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Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium

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Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium

#21

Post by true_religion »

revelation wrote: post #18
true_religion wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the record, he's talking about user-generated content so even if users upload unlicenced materials he's covered by DMCA protections. He won't have to worry about licencing content, since he won't knowingly use copyrighted content beyond what freebies are offered to CPA partners. I think everything you're saying makes sense for a Paysite, but he's not a paysite---just an affiliate and traffic producer which is a b…

As megaupload shows, it doesn't even matter if you are protected from DMCA safe harbor. If a prosecutor thinks you are not, they will destroy your business without recourse.

In terms of risk, I think its far less likely that a prosecutor will go after an adult site than say a music sharing site.

The adult market has no one with the clout of the RIAA to lobby congress.

Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium

#22

Post by true_religion »

_6tfp wrote: post #10
_6tfp wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Creating your own porn site looks much easier then it is. You'll need a lot of traffic before you earn some bucks, and all competition is fighting for the traffic. But it's a fun thing to do! If you want to start out, I suggest to get yourself a domain name and use http://www.smutnode.com to setup a tube site in minutes.

Another tutorial for new people to the industry can be found on http://startapornsite.smutnode.com

Are you the guy behind Smutnode.com and PornProx.com?

Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium

#24

Post by mfjordvald »

revelation wrote: post #18
true_religion wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the record, he's talking about user-generated content so even if users upload unlicenced materials he's covered by DMCA protections. He won't have to worry about licencing content, since he won't knowingly use copyrighted content beyond what freebies are offered to CPA partners. I think everything you're saying makes sense for a Paysite, but he's not a paysite---just an affiliate and traffic producer which is a b…

As megaupload shows, it doesn't even matter if you are protected from DMCA safe harbor. If a prosecutor thinks you are not, they will destroy your business without recourse.

It's a bad example to use because the prosecutor claims to have Skype chat logs of Megaupload assisting in the upload of illegal material as well as uploading their own illegal material.

This would instantly remove their DMCA safe harbor protections as it relies on Megaupload not being aware of illegal material on their platform. Further it also requires that Megaupload have no financial gain directly attributable to the illegal material.

So basically if the Skype logs are real and the prosecutor can prove this then Megaupload was rightly indicted and should be prosecuted without the protection of DMCA safe harbor.

As a final note, though, I do note necessarily believe they should have the power to take down the business until after they've proven the illegal activity. Just in case anybody got away with that impression.

Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium

#27

Post by [deleted] »

Tharkun wrote: post #15
DanBlake wrote: post #9

The guy has to be making crazy bank. Wonder why he didnt just pay his taxes. When you are bringing in a likely 100m a year, what difference will another 10m make? I think the guys behind huge sites like this just have weird personality's that make them like to hack every system they can which obviously ends up in situations like this.

Breaking even on a small website is easy. Doing it on such a large scale, not so much. Never mind making a profit. People have this unrealistic view of porn site owners, as being rolling in the dough. It's true for soeme, but they're a minority. Doing porn brings a lot of heat, not just because every tax man out there assumes you're cheating, but also because if anyone is geetting naked for you, you MUST be some kind…

[deleted]

Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium

#28

Post by marme »

DanBlake wrote: post #9

The guy has to be making crazy bank. Wonder why he didnt just pay his taxes. When you are bringing in a likely 100m a year, what difference will another 10m make? I think the guys behind huge sites like this just have weird personality's that make them like to hack every system they can which obviously ends up in situations like this.

taxes on 100m are not 10m more like 45m as the top tax rate in germany is 45%. The 100m a year is gross revenue also not net profit so he is probably pulling in a lot less after operating costs. People just get greedy and dont want to pay their taxes

Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium

#29

Post by Alaskan005 »

GuiA wrote: post #2

I've always mused with the idea of creating a user-submitted-content based porn website. The base code can be whipped out in a few days, and getting traffic for that kind of thing seems to be super easy. The goal would then be to make minor money through smart advertising (most porn websites today are usability hell, with every single white space covered in ads; i'm sure one could do some smart conversion optimizatio…

"most porn websites today are usability hell"

How do you know :)?

They are scripts for almost every successful model out there but the problem is reaching mass user adoption. For under $1000 you can have a site done, logo and all but if not enough people submit their videos...

Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium

#30

Post by brianchu »

marme wrote: post #28
DanBlake wrote: post #9

The guy has to be making crazy bank. Wonder why he didnt just pay his taxes. When you are bringing in a likely 100m a year, what difference will another 10m make? I think the guys behind huge sites like this just have weird personality's that make them like to hack every system they can which obviously ends up in situations like this.

taxes on 100m are not 10m more like 45m as the top tax rate in germany is 45%. The 100m a year is gross revenue also not net profit so he is probably pulling in a lot less after operating costs. People just get greedy and dont want to pay their taxes

Just one note: 45% is the top marginal tax rate. No one is actually taxed such that they lose 45% of their income through personal income taxes. The effective (average) tax rate will be much, much less.

EDIT: not to mention lower taxes due to deductions, capital gains, legal tax shelters.

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