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UK national extradited to US for film/TV piracy

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Re: UK national extradited to US for film/TV piracy

#31

Post by flir »

HatchedLake721 wrote: post #7
vkou wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comparison between vehicular homicide and commercial copyright infringement would work better if the perpetrator of the former were not protected by diplomatic immunity.

> Anne Sacoolas was not entitled to diplomatic immunity, as her husband was not listed as a diplomat.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-57954...

I think it's very likely she was, in fact, a "diplomat" in the "they expel one of ours, we expel one of theirs" sense.

Re: UK national extradited to US for film/TV piracy

#32

Post by jdavis703 »

ssklash wrote: post #12

It is insane to me that someone can get up to 5 years or more for using one of the fundamental mechanisms of digital technology. If you put out a product on a medium whose design is fundamentally based on copying bits , I don't know how you can expect anything else to happen. Instead of accepting the reality of digital communications, the MPAA, RIAA, and the like lobby to have the law protect their outdated but favor…

This seems to be an argument that humans are incapable of using tools without breaking the law. We make this assumption for tools like cars and guns by requiring licensing. Should internet access also require a license?

Re: UK national extradited to US for film/TV piracy

#33

Post by azalemeth »

unity1001 wrote: post #23
azalemeth wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They bought DVDs with a paper trail, shipped them internationally, ripped them and then uploaded to scene sites with photos of the retail packaging. Not difficult to see how they got caught. One can't help but feel sorry for them. Commercial copyright infringement in the states probably carries a $1e308 financial penalty and/or life imprisonment. The fact that the article is written about a UK national just highlight…

> life imprisonment Life imprisonment for copying digital bits. Less than that for premeditated murder. US justice system does not serve justice or the people. But the corporations.

For the record, I was joking – if the sentences were served sequentially the article implies that the person extradited would be on the hook for a 30 year sentence. My perhaps unfair "joke" was supposed to be hinted at the ~floating point overflow fine at the same time. (For the record, I think this is utterly disproportionate to the crime – they certainly did not cause Hollywood multi-million losses.)

The reason behind my perhaps slightly uncouth reference to the Death of Harry Dunn [1] was because 30 years is nearly double that faced by the US citizen who killed him, refusing to return to the UK as "the potential 14-year sentence [is] not proportionate" as it "would not usually result in a prison sentence in the US" [her lawyer, also 1]. I find it very interesting (as a commentary on the role of media, technology, and incentives in society) that using DeCSS and creating a torrent is apparently punishable by a long gaol sentence, yet negligently killing someone is apparently not.

Anyway, another poster has subsequently pointed out that I am wrong to draw this conclusion as a different treaty was used -- and, I should probably not overly politicise HN either -- my apologies for both.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Harry_Dunn

Re: UK national extradited to US for film/TV piracy

#34

Post by crazygringo »

DennisP wrote: post #28
rebelos wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not hard to see how piracy threatens the entire business model. You can have rampant piracy or you can have financially sustainable content production. You cannot have both. There is some critical mass of piracy that would in fact destroy the economics of the content production model. The industry has to work to deter that by periodically making examples of people. The timing is likely not coincidental either. E…

So change the business model. In the words of Robert Heinlein: "There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or a corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary public interest. This strange…

What business model would you suggest, that is capable of financing the TV and films we like to watch?

I'm not aware of anything that works in practice, except for legally enforced copyright for at least a handful of years. And enforcing copyright means making torrenting etc. of infringing material illegal.

(Of course, whether it should be 5 or 10 or 20 or 50 or 100 years is a separate matter.)

And copying the music streaming business, where convenience is worth a low monthly subscription, doesn't work for TV/film. Producing a TV show is multiple orders of magnitude more expensive than an album.

Re: UK national extradited to US for film/TV piracy

#35

Post by wil421 »

blibble wrote: post #18

> Which Allegedly Caused Tens of Millions of Dollars in Losses so how many uploaded movies is that? 3?

> U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, George Bridi was a member of an international video piracy ring that circumvented copyright protections on nearly every movie released by major production studios, as well as television shows, and distributed them worldwide on the Internet. Thanks to the assistance of our law enforcement partners, the piracy ring has been busted and Bridi is now in U.S. custody.”

Sounds like more than 3.

Re: UK national extradited to US for film/TV piracy

#36

Post by marcodiego »

randywaterhouse wrote: post #2

> "for his involvement in the Sparks Group, an international piracy group that illegally distributed movies and television shows on the Internet." (from the announcement) in case you were wondering if this was some "simple" torrent usage or what... > "In furtherance of its scheme, the Sparks Group fraudulently obtained copyrighted DVDs and Blu-Ray discs from wholesale distributors in advance of their retail release d…

I'd like easier to buy or rent DVD's. The DRM in it has been broken for so long that it is basically DRM-free and the quality is good enough for most of mine entertainment purposes. I fear streaming services will make buying DVD's harder.

Are Blue-Ray as easily watchable as DVD's these days?

Re: UK national extradited to US for film/TV piracy

#38

Post by betwixthewires »

I can't help but feel like we are moving from sovereign governments having authority over territorial jurisdictions to sovereign governments having authority over specific interactions between specific parties across the globe. The US government doesn't just have authority over US territory, it has authority over any disputes between anyone and US persons or entities. The same seems to be happening across the EU and southeast Asia. It paints a grim picture.

Re: UK national extradited to US for film/TV piracy

#40

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

ssklash wrote: post #12

It is insane to me that someone can get up to 5 years or more for using one of the fundamental mechanisms of digital technology. If you put out a product on a medium whose design is fundamentally based on copying bits , I don't know how you can expect anything else to happen. Instead of accepting the reality of digital communications, the MPAA, RIAA, and the like lobby to have the law protect their outdated but favor…

Should it be impossible to make a living writing books or recording music or movies? Because that's what it amounts to. Imagine writing a book, selling a copy for $10 to the first reader, and then the rest of the readers get it for free. Or printing a book and having a competing publisher type it up and sell it, taking all the profit.
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