Slashdot Mirror
Operation Fastlink Nets 1000s in Pirate Sting
womanfiend writes "The Iowa City (Iowa) Press Citizen has been reporting the last two days about "'Operation Fastlink,' a multi-national investigation launched in April." Apparently, the investigation has netted a local college student hosting 13,000 titles worth a bundle of money both in simple value and liability for as many times as logs show the titles were downloaded. According to the P-C: "...'Operation Fastlink,' which targeted the underground community's hierarchy with [FBI] agents conducting more than 120 searches within 24 hours in 27 states and 11 foreign countries. At the time, authorities identified nearly 100 people as leaders or high-ranking members of international piracy groups."
Sounds like somebody's in deep doo doo."
1000's of spammers caught in sting.
Pete Carr Owner Chatmag.com
[FBI] agents conducting [..] searches [..] in [..] 11 foreign countries
Why the bloody fuck are FBI agents able to conduct searches in forgein countries? They have nothing to say outside of the US!
.... but I'm too busy formatting my HardDrives..Must destroy evidence.....mmmmm evidence
actually I am happy to see you, however that is in fact a banana in my pocket.
Sounds like somebody's in deep doo doo
Because our law enforcement is acting on the behalf of private companies (who should be filing civil suits against these people) instead of going after the rapists/murders/terrorists of the World.
Well in fairness they are still going after them -- this just seems like wasted resources to me.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
The article doesn't explain *what* these titles actually are. Are they possibly individual mp3s? In which case I would expect that many people have more on their Ipods!
I'd much rather see spammers lose their assets and livelihood than a 1000 pirates get sent down for pirating the latest blockbuster movie/crap pop song/Windows OS
Should read "From the finally-going-after-the-lawbreakers dept."
We pissed and moaned when the authorities went after the makers of P2P software, crying that they should go after the people doing the infringement.
Predictably, now that authorities are actually going after the infringers, we have something new to piss and moan about. Let's get consistent, can we?
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
Why are some people so stupid and put everything they collected online - especially when it's pirated? It's like screaming 'get me! get me!'
Sounds like somebody's in deep doo doo.
It is You! Oh ohh your in troble now. You better do a little better then format your drive.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Copy protoction still fails to stop rampant software piracy.
The software industry are busy spanking poor college students who couldn't afford over-priced software while not going after companies that use pirated software.. It's everywhere and they can afford to pay for it.
...formatting your HDs was actually destroying evidence.
-- Scientist: You aren't going to leave me here, are you? Boagh! Thump...
...That Floppy!
ungggghhhh
I can imagine that call home
"Yeah mom, I was expelled. Why? Oh, uh, um, the FBI caught me using my net connection to distribute movies illegally. Yes, yes. With the computer you bought me. What? No. The tuition you paid is not refundable. Books? I'm off campus in under 24 hours, I don't have time to sell them. Another college? This is on my permanent record. BTW you wouldn't happen to have a couple thousand to settle this case would "
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Jerry
http://www.syslog.org/
Is it obvious to anyone else that this person was caught a while back, and has a sealed plea bargain for lesser sentence somewhere whhich he got by agreeing to let them monitor his activities for a while?
Explains why he rolled over on himself so easily.
Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
"personally responsible for as much as $200,000 in losses to the industry"
That is making the assumption that everyone who pirated software would actually buy it and if they bought it they would pay full price..
http://www.hawknest.com/
Many have gotten real bold about how they go about sharing things. In the old days it was like you had to be "elite" or "31337 d00d" in order to get to the restricted files on the BBS so you could download them at 2400 baud. Typically this meant that you knew the sysop, or were a friend of a friend. We have gotten too lax in the way that people are just randomly sharing out everything. Want to share stuff and download? I agree, but take it to encrypted tunnels on IPv6.
Don't Tread on Me
"Desir, registered as a student at the University of Iowa, waived indictment and pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Des Moines. He faces a maximum 15 years in prison on felony counts of copyright infringement and conspiracy. Sentencing is set for March 18."...
