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Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn't illegal without proof of seeding

arstechnica.com

191–200 of 471 posts

Re: Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn't illegal without proof of seeding

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When did he say that? I watched it recently, and don't recall that line at all...

The scene where Jack climbs down the hole under the garbage can into the subway, having figured out the ransom money has moved. He tries to hold up Payne, who reveals he's holding Annie hostage. Here: https://youtu.be/ntTY_Q005Ic?t=128

Oh, I thought that was the quote before paraphrasing, not after

Re: Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn't illegal without proof of seeding

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't Meta going to be battling the full legal team of the entertainment industry with this argument? I think Meta did something stupid with this argument, because there is no way that Hollywood or the music industry is going be pleased with a precedence for legally downloading copyrighted material. They will now do everything in their power to get Meta found guilty.

Or, more likely, drop the case to avoid establishing a precedent. Sounds like Meta are banking on the entertainment industry looking at it and deciding that the risk of losing this case is too high given Meta’s almost infinitely deep pockets to mount a legal defence.

Awesome. And just to be clear, Meta will walk away scot-free, but Billy Torrent is definitely still going to be fined $500,000 if he pulls down "Sleeping Beauty" from 1959.

Re: Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn't illegal without proof of seeding

#193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A bit off-topic, but I always thought it was "funny" how americans are so opposed to censorship but are perfectly OK with advertising and other forms of propaganda (from social media editorializing, bought newspapers...), that arguably do much more to "control men's minds" than censorship ever would. It just fuels my personal theory that americans only reason in positive liberty (freedom to...) and never in negative…

It's very simple, Americans believe that the individual is responsible for themselves while most of the rest of the world wants to be "protected" by a restrictive government. One leads to innovation and one stifles it. We would rather be responsible for discovering the truth on our own, than trust a central authority to decide what is and isn't true(or propaganda). I find it funny how Europeans think their government…

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Re: Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn't illegal without proof of seeding

#194
post #70
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your jurisdiction. In Switzerland, downloading games, books, music, movies etc. for personal use is always legal even if the copy is "pirated". Work just needs to be published in any form. Dont know any other country where it works like this.

This is a common misconception: there are some exceptions for certain types of media, but for example downloading copyrighted software (including games) without authorization is not legal in Switzerland. And some of those exceptions are more constrained than others.

Can you point to any official document which states it is illegal? Or any document which mentions any exceptions?

Re: Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn't illegal without proof of seeding

#195
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe Trump will legalise internet-based copying. After all, the main people hurt would be Hollywood, which is run by people supporting the Democrats. And it would be popular with many voters (not an issue for Trump but it is for Republicans).

That seems an oversimplification. Counter example: ownership of Amazon MGM Studios and its parent Amazon.

Selling streaming media is a side business for Amazon (and Apple), an add on as a way to move Amazon Prime and Apple One subscriptions.

They would probably benefit by handicapping Netflix/Disney/WBD/etc.

Re: Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn't illegal without proof of seeding

#196

It's certainly nice to see someone accused of bittorrenting with the bankroll to come up with a decent legal defense team.

This isn't a decent defence, it's a losing desperate one.

Yeah, kinda surprised they haven't just flat out denied it, hoped it would blow over.

Re: Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn't illegal without proof of seeding

#197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"distribution is the act protected by copyright" was the rule all along in many (non-US) jurisdictions, not an American so not sure about how the US does things. This is why you often see people getting fines for torrenting (Germany is extremely notorious for this for example), but fines for using Usenet, IPTV, streaming or book download services are a lot more rare (which doesn't mean they're nonexistent)! Operating…

> This is why you often see people getting fines for torrenting (Germany is extremely notorious for this for example), but fines for using Usenet, IPTV, streaming or book download services are a lot more rare (which doesn't mean they're nonexistent)! It’s a lot easier to find out who is torrenting than to find out who is using Usenet for example though. With torrents you can see the IP addresses of peers. And then I…

This process of checking seeding peers to reporting an IP to an ISP to them send a user a nastygram is pretty automated. Torrent a Nintendo game (not even that new of one) and you will get an ISP nastygram within minutes.

I've heard.

Re: Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn't illegal without proof of seeding

#198
Both the headline and the theme of the story are incorrect and misleading. Meta isn’t claiming that everything they’re doing is lawful. They’re claiming that their activities don’t run afoul of a particular California state law, CDAFA, and section 1202(b)(1) of the DMCA.

It’s very common in litigation for the plaintiff to accuse the defendant of every violation they might be guilty of or liable for (“throwing the book at them”), and for defendants then to systematically try to strip them away.

As far as I know, Meta is not yet claiming their activities were completely lawful.

Here is the actual filing: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Kadre...

Re: Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn't illegal without proof of seeding

#199

Well, I guess it would be nice if we could have some precedent for the claim that downloading copyright protected information is not in itself a breach of copyright. It makes sense from the point of view that distribution is the act protected by copyright, not the mere act of copying . If that sounds odd to you then that's probably on purpose, There's been plenty of opportunity to rename copyright to authorrights or…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_... "Attached to the core rights of free speech and free press are several peripheral rights that make these core rights more secure. The peripheral rights encompass not only freedom of association, including privacy in one's associations, but also, in the words of Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), "the freedom of the entire university community", i.e., the ri…

The US Constitution grants congress the power to give authors and inventors time-limited exclusive rights to their works/discoveries (Art1.S8.C8). This moots the 1st amendment argument.

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-1/section-8...

Re: Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn't illegal without proof of seeding

#200

This is actually genius from the lawyers of meta. In this way they are pushing the onus onto the question of "what is illegal in regards to torrenting copyright content". They have the money and legal team to push it to any conclusion, but that conclusion would risk so many huge industries in the Us that too many parties would be effected. That would incentivize companies to drop this case against meta and the status…

It’s not genius; it’s SOP in legal procedure. See my other comment in this discussion.
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