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

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

#201

Post by card_zero »

Detrytus wrote: post #167
lordloki wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This approach is great in theory, the problem is: it does not scale. We are bombarded with a lot of information in the news, ads, social media, and average individual does not have enough time (not to mention access to information, or intelligence to interpret it) to fact check everything on their own. "The last man who knew everything" lived in early 19th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Man_Who_Knew_…

First of all, there's a difference between facts and understanding. Thomas Young may have understood the wave theory of light, but he could say nothing with certainty about Queen Victoria's underwear. Secondly, it's getting easier to understand everything, because ideas are becoming more powerful. We are however bombarded with facts, that part is true.

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

#202

Post by moooo99 »

trilbyglens wrote: post #111
codetrotter wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Germany is wild. You will get a knock on your door within hours of firing up a torrent client

Huh, what in the world are you talking about.

If you’re torrenting and you happen to get caught, you will receive a letter from some copyright lawyer with a fine of X amount as well as a cease and desist.

The only knock on your door is the mail delivery man

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

#203

Post by aithrowawaycomm »

jillyboel wrote: post #164
aithrowawaycomm wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

11 years ago the EU made the Netherlands change their position: https://www.zdnet.com/article/downloading-pirate-material-fi... AFAIK this is still the case - the Netherlands is more poorly-enforced than other EU countries, but it's still illegal to download pirated material.

And of course the "thuiskopieheffing", a tax on any storage device that ostensibly is used to fund those whose media gets copied, is still in effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy#Netherlan... As long as I'm paying a tax for it, it is my right to copy

No, it is not your right to copy! If you want to keep using euros and have free travel to other Eurozone countries, you need to respect EU law. The tax does not respect EU law because it makes no effort to actually offset losses to copyright holders.

Your comment doesn't even make sense! The intention was never to make piracy okay, it was to offset a tiny fraction of the financial losses. These financial losses are still occurring even now that piracy is formally illegal, so the tax is still justified.

More generally this seems a form of freeloading: picking the parts of the EU that you like, ignoring the parts that don't. Who cares about society, it's just me me me. Pure selfishness.

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

#204

Post by relistan »

Alex_L_Wood wrote: post #123
trilbyglens wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany is wild. You will get a knock on your door within hours of firing up a torrent client

What? No, you will not. You could get fined for seeding some popular stuff, but even then no one is knocking on your door, it'll probably come in the form of a letter, and even then it's not a guarantee.

I lived in Germany. At least back then it was definitely a letter. They were not very good at it, though, and I received one for torrenting large open source software.

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

#205

Post by RajT88 »

lordloki wrote: post #154
thrance wrote: post #137

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…

Not even most Americans believe that. I would say paradoxically we have a slice of folks who want liberty from the government and also have plenty of government protections.

Then there is the "liberty at all costs" types, the fringe of which idolizes the David Koresh lifestyle.

There are plenty of folks who also think it is OK to ruin someone's entire life if they post something sexist to Twitter.

Americans are not so easily generalized; they come in many flavors.

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

#208

Post by mft_ »

trilbyglens wrote: post #111
codetrotter wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Germany is wild. You will get a knock on your door within hours of firing up a torrent client

Not sure if this is just misinformed, or anti-Germany/EU propaganda? Either way, not true.

In Germany, if you torrent something without protection of a VPN, you may receive a letter from a blood-sucking legal firm within a week or two, with a fine that can be argued down somewhat.

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