Ok - I know it was wrong - but 15 years! come on, 2nd degree murder is right aroung the same Sentence for ILLINOIS, anyone else think that this is a bit much....
the investigation has netted a local college student hosting 13,000 titles
13,000 titles... awww, that's just adorable. I hope someone got a new hard drive from Santy Claus.
... why our intelligence community can't catch Osama bin Laden -- they are being used as flunkies for the MPAA/RIAA.
I feel so much safer knowing those dangerous file-sharers are off the Net and no longer threatening the American way of life.
I can now look forward to the next riveting season of MTV Cribs and see millions of dollars being wasted by morons with good lawyers.
Software Wars
From TFA:
is personally responsible for as much as $200,000 in losses to the industry
Business Software Alliance, which represents several software manufacturers, examined the two computer servers linked to Desir and reported that each contained client titles exceeding $2,500 in retail value. The $2,500 value is a benchmark in the federal criminal code.
This is, of course, complete bullshit. It's like Adobe always trying to claim that 12-year-olds warezing Photoshop are thousands of dollars worth of "losses" when there's no way in hell they would be able to buy the software. In many instances the widespread warezing of their software actually helps Adobe, since in a couple of years those 12-year-olds are going to enter their professional lives trained on Adobe's product, not their competitors'. Doesn't matter, though, piracy is wrong and you shouldn't do it (like doom2 said, if you're playing a pirated copy you're going to HELL) but these claims always strike me as ridiculous. Sure, send him to jail for a couple months or whatnot, but don't yell about how one pirate cost you bullions and bullions of dollars because it just isn't true!
Shouldn't there be at least a debate on whether or not piracy is really a bad thing?
I'm trying to think if this is similar to how the alcohol-is-illegal laws were enforced before an actual debate (and other factors) led to the legalization of alcohol.
It would really suck to go to jail for 5 years for a crime that 20 years from now is not really a crime anymore...
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those with good memory.
I, for one, applaud our law enforcement for a job well done!
It's never the college kids that are downloading illegal copies that are busted (unlike w/ music). It's the kids and adults that contribute to the warez community that provides it for download. Granted it's not as if the warez community doesn't use the software they steal, but it's because of them that hundreds of people do not purchase a game or software package. Why anyone should think they ought to get a free ride just because this or that may be percieved as worse does not hold water.
-- Scientist: You aren't going to leave me here, are you? Boagh! Thump...
It's been said a thousand times in /. and I'll say it again.
These idiots are stealing other peoples/companies stuff and redistributing
They know it's illegal but they do it anyway so they get no simpathy from me.
I speed (allot) normally doing 80-90 mph on the way to/from work. If I get busted, guess what? I got busted! I know I'm breaking the law so you won't see me whine when I get a ticket.
Convince him to join an international movie-piracy network. We'll catch him for sure then.
When I drive, I speed all of the time. I don't see anything fundamentally wrong or unsafe with the speed that I drive. But I know what the law is, whether I like it or not. And I know that I am breaking it. So if I get a speeding ticket, I deal with it like a big boy. I wish people would take the same approach to illegal file trading. If you want to do it, fine. But you know it is illegal, and there isn't much you can do about the laws. (lets be realistic, there are powerful influences behind these laws) So if you get busted, deal with it. You knew what you were doing.
www.DIYTVAntennas.com
I know its alot harder to track virus writers, but why doesn't the FBI, instead of monitoring these type of operations, spend more time trying to track down the latest virus writers?
It seems to me, that even a middle of the road virus does alot more damage than any p2p group can. Not to mention, there is malicious intent behind the people who write viruses.
In an age, where the number of viruses released each year continues to rise at an incredible rate. It would seem a better use of taxpayers fund to find the people who are trying to maliciously attack other computer user's computers.
The FBI has a considerable presence outside the United States: And: -kgj
-kgj
If I recall correctly, this was the major bust in april. This is one guy that the records finally became unsealed on. Most of this is done and over with, and the warez "community" has probably moved on.
According to dictionary.com, piracy is: Robbery committed at sea, which leads me to assume that Iowa has been moved to the high seas. . .in light of this new data, it really doesn't matter that someone downloaded a few songs, does it?
with all the free and open wi-fi points in the world, i guess it's time file sharers went wireless. i suppose that could be a viable defense, as well, if one has an open wi-fi router at home. that is, of course, until the po-po confiscates your computer and finds all your warez on it...
