Are You One of 23,000 Defendants in the US' Biggest Illegal Download Lawsuit?

Can't stop laughing at a comment I just saw on torrentfreak and I don't know why.

"Wipe your hard drive, blame the neighbors, problem fixed."

Maybe it is so damn funny because it's true, that is all it would take in a poorly executed case like this.

Originally posted by alphabetaone

Originally posted by mejlus

Originally posted by Perplexity
...whether I actually downloaded it or if a thieving neighbor jacked my connection and did it...

Some law people said, that you are responsible for the safety of your WiFi connection. That's stupid, of course.

Why is that stupid? You SHOULD be responsible for securing your own network. Since the government has no control over how you use it, they shouldn't be responsible for securing it either. You cant have it both ways... if you want it FREE and want it YOUR way, then YOU should be responsible for the security of it. If you want it tainted, and under governmental control, then sure.... let them do the securing.

I will not be responsible, if someone steals my car and kills somebody with it.

Originally posted by Silicis n Volvo

the IP address only tells you where the file was downloaded to...but not who did it...there are 4 people in my family....I regularly have mates round who ALL use my laptop for stuff like facebook or ebay or woteva they need i for...if someone tried to sue me for illegal downloading...how can they prove it was me, my mom, my dad, my sister or any friend or other family member who used the computer?

if we all just denied it..what would they do?

They would sue the person who is responsible for the bill. Under your agreement with your ISP, the billing contact is responsible for all activity on that connection. It's a horrible thing, but it's part of the standard user agreements (Terms of Service). Google Jammie Thomas. A grandmother who lost to the RIAA due to the activity of her granddaughter using her connection.

I'm glad i watched it on PPV..

Originally posted by TKDRL
reply to post by alphabetaone

 

Your comparisons are really dumb, you know that? The things I download and try first, are entertainment, and only have value if they are decent. Most physical things you buy come with a warrantee, if it sucks I can return it. The same is not for CD's DVD's or software. You cannot return a crap CD or DVD or software you opened and get a cash refund a lot of the time. You can get a store credit, but I am not interested in a store credit. Maybe if I had some sort of guarantee, I would buy it to try, but probably not. I have to drive 1-2 hours depending on traffic to get to a place that sells these things, not worth driving back and forth buying and returning garbage entertainment, waste too much gas that way.

The comparisons are ridiculous to make a point. That you are being hypocritical about your choices. You've simply decided that because it's "entertainment" to you, that the law actually means less. Law is less important because it's too much effort and too much gas expended. While the examples are ridiculous, you are actually advocating breaking the law (whether or not you like the law)....so what is really more ridiculous.


But let's re-examine them a second...does that burger come with a guarantee? How do you return it if "it sucks"?

How abut the petrol after you've already burned it?

Originally posted by mejlus

Originally posted by alphabetaone

Originally posted by mejlus

Originally posted by Perplexity
...whether I actually downloaded it or if a thieving neighbor jacked my connection and did it...

Some law people said, that you are responsible for the safety of your WiFi connection. That's stupid, of course.

Why is that stupid? You SHOULD be responsible for securing your own network. Since the government has no control over how you use it, they shouldn't be responsible for securing it either. You cant have it both ways... if you want it FREE and want it YOUR way, then YOU should be responsible for the security of it. If you want it tainted, and under governmental control, then sure.... let them do the securing.

I will not be responsible, if someone steals my car and kills somebody with it.

That's right. But you sure will be if you "lend" it to them. And that's what were talking about here...GIVING away what isn't yours to give away in the first place....not taking someone elses gun to shoot another.

Originally posted by alphabetaone

Originally posted by mejlus

Originally posted by alphabetaone

Originally posted by mejlus

Originally posted by Perplexity
...whether I actually downloaded it or if a thieving neighbor jacked my connection and did it...

Some law people said, that you are responsible for the safety of your WiFi connection. That's stupid, of course.

Why is that stupid? You SHOULD be responsible for securing your own network. Since the government has no control over how you use it, they shouldn't be responsible for securing it either. You cant have it both ways... if you want it FREE and want it YOUR way, then YOU should be responsible for the security of it. If you want it tainted, and under governmental control, then sure.... let them do the securing.

I will not be responsible, if someone steals my car and kills somebody with it.

That's right. But you sure will be if you "lend" it to them. And that's what were talking about here...GIVING away what isn't yours to give away in the first place....not taking someone elses gun to shoot another.

