US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison • Hacker News Board

Re: US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison

#51

Post by tomp » Sat, Jan 14, 2012, 4:01 PM UTC

lachyg wrote: post #6

My comment doesn't directly relate to the issue in the article (how she's being put in jail early) but I'll go ahead anyway. Does anyone honestly think piracy should go unpunished? People that upload movies, music, games etc should be punished, as they are doing something illegal and and the people downloading should also be punished as they are getting the content without paying the creators. I'm curious if anyone h…

Your assumptions are wrong. When people pirate content (download without paying), that doesn't necessarily mean that they are not paying the content creators. A Swiss government study found out that people's entertainment budgets are relatively constant - what we don't spend for digital content, we spend for concerts and such. So, there is no real economic harm from piracy (if there was, Hollywood wouldn't be having record profits...).

Re: US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison

#52

Post by jerfelix » Sat, Jan 14, 2012, 4:04 PM UTC

It wasn't real clear to me what the URL was, so I'll post it: http://www.ninjavideo.net/

It's not even listed on the Wikipedia page [42], and can't easily be found in google anymore. The NinjaVideo.net page now has a huge image explaining that the domain has been seized. I'd post the text here, but it'd probably be a copyright violation (and it's embedded in the image).

[42] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NinjaVideo

Re: US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison

#53

Post by lukeschlather » Sat, Jan 14, 2012, 4:10 PM UTC

botj wrote: post #50

realo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Picture this for a moment: It's your Birthday. Your friends invited you to the nicest restaurant in town. Very nice venue, food is great. End of meal... time for dessert. Your friends love you and, together, singe you the nicest rendition of 'Happy Birthday To You' you ever heard. Life is good. This was an illegal performance. Secret police comes in, puts your friends in prison (they stole & performed the song) and a…

Except in this case it's more akin to stealing the meal no?

No, not at all. This is exactly like SOPA. A totally non-infringing activity (serving food in a restaurant) becomes criminal when someone starts playing an infringing song. Now, there is a bit of a hedge here - the rightsholder would technically have to ask you to stop, and you would have to refuse, before the feds came.

Re: US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison

#54

Post by phillmv » Sat, Jan 14, 2012, 4:28 PM UTC

fourspace wrote: post #49

lachyg wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh god no, definitely not. Monetary damages, yes. Prison sentences for a non-violent crime, definitely not.

Just to play devil's advocate here, what you're saying is that folks like Bernie Madoff should not go to prison.

You know what, taking all of that man's money away and putting him on probation for the rest of his life is probably just as effective as a deterrent. Being forced to work at Walmart to make bills pay, that sort of thing.

Probation is actually pretty shitty, and in some cases totally effective at ruining your quality of life.

Re: US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison

#55

Post by lachyg » Sat, Jan 14, 2012, 4:32 PM UTC

tomp wrote: post #51

lachyg wrote: post #6

My comment doesn't directly relate to the issue in the article (how she's being put in jail early) but I'll go ahead anyway. Does anyone honestly think piracy should go unpunished? People that upload movies, music, games etc should be punished, as they are doing something illegal and and the people downloading should also be punished as they are getting the content without paying the creators. I'm curious if anyone h…

Your assumptions are wrong. When people pirate content (download without paying), that doesn't necessarily mean that they are not paying the content creators. A Swiss government study found out that people's entertainment budgets are relatively constant - what we don't spend for digital content, we spend for concerts and such. So, there is no real economic harm from piracy (if there was, Hollywood wouldn't be having…

In my opinion, that's completely besides the point. It doesn't matter if people wouldn't have bought it anyway. Just because we wouldn't have bought it anyway doesn't give us a right to download it. That's ridiculous.

The issue with digital content versus physical content is that there is no cost of replication, whereas with physical goods the cost of replication goes beyond the initial R&D, it goes into the actual materials, machinery and labour to produce it. I believe this is where the "it's okay to pirate content" comes from -- because theres no 'money lost'.

Re: US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison

#56

Post by gonehome » Sat, Jan 14, 2012, 4:46 PM UTC

draggnar wrote: post #43

realo wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be cool, as long as the 10,000$ license fee for "Happy Birthday" is paid to Warner... See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You

What?! I was reading these comments thinking -- oh that would be funny if everything was under copywrite. I feel violated. The video, if you make it, should end with the fact that it actually is owned by Warner.

The perhaps even stranger part is that there exists a public domain variant of the happy birthday song. The song was modified and it is this version that Warner owns the copyright to (and the one that we sing).

The modification? -- One Note.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You

Re: US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison

#57

Post by tomjen3 » Sat, Jan 14, 2012, 4:46 PM UTC

lachyg wrote: post #6

My comment doesn't directly relate to the issue in the article (how she's being put in jail early) but I'll go ahead anyway. Does anyone honestly think piracy should go unpunished? People that upload movies, music, games etc should be punished, as they are doing something illegal and and the people downloading should also be punished as they are getting the content without paying the creators. I'm curious if anyone h…

You were correctly downvoted for you posted a stupid question -- just because it is illegal doesn't make it wrong.

And only wrong things should be punished.

Re: US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison

#58

Post by dangrossman » Sat, Jan 14, 2012, 4:48 PM UTC

toyg wrote: post #28

lachyg wrote: post #6

My comment doesn't directly relate to the issue in the article (how she's being put in jail early) but I'll go ahead anyway. Does anyone honestly think piracy should go unpunished? People that upload movies, music, games etc should be punished, as they are doing something illegal and and the people downloading should also be punished as they are getting the content without paying the creators. I'm curious if anyone h…

I'll bite: do you honestly think people should be sent to prison for copyright offences? Monetary damages, yes; bankruptcy, maybe (if the infringement was on mass-scale and resulted in direct profit for the guilty, say, above 1000$); but prison ? Prison is not about punishment, in a civil society; it's about isolating individuals with the potential to irreparably harm their community. Unless the copyright holders go…

@oelewapperke : You are hellbanned so (almost) nobody can see your comments. Copyright infringement is also a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment and statutory damages. See http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#506

Re: US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison

#59

Post by lachyg » Sat, Jan 14, 2012, 4:50 PM UTC

I've hijacked this thread enough, but I'd love to post this question separately.

Libraries are an institutionalised form of piracy.

Am I wrong here? Thoughts? I've just had a philosophical discussion with my Dad about piracy and this was one of the conclusions we seemed to make.

Re: US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison

#60

Post by lachyg » Sat, Jan 14, 2012, 4:54 PM UTC

realo wrote: post #10

lachyg wrote: post #6

My comment doesn't directly relate to the issue in the article (how she's being put in jail early) but I'll go ahead anyway. Does anyone honestly think piracy should go unpunished? People that upload movies, music, games etc should be punished, as they are doing something illegal and and the people downloading should also be punished as they are getting the content without paying the creators. I'm curious if anyone h…

Picture this for a moment: It's your Birthday. Your friends invited you to the nicest restaurant in town. Very nice venue, food is great. End of meal... time for dessert. Your friends love you and, together, singe you the nicest rendition of 'Happy Birthday To You' you ever heard. Life is good. This was an illegal performance. Secret police comes in, puts your friends in prison (they stole & performed the song) and a…

It's taken me three hours to really think about your comment, and I can't really think of a satisfying response. Your hyperbole aside, I think this is apples and oranges. I don't think it's a comparable situation.

People playing Nirvana in a garage and singing Happy Birthday to You at birthday parties is not the same thing as downloading material that you have access to buy. It's accepted that we can partake in these luxuries. If we want to profit off them though, we do have to pay a licensing fee.