... stop stealing ships!
In a couple of years all of those 1000s of titles will be a buck a piece in some bargain bin and shortly after chucked into the trash "bin" out back....
Is this really worth ruining some young person's life over?...
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
Freeloaders are threatening the future of P2P technology and giving us law abiding P2P users a bad name. If you can't afford to buy the titles, go get a better job!
For Ebeneza Scrooge.... How does it feel to ruin young peoples live over something with questionable value...
In my city (D/FW Metroplex, Texas) if you drive the speed limit you will be creating a hazardous impediment to the flow of traffic and might even cause a wreck. You must go with the prevailing flow of traffic, which is usually 10-15 MPH above posted speed limits, to not get run over.
It'll just double his sentence, and then he can say "I killed a man" to the other inmates and might not get as much trouble.
I'd go for the prosecuting attorney or the family/pets of anyone involved.
"Daddy got the bad guy, but your brother died when someone burned down our house!"
Blar.
This is the first i've heard of this story, and i've been in Iowa City for almost two years now (as a student also). I completely agree with another poster who asked why he rolled over on himself, the newspaper article (can't slashdot my paper, punks!) says he was arrested this spring. Sounds like he entered a plea bargain. It seems though that he didn't actually store anything at home, by the way the article reads, he setup a colo machine, and allowed people access to it. That was probably what fucked him; I doubt the FBI et al goes after poor students in the dorms, with KaZaa running. His level of involvment was significantly higher than most.
and liability for as many times as logs show the titles were downloaded
1) Don't keep logs
2) Just because I've downloaded Debian 15 times doesn't mean I would've bought it 15 times.
3) I've downloaded the Windows updates for 98SE about 20 times in the last year. Can MS sue me because I haven't bought the other 19 copies of Windows?
Inferences suck... laws suck... copyrights suck... The US sucks... I can't move because it would take too long to walk to Canada (and Canadians are all uptight about US'ans anyways).
+++ATHZ 99:5:80
Me.
Anyone who's not wearing a uniform.
This way we can pay to keep them in prison, then continue to pay when they end up going back and back and back because they can't ever get a job anywhere.
But we sure showed them we're serious about getting tough, didn't we? Ha! Just like getting tough on drugs. That's been a really successful program, too. Got tough on those druggies to where today the cost of drugs is...well,lower than it used to be but that's besides the point. You gotta throw those bastards in jail! Not a grain of common sense, but we're definitely tough.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
There's a huge difference between a speeding ticket and a 15 year jail sentence though. Of course, there's also a huge difference between dying in a road accident and (arguably) losing a little profit.
Wow. The law's kinda screwed up.
.../then distributing it online is personally responsible for as much as $200,000 in losses to the industry, according to federal records unsealed Thursday. .torrent file would cause that much 'loss'. The problem is not the warez groups, or those ftp servers. They are just hobbiest settlements. They in no way aim to spread copyrighted materials to the masses. Its pathetic to US government fail in the battle of p2p and turn its eyes on those warez groups. As in Iraq war, it showed its inpotent in terrorism war and find an innocent area of the world.
So what? With hundreds of seeds, just one
Well P2P should stop, crack spreading (how many years astalavista.box.sk is open?) sites should stop, because they are getting benefit (with showing ads) from illegal activity. But those ftp sites are not spreading anything to masses. Just to close users.
So if FBI wants to do a good job, they should find people who is getting benefit from those cracks, rips. Not those having that as a hobby, and either having no benefit from it and do not harm anybody. Real thiefs are the p2p networks, sites spreading warez to masses with popups and pr0n banners. While the are still wide open, what FBI did was plain bullsh*t.
Every couple months the FBI does one of these stings and within 2 weeks everything is back to normal.
It's like trying to stop drugs. You arrest a bunch of people and in 2 weeks someone has already replaced them.
The software industry are busy spanking poor college students who couldn't afford over-priced software
/. modders.
