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US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison

torrentfreak.com

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

#61

Post by richardburton »

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…

You are using the slippery-slope argument here. That is a fallacy.

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

#62

Post by SoftwareMaven »

lukeschlather wrote: post #53
botj wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

But before the Feds come, Warner could put the restaurant out of business by making its banks and credit card processors dump them, newspapers and magazines not advertise them, printers not print their menus, etc. And all of this without a judge ever being involved.

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

#63

Post by lachyg »

rbanffy wrote: post #7
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…

There are a couple issues here. The first one is whether copyright infringement as I think she was part of really hurts content producers. If someone is unwilling to pay a couple dollars for a movie in iTunes, you are not likely to buy the DVD either, thus, it's not a lost sale. If, OTOH, the work gets more exposure thanks to alternative distribution networks and that generates more customer engagement, the content p…

"The first one is whether copyright infringement as I think she was part of really hurts content producers. If someone is unwilling to pay a couple dollars for a movie in iTunes, you are not likely to buy the DVD either, thus, it's not a lost sale. If, OTOH, the work gets more exposure thanks to alternative distribution networks and that generates more customer engagement, the content producer wins in the end."

Seriously? This is not an issue of whether it financially hurts the content producer, it's that you're getting it without paying for it, and others are paying for it. You're getting access to content that you haven't paid for.

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

#64

Post by dillona »

lachyg wrote: post #63
rbanffy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a couple issues here. The first one is whether copyright infringement as I think she was part of really hurts content producers. If someone is unwilling to pay a couple dollars for a movie in iTunes, you are not likely to buy the DVD either, thus, it's not a lost sale. If, OTOH, the work gets more exposure thanks to alternative distribution networks and that generates more customer engagement, the content p…

"The first one is whether copyright infringement as I think she was part of really hurts content producers. If someone is unwilling to pay a couple dollars for a movie in iTunes, you are not likely to buy the DVD either, thus, it's not a lost sale. If, OTOH, the work gets more exposure thanks to alternative distribution networks and that generates more customer engagement, the content producer wins in the end." Serio…

What if you are not given the option to pay for it? Is it still wrong to download?

Remember many people outside America can't use Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, etc.

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

#65

Post by lachyg »

dillona wrote: post #64
lachyg wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The first one is whether copyright infringement as I think she was part of really hurts content producers. If someone is unwilling to pay a couple dollars for a movie in iTunes, you are not likely to buy the DVD either, thus, it's not a lost sale. If, OTOH, the work gets more exposure thanks to alternative distribution networks and that generates more customer engagement, the content producer wins in the end." Serio…

What if you are not given the option to pay for it? Is it still wrong to download? Remember many people outside America can't use Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, etc.

I'm one of those people with none of those options. Yes, it's definitely still wrong. Just because we don't have the option, doesn't mean it's morally / ethically right and or legal.

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

#66

Post by anamax »

lachyg wrote: post #38
toyg wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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

As always, what if I don't pay?

In Madoff's case, at least some of the money is off short and some is hidden.

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

#67

Post by lachyg »

anamax wrote: post #66
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.

As always, what if I don't pay? In Madoff's case, at least some of the money is off short and some is hidden.

Then you go to jail, simple.

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

#68

Post by droithomme »

The sooner she starts her term the sooner she gets out, so this is good for her.

The obvious problem here is sending copyright violators to federal prison for long terms, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Killers and drug dealers often get shorter sentences, and bankers that steal billions don't go to prison at all.

To say this is justice is a stretch.

Running a video site that hosts unlicensed content uploaded by users is what youtube did for years. Where are the prison terms for their founders?

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

#69

Post by lachyg »

dchest wrote: post #36
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of straying from the mark. She was convicted because she ran the site, not because she uploaded one movie. In that example, its Amazon at 'fault'.

I was replying to the comment that "doesn't directly relate to the issue in the article" http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3464128

I think the onus lies on the distributor (Amazon, Hulu, NinjaViedo) more so than the consumer. I do believe the consumer holds a relative degree of responsibility (and I guess this is what should be determined by a court) - e.g. it's obvious with Ninja, but some sites might not be so obvious e.g. if, like Amazon, Netflix distributed a movie that they did not have rights to -- then it falls on them.

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

#70

Post by lachyg »

droithomme wrote: post #68

The sooner she starts her term the sooner she gets out, so this is good for her. The obvious problem here is sending copyright violators to federal prison for long terms, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Killers and drug dealers often get shorter sentences, and bankers that steal billions don't go to prison at all. To say this is justice is a stretch. Running a video site that hosts unlicensed cont…

What punishment, if any, do you believe is fair for her?
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