Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

US Authorities Silence NinjaVideo Founder, Rush Her to Prison

torrentfreak.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 159 posts

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

#111

Post by nicki_easy »

brudgers wrote: post #44
nicki_easy wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that germane? "[A] decision of the United States Supreme Court rejecting the First Amendment right of prisoners to provide legal assistance to other prisoners." She was sentenced but not yet a prisoner, etc.

And still had her free speech rights. Now she doesn't. There was nothing illegal about incarcerating her sooner rather than later (this is not commentary on the justness or lack thereof of her sentence). If one says "fuck you" to the judge, instead of "thank you," one is more likely to hear "well, fuck you," back.

But she didn't say "fuck you" to the judge. She recognized that the judge had been lenient and was thankful:

"I know it is ridiculous that I'm going away at all... I know, and I know that there is a huge inclination to hate on the judge for giving me such a sentence, but know this, probably any other judge on that bench would have given me what the government asked for... because they are the motherfuckin' government, and could do whatever they want. He gave me less than half of what the government wanted and though it is harsh... we are file sharers ffs... I can do 22 months on my motherfuckin head. In fact for the first time in years, I can probably not dread the first of the month coming around. I'll drop a couple of pounds, pick up another degree or something, and make 17 cents an hour making license plates. //care. Fuck a landlord." http://www.ninjavideoforum.net/showthread.php?20347-My-quot-...

What, you want she should have no personality? That's how she got so loved (and hated) in the first place. That website got 6 million eyeballs a month.

I posted her actual letter to the judge here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3464862

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

#112

Post by rbanffy »

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…

So, your point is that someone is not paying for something someone else is. If you follow your logic, you'll never cook at home because people pay to eat at restaurants.

It gets even worse because many people don't live next to a restaurant.

Plus, all these analogies fail at one simple point: when a work is copied, a copy is created and nothing is destroyed except the scarcity someone wants to create for things that, by definition, cannot be scarse.

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

#113

Post by draggnar »

droithomme wrote: post #83
gonehome wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Yes, given that the song was written in 1893 and has been published with the current melody and lyrics since 1912 it's amazing to think it is still really under copyright, especially given that there is not a single other thing in the world from 1893 or 1912 whose copyright hasn't long since expired.

the really amazing thing is that nobody has invented a new happy birthday song. did we reach perfection and that's it? no creativity for birthday melodies? orwellian or utopian? i can't tell anymore. "It's not utopian to want to build better stuff. It might be utopian to claim the stuff we've got is the best we're capable of."

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

#114

Post by sedachv »

lachyg wrote: post #70
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?

Disney should hire her as their head of digital distribution. Putting your most passionate distributor in jail is counter-productive.

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

#115

Post by nicki_easy »

sedachv wrote: post #114
lachyg wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Disney should hire her as their head of digital distribution. Putting your most passionate distributor in jail is counter-productive.

<3

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

#116

Post by richardburton »

chairface wrote: post #107
richardburton wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I see no slippery slope in his argument. Singing Happy Birthday in public is actually a copyright violation, right now.

De dure, not de facto. Show me a report of someone getting arrested for it. Hence my accurate description of his ridiculous scenario appealing to a slippery-slope style train of thought. Case closed.

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

#117

Post by anamax »

lachyg wrote: post #67
anamax wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So, you think that folks who commit fraud shouldn't go to jail, presumably because "Oh god no, definitely not. Monetary damages, yes. Prison sentences for a non-violent crime, definitely not." (from the parent), but disobeying a judge deserves jail.

What's violent about disobeying a judge?

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

#118

Post by sklipo »

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…

Piracy is just copying information. The only "harm" it might do is make the person selling the information lose a sale that might never have taken place (I, for one, would not have bought the things I have pirated if I couldn't have pirated them). Basically, I don't think that I should be less free just because someone wants to make more money.

If I was in charge, laws would only restrict the freedom of the people for the safety of others (and even then it would only do so by making harmful acts illegal, not by spying on them or other crazy things). Intellectual property would only outlaw copying for commercial use, which would allow artists to make money from movie theaters, concerts, etc.

I'm sure many problems would arise from such a world, but I doubt that they'll be worse than the problems from the current system, and I'm sure that given time and actually implementing it, the kinks could be worked out.

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

#119

Post by tzs »

Natsu wrote: post #98
tzs wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why did you say "RIP free speech"? Convicts generally either lose most of their rights, or have them severely restricted. She is a convict. The only reason she was not in jail (where she would have had no access to Facebook or Twitter or other social media) was because they had a shortage of space so were letting her stay out until space opened up. There is no free speech issue here.

You're arguing that this is legal. They're arguing that this is wrong. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hume%27s_Law

I took "RIP free speech" to imply that he thinks that this case marks some sort of change in how free speech is handled, which it does not.

If he was instead trying to make a general argument that convicts should not have their rights restricted while they have not completed their term, or if he was arguing that prosecuting someone for massive willful copyright infringement is a violation of their rights, then I misunderstood.

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

#120

Post by tzs »

nicki_easy wrote: post #109
mef wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this analysis that she was joking, but being at a disadvantage having recently become a convict, she's the one who would most benefit from exercising common sense.

So do you think her common sense should have told her to keep her mouth shut? As an idealistic young American with no experience with the justice system and a firm belief that what was happening to her was wrong, I think her common sense told her she had the right to speak her mind and to crack a few jokes to mollify the terror she felt at having just received a federal prison sentence. I think that would be a fairly…

Cracking a few jokes--within what common sense would allow. Celebrating your crime--not common sense.
Post reply on HN