I was laughing so hard when I read this, then I read that someone modded it "insightful." Now I seriously question the rationality of
And I suppose we should leave the poor drug dealers alone because, I mean, they're only in their low-to-mid 20's and grew up in such poor neighborhoods. It would be so cruel to go after these poor kids who had it so rough. I mean, how can they afford such over-priced 5 karat diamond rings, necklaces, and earings? We should be going after the diamond cartels instead!
So cry me a river. In the mean time, this kid got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. So yea, he deserves a spanking.
http://www.whoppix.net
Hey, I heard Suprnova.org was shut down, was it because of Operation Fastlink?
-- There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, And those who don't.
1. Package a floppy disk and an eyepatch in a silkscreened ZipLoc bag.
2. Distribute to computer stores and other retail outlets that sell software.
3. Profit!
Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.
no text.
For example: This priority -- I can't even believe that a group of serious adults gets up in the morning with the idea that they're working to end the vast and dangerous conspiracy known as the "bong industry".
I can accept that they'd go after commercial counterfeiters and pirates of intellectual property, but given the extent of fraud and other naughtyness associated with spam (ie, selling prescription drugs), why hasn't the FBI gone after that before college kids trading bad movies they'll never watch and probably won't even have five years from now (hard disk crashes, changes in life priorities, etc), let alone wouldn't have bought or paid to see anyway (and despite the fact that the movies have probably broken even or made a profit *anyway*).
I'm sure if they actually *did* investigate spam via stings, they'd find massive tax evasion, fraud, violations of more substantive drug laws, and a bunch of otherwise legitimate corporations collecting a tidy profit by selling services needed to run a spam operation. Which is probably why they won't make the effort -- whenever big business gets involved, somehow the law doesn't seem to apply.
Oh well, at least we'll know that "college kids" and "bong makers" can be safely removed from the Bad Guy checklist.
Mods on crack... gave me an offtopic... I swear, there is some social clique of mods with a self-confidence deficiency which causes them to be reactionary to any reference to their lack of intellect. Tip: I've got more karma than mods have points...
Residual data is an urban legend. Don't believe the spook-show you read from the FBI/CIA.
Fill with 254. Filling with 0 or 1 may, on fast fills, leave the other bits. That's the origin of your residual effect.
If "residual effect" were real, why don't you see random r/w errors on a regular basis?
+++ATHZ 99:5:80
Osama, who is currently staying in the cave next door was just heard breathing a massive sigh of relief. Now that all the international "intelligence" agencies have decided he was "too much hassle" and instead are now going after "The College Student", he can at last go out for nice walks in the mountains. The event coincides with an update of the Evil Doers database, which following reshuffle has file sharing students in pole position. They are now seen as posing the greatest risk to the American Way Of Life.
Gawd Bless America.
This is not the sig you are looking for...
Why is it that when someone gets busted for copyright infringement, the Slashbot hive buzzes with the effort of finding the next "viable defense" to justify copyright infringement.
Wouldn't a better way to preserve P2P fair use be to actively discourage abuse of the tools?
Or isn't the actual goal here the preservation of fair use?
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
Residual effect deals with the alignment of the heads on the disks. For each write, they arent perfectly in alignment with the last one, so older tracks get left as portions. The reason you dont see random r/w errors on a regular basis is that the disk itself masks them from you, they happen, but the disk wrote the data in several seperate places for just this purpose. A 40GB disk can actually hold a LOT more than 40GB, if you discount error correct and just wrote everything once to the disk.
If "residual effect" were real, why don't you see random r/w errors on a regular basis?
Well we live in an Analog world but we like to store information digitally. So what digital equiptment does is goes well anything over x volts will be a 1 and anything under it will be 0. While the data for 1 and 0 is normally pritty close there is a possibilty that say you move a 1 to a 0 you had 5 volt to 1 volt so it is still recorded as a 0 and if you put it back it may be 6 volt by adding 5 vold then when you bring it back to 0 again it may be 0.01 volt again. The reason why we dont use analog computers is becaue analog data is not always predictible so that is why digital is popular now because it uses cutoff of analog data to make its reasioning.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
...are the ones who base their income on artificial scarcity, enforced with laws. The enfroced scarcity reduces the real value the information could provide, giving only symbolic value in return.
