My time was free but as an adult now I could never justify spending evenings to make pirated games work. Today's piracy is way more easier than piracy 15 or 25 years ago. The key selling point of piracy is th…

I've probably spent more total time in the rigamarole surrounding legitimately purchased games (DRM incompatibilities and performance issues, activation servers being down, make and account and log in and click through our EULA, etc) than I have with issues surrounding cracked games.

Cracking games from a user standpoint is usually a process of downloading a torrent, waiting a bit, then replacing a handful of files in the install directory the first time, and then you're usually not bothered again. Some include an installer that handles this for you.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#140

Post by matheusmoreira »

abakker wrote: post #126
matheusmoreira wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> which single person is going to pay $1M or $50 million for a song or movie? Why not crowdfund those amounts instead? That way, all creators get paid before the work even starts and the result can be safely released into the public domain. We need to develop alternative business models like this in order to replace copyright. Cultural works must be treated like an investment.

that might be a great idea, except this thread started with the blanket statement that we should all just steal it, not invest at all. Maybe cultural investment can be coordinated, but until then, I think the solution should be for the distributed act of paying for what you want will be preferable. The less-than-optimal implementation of copyright doesn't justify theft.

> this thread started with the blanket statement that we should all just steal it

No, I said that the choice to "pirate" was always available and that the way the copyright industry was trying to remove that choice was problematic.

> The less-than-optimal implementation of copyright doesn't justify theft.

Copyright infringement is not theft. Prevention of copyright infringement doesn't justify abusive and invasive DRM technologies either. The copyright industry should not gain full control over what software is allowed to run on people's computers just because they're losing money.

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