But who says I'm lending my WiFi? I'm not putting up a sign "Free Wifi here!!!" or something. I'm just trying to say that you can not be sure who exactly downloaded the movie, because WiFi connection might have been hacked unknown to owner and against his will. As things are, owner of WiFi connection will be prosecuted, although he might not even know, what torrent is.

reply to post by mejlus


My neighbors encrypt their WiFi, I can still use it if I wanted to.
If it becomes an issue in canada, I will just use a public hub to download what I want once a week or so, no big deal. I wouldn't be a very nice neighbor by using their WiFi to do that, if it meant they might get in trouble in some way.

www.youtube.com...

Nuff said in the video

I'm a big supporter of sharing information, it's what made the internet great.

Frankly, if I download something I never had interest in buying it anyway and if I do to access special features I do buy it.

Caring is sharing, screw the big corporations, they screw us all the time.

reply to post by alphabetaone


Erm I am pretty sure you are wrong..... If you lend a buddy a car, and they run over someone, the driver is charged, not the owner. Unless they can prove the buddy asked for the car for that purpose, and you knew about it, that would make you an accessory.

reply to post by edog11


I just might be. Anyways, I always thought it wasn't illegal to download. It was illegal to share.

What if I download a video entitled "Free Fitness Training 101". But come to find out its a bootleg copy of Thor. Now, if I just ignore that it was bootleg copy and let people download it from me then I'm breaking the law.

I could have sworn I read somewhere they come after people who share, not necessarily people who download.

reply to post by Xcathdra

When you steal something that I created, or have the property rights to, then it is stealing. Duplicating something that you arent authorized to have in the first place is in fact, stealing.

Do you consider gathering rain water stealing?

Just wondering.

ETA: Using your logic, since some states claim the rights to the gathering of rain water and outlaw the use of it on your own property, according to you it would be stealing.

reply to post by LosLobos


That is why they hate torrent users so much. While you are downloading, you are uploading it as well.

Here is a snippet from the OP's link.

Film companies pay snoops to troll BitTorrent sites, dip into active torrents and capture the IP addresses of the peers who are downloading and uploading pieces of the files.

I think, I hope, they are suing the people who download then upload files.

reply to post by TKDRL


I'm not that computer savvy per se. I have my system set up so know one can connect to my computer. Basically, I block all incoming connections. When I'm stealing...oops...downloading, I never see any upload bandwidth being used.

reply to post by LosLobos


Well the thing is by default, you begin what is called "seeding" anytime you download a torrent. I can guarantee the idiots trying to carry out this lawsuit will have something to say about that. (I will be blown away if they even attempt to see this thing through.)

I think its all bunk. There are also international laws that must be considered. Some countries don't give a hoot what you steal on the internet. What if that's where I got my files from?

Originally posted by Xcathdra
reply to post by edog11

 

Out of curiosity, who thinks the people who donwload illegally should get a pass and why? I have seen people on here argue that sharing software / music / movies / etc should be outside the law. Just curious where peoples mindset comes in that its ok to steal.

I live in Canada where our copyright laws are laughable and lowkey. Basically, in Canada, we are allowed to download as long as we don't distribute to friends or for money. Canada sees downloading as no different than you going out and buying a vhs/cassette tape and recording it off of the TV or radio. As it is, we pay a tariff of $5 - $10 on every case of burning CDs you buy. Companies are trying to force stricter laws that are more akin to the USA but we aren't all that interested. My "mindset" is that my government okays it, so why can't I?

When I really want to buy a CD of a band I love I wait until their concerts and go to a show but I'm done going in stores.

Originally posted by TKDRL
reply to post by alphabetaone

 

Erm I am pretty sure you are wrong..... If you lend a buddy a car, and they run over someone, the driver is charged, not the owner. Unless they can prove the buddy asked for the car for that purpose, and you knew about it, that would make you an accessory.

Right. But we're not talking about an accident.

We're talking about lending someone the car with the KNOWLEDGE that a crime will be committed with it.

Just like in your case. You're willfully saying you're committing the crime because you "may not like it". This is not about people who don't know what's going on, it about those who do. Anyone who got their WiFi hacked (oh I dunno, maybe something like someone claiming that they can invade their neighbors secured network for example) and someone committed the offense on it, should NOT be charged....but what kind of person would do something like that eh?

reply to post by alphabetaone


Thing is, it's not a crime in canada. It was a crime in NY, and yeah I didn't care. The only reason it is a crime is because of the feds overstepping their boundaries as usual. Copyright laws were set up to protect the little guys, from someone copying their works, and making money off ot it. The feds are in the pocket of corps, and stuck their nose into things. Spare me the morality argument, technically everyone that has ever recorded mix tapes out of songs from the radio, recorded a movie off of cable is breaking the same law.... Tell me you have never done that?