Hey, what an idea: let's constantly use real human resources in order to prevent others from using an unlimited resource! And charge for it too!
Is: those people get sentences which are the equivalent of the sentence for murder one.
This you can protest: why not fine them instead ?
Or, to go along your analogy, why not sentence you to 15 years for speeding, knowing that there is a chance you will hurt someone else ?
It is the absurdity of the punishment that strikes me odd here.
Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
You're better off just robbing a bank and buying the software, if you can't afford it! Less jail time if you're caught!
On a more serious note, these guys aren't in big trouble for using/sharing pirated material, they're into mass distribution. The fellow who's looking at a maximum of 15 years is there because he's 1337 and is distributing tons copyrighted material for the heck of it. If you don't want the time, don't do the crime. Pretty easy to avoid this one.
I'd want the help of law enforcement if someone was stealing things from my place of business. I don't see that it's all that much different to have help with the piracy issue. It's true that the developer doesn't physically lose anything, but surely the developer's license ought to be respected. If you don't like the licensing or cost of Photoshop, use The Gimp. There's really no excuse.
I keep forgetting my place. Jesus is for losers. Why do I still play to the crowd?
Their only hope lies in Software Patents. Assuming there is a plan to "eliminate" piracy.
Less pirating means less money for software companies in the end game, in my opinion.
It starts with cheaper software due to lack of pirating, and an initial surge in profits, but free Open Source projects will become far more valuable, gain more attention, and benefit from more contributors. Make groups of individual's with few resources desperate, and they need little other motivation.
Focus more on the next step of the plan, threat of Software Patents, while using their first step to our advantage.
What exactly does the arrest of criminals by constitutial and fair procedures have to do with "My Rights Online"?
Has software piracy become a right? Perhaps sometime when I wasn't looking?
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
I think the reason they go after pirates is deeper than just being in the media industries pocket. Its pretty obvious that the third world is going to catch up with the rich world pretty soon, especially while we outsource anything labour intensive abroad be it industry or services. If the rich world holds all IP the third world will still be sucked dry by us maintaining status quo.
With the politicians thinking that media or "IP" will be the next big thing after the industrial revolution and the big export industry in the near future. Thus they are running around shitscared that it will just fail and everyone just share everything, effectivly killing an entire industri albeit a fictious one.
HTTP/1.1 400
Thousands arrested in pirate sting. Still no word on the fate of the confiscated parrots.
"In a 32-bit world, you're a 2-bit user. You've got your own newsgroup, alt.total.loser." -Weird Al
pirates are theives who steal software, and sell it to the masses, not people who give away programs they have no right too. there's also the subject of abandonware.
Do you really think these folks had time to actually use all those apps? These are merely the mega-collector types, and they trade mostly with OTHER mega-collector types. Sure, there is a bit of lost revenue on the fringe of the network, when some freelance consultant who really needs a copy of Visio to get a small project done but doesn't make the effort to afford it, hops on his local P2P and grabs it, or when a kid who can't afford squat doesn't want to nag his parents to death to buy some game and just downloads it. Most SERIOUS software users, however, DO INDEED purchase, because they want the support plan, they want the upgrade path, they want the paper documentation, they don't have the time to keep looking for new illegal license keys, etc.
The rest are just packrats trading with packrats to see who can make the biggest pile. Which makes them more like "freelance software archivists/librarians" than "thieving anti-capitalist contraband distributors".
Here's an idea - let's combine the educational institutions with the correctional institutions! After all, what college student doesn't copy music, or movies, or drink under age, etc?
Why do we spend our tax dollars strong-arming our kids? Why do we do NOTHING about international piracy, especially in China?!? Oh, because it's so much easier to go after our own citizens. We would not want to hamper the rights of the international pirates, only our own citizens.
Does any part of our government represent the US Citizen any more?
"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away" -- "Step Right Up", Tom Waits
Commercial software is good in a way and bad in others. Blah blah blah.
