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Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues

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Re: Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues

#51

Post by nkrisc »

plutokras wrote: post #27
lukan wrote: post #2

The world has become so strange. In my pirate youth, I would have never imagined the big companies to argue in courts like this, basically pro piracy. And the activists are now against it, because the big guys are doing it.

I have no issue with anyone pirating. In my country — and soon in Italy as well — all storage media sales include a small levy (Artisjus) intended to compensate copyright holders for losses from piracy. One could argue it's unfair if you're not actually using the media for copying, but having been forced to pay it regardless, I have no moral qualms about pirating content I don't feel like paying for. By the same toke…

Why is it fair that you get to be subsidized by everyone who does pay? Imagine a world where everyone had the same attitude as you and did not pay for any media. Pirates get to pirate only because most people don’t. So why are you so special?

Re: Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues

#52

Post by imglorp »

progval wrote: post #42
jagged-chisel wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does that money get distributed? If I create a film, how they decide if I’m worthy enough to receive some of that money?

The way it works in France is that money goes to a company that collects it on behalf of all copyright holders. Its website does not offer any documentation as to how copyright holders can claim their share.

That sounds pretty shady. There's also the problem that most media generated globally is not French. Do they pretend to distribute the spoils globally?

Re: Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues

#53

Post by gzread »

lukan wrote: post #2

The world has become so strange. In my pirate youth, I would have never imagined the big companies to argue in courts like this, basically pro piracy. And the activists are now against it, because the big guys are doing it.

Activists are against AI training, not bittorrent

Re: Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues

#54

Post by mikkupikku »

jazz9k wrote: post #39
dizzy9 wrote: post #35

Some of us are old enough to remember when the RIAA sued children for downloading Metallica albums on filesharing networks. They sued for $100,000 per song, an absurd amount when you consider that even stealing a physical album would amount only to around $1 per song. What was bizarre was that courts took the figure seriously, even if they typically settled cases for around $3,000, still around 30x actual damages. Th…

Children can commit crimes too. It's funny, because now in the age of AI, many of the people that support piracy are now trying to stop AI companies from doing the same thing.

A child stole a candy bar from my shop, time to bankrupt his whole working class family!

^ sociopathic legalists really do think this way.

Re: Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues

#55

Post by gzread »

GrinningFool wrote: post #36
willis936 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not like there has been some change in principle and some sort of knife to sharpen. "2005 personal pirate" was about making art accessible. "2025 corpo pirate" is about killing art.

2005 piracy had little to do to with making art accessible. For the most part it seemed more like getting for free the digital things we couldn't pay or and/or felt entitled to, with many justifications layered on top.

that's the same thing?

Re: Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues

#56

Post by gzread »

nkrisc wrote: post #51
plutokras wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no issue with anyone pirating. In my country — and soon in Italy as well — all storage media sales include a small levy (Artisjus) intended to compensate copyright holders for losses from piracy. One could argue it's unfair if you're not actually using the media for copying, but having been forced to pay it regardless, I have no moral qualms about pirating content I don't feel like paying for. By the same toke…

Why is it fair that you get to be subsidized by everyone who does pay? Imagine a world where everyone had the same attitude as you and did not pay for any media. Pirates get to pirate only because most people don’t. So why are you so special?

It's not subsidized. You paid a fee on every hard drive to pay for that drive to hold pirated media.

Re: Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues

#57

Post by mikkupikku »

dizzy9 wrote: post #35

Some of us are old enough to remember when the RIAA sued children for downloading Metallica albums on filesharing networks. They sued for $100,000 per song, an absurd amount when you consider that even stealing a physical album would amount only to around $1 per song. What was bizarre was that courts took the figure seriously, even if they typically settled cases for around $3,000, still around 30x actual damages. Th…

Remember that Metallica band members played an active driving role in those lawsuits against their own underage fans. It wasn't just the RIAA / record company organizations behaving cruelly, it was Metallica themselves. Fuck Metallica.

Re: Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues

#58

Post by armchairhacker »

david_shi wrote: post #26

At some point, the contradiction of "law as something impartial" and "law bends to the whims of power" will need to be resolved.

Everything bends to power, by definition. And laws can’t be impartial because they’re not based in hard science: terms like “murder”, “assault”, “theft”, etc. are ambiguous thus up to interpretation (e.g. is a scam theft? If so, what defines a scam? If “lying”, what’s the difference from “misleading”, or if there’s no difference, what defines “misleading”…)

My best idea for a solution is better education, so people don’t make bad laws then badly enforce them.

Re: Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues

#60

Post by y0eswddl »

david_shi wrote: post #26

At some point, the contradiction of "law as something impartial" and "law bends to the whims of power" will need to be resolved.

"the law" has always only been the whims of the powerful aa a threat of violence against the powerless if they don't follow
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