I like open source stuff. I get warm fuzzies any time I run it for anything I do on a daily basis. I don't waste my time with games... haven't for years... (one day I found myself calling in sick to work because I wanted to play a game... omg... I'm addicted... so I quit... after I finished the mission of course!) But I can see where there are plenty of areas where certain commercial apps are 100% necessary. (Use photoshop because the gimp isn't quite "there" yet...)
I personally, think "misappropriation" of software for personal and non-commercial use should be "ignored" though it should never be considered "okay." (I think games, if they are good and worthy should be paid for as a means of applause.) But the commerial benefit of misappropriated software is way out there "wrong."
These college kids are not the users of the software. I remember back in those days myself. It was just cool to try to get the latest "whatever" was out there and share it. When Win95 was new, it was the coolest thing ever to play with. Sleek new UI, came with TCP/IP already and a browser too! MSIE was my favorite back in those days... it was included with the OS! How convenient! And free? Who could beat that?
Are they really causing a lot of damage to the industry? I just don't know the answer to that question... I just don't know. Do I feel like these kids are "evil" and just want to do damage? Hell no. Should they be shut down? Hell yeah! Should they be allowed to lead a normal life afterward! Hell yeah... the first time only. Do it again and f@ck'em!
That's my few cents anyway...
Regardless of who takes the blame, what are the consequences?
Blame
Law enforcement? Maybe. On one hand, Law enforcement officials have the responsibility of enforcing the law. They do not write the laws, judge the validity of the laws, or assign punishment to those convicted of violating the laws.On the other hand, federal law enforcement is an hierarchy subject to political pressure. A gentleman with whom I occasionally work is an undercover federal agent originally tasked to fight against child endangerment. His focus was online child baiting. He was very good at this, and brought some serious slime-bags to justice. It felt good to help.
Now, this same person is fighting terrorism. I support the move, because despite the fact that I think that child predators need to be stopped, it won't do the kids much good if they are blown up by some pseudo-religious maniac filled with unjustifiable hatred against all life.
Bottom line: Do I personally think that the priorities are what they should be, in an ideal world? Hell no. Do I think someone in the organization rolled over and kissed ass? Hell yes.
Do we blame the software/record companies? Yes, in large part. They should charge a fair price for a good product. I was in a business years ago. My former partner and his wife imbezzled a lot of money from me. This was hard cash- not "potential profit." We had hard evidence, but little money in pocket for legal fees. Did the FBI rush to our aid? Not as such. People will rip you off. Move on, learn to cope and take steps to decrease the frequency and severity in the future.
Consequences
We live in a fundamentally capitalistic world. People are money/reward motivated. The idea is simple: I work hard. I do something clever. I get quantifiable material rewards. A lot of people do amazing things under this system. "Gosh those 65-80 hour weeks really paid off!" Take away the reward, and you lose much of the work. I know there are exceptions to this. I use Linux. My current company contributes to a couple GPL'd projects in addition to writing closed-source software. If a potentially paying client stole some of our software, you can bet I'd be pissed. I have however looked the other way when our software was copied and used without permission or payment. It is free publicity under the right circumstances.One final thought- what is the consequence of the current arms race between copyright holders and the illegal copiers and/or distributors of their intellectual property? Virtually any Slashdot reader is most likely convinced that file sharing is not going away. Most are also equally convinced that those opposed to file sharing are not going to change their mind. A very likely outcome I would argue, is the development of Cell networked and encrypted protocols that borrow from time-honored practices of the intelligence community. Now what scares me in this scenario is the probable secondary users of such networks- both terrorists and organized crime.
"Laugh Quietly- tomorrow is your turn to be rong."
50 women were raped, 100 people were murdered, and thousands were robbed.
Man, am I glad we have our priorities straight!
Repant. Thy end is sheer.
Why not just pull the hard drive and put it in un-connected machine? Or drop it at your sister's house for a while in the closet?
Don't you have.
1. Kiddie porn sites
2. Drug Smugglers
3. Kidnappers
4. Mafia members
5. Terrorists
to bust? I mean college students trading music that no one would pay for anyway? Seems like a waste of resources.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Why on earth is the parent modded "flamebait"? Just look at all the 9/11 lies of the GWB regime!
Topic 1:
The music industry cried rape with the birth of the cassette tape, the Movie industry cried rape with the birth of the VHS.
The electronic filesharing movement is fundamentally different because of the sheer capability to move copyrighted material.
Pirates of the 80's actually had to move a physical tape. Still they profited greatly. Today, pirates move DVDs, software, and CDs both physically and electronically. The actual pirates are still running free in other countries, importing their crap illegally, very much like the drug industry, and they are still profiting greatly.
We keep moving the industry's cheese, and they keep dying in the maze.
Topic 2:
Both the FBI and the media industries have lost their focus. The media is supposed to be a entertaining facet of our lives, not a ruling factor. To the Media people, entertain, dont govern. To the FBI, investigate and protect, stop taking corporate bribes.
Topic 3:
Who doesn't have 13000 files on their PC. Thats around 1083 CDs (12 songs each). Over the last 10 years of buying CDs, that about a purchase of 9 CDs per month. Not to insaine. Of course, I have downloaded songs I purchased on cassette. I consider it a free upgrade. I have also downloaded songs that I like, but are such bubblegum sh!t stains, I would never pay for them. I consider the bombardment of Ads via TV and radio payment enough.
No one wants to buy crap, start producing some new innovate music rather than pushing your formulaic junk unto us.
Thank you, please drive through.
Looks like it is time to replace your Personality Module. You are a bit to clingy, guess I better replace your fuser to
...this video.
(disclaimer: I've never been able to find a non-evil version of it)
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
-tWB
I'm sorry, but this posting just reeks of self-serving BS. Lots of statements about "how great we were".
The odds are extremely good that the problem was your management - not the pirates. Well-run management can deal with pirates. A case in point - you apparently never did file criminal charges, did you?
Opps. It kind of makes one wonder what other business mistakes you folks did. And which aren't mentioned. I'd bet money that these are what sunk you.
Cheap, pirated copies will only get one so far. In fact, it's superb marketing for the real product (the one with real support). What counts is the technology, the imagination of the people involved, and the management of the organization.
Patents and copyrights only help to prop up those companies which would fail otherwise. And they keep out the ones who can actually be successful.
But hey, maybe I'm wrong. I'm willing to admit it. Tell us the name of this supposed company, and let us shine the spotlight on it and analyze it for ourselves; rather than dealing with this one-sided propaganda piece that you've served up.
Until we can all inspect it and debate it for ourselves, you've just served up a fairy-tale IMO. And quite frankly, it just reeks of BS.
THEY AREN'T STEALING!
are you new here or something?
-metric
I agree with most people's comments here....yes what he was doing was illegal and we shouldn't feel sorry for him, but also yes he shouldn't serve 15 years or be sued for millions of dollars. But what good I do think comes from this is it shows others that its a "real" crime. I know in the past i have shared software or knew others who had, and we all figured "eh this is too small potatoes for anyone to care about", because at the time no one was being prosecuted. But it was still a REAL crime. I'm certain this bust made at least one or two people rethink sharing files on their network. And I think thats the point of these high profile things is to make the reality of the crimes apparent to kids. How many people here stopped sharing files on Kazaa when the RIAA started suing people? I know i sure as hell did.
releases at face value ? I highly doubt they caught any of the big fish in the warez release scene. What a waste of tax payer money.
Cut off the BALLS / Remove the EGGS. They should not be allowed to reproduce. Simple. Effective. Not immediate results, but a generation from now we'll be free of the scum.
...we have this in Norway, and it is one of the looniest laws on the books. What it effectively means is that once you've reached a certain "treshold", crime is free. Have I shoplifted 20 times? Well, if I do it a 21st time, I'll get one more, but less for each one so it makes absolutely no difference if I do. It is paradise for career criminals, and does nothing for the rest.
Argue it how you like, but he does not seem like a casual pirate to me. He seems to have been actively leading a criminal life by piracy for quite some time. I don't see any prinicipally wrong with him getting a much harsher sentence than a casual pirate. I wish it was the same here in Norway (here we have a guy who's convicted of breaking & entering in somewhere between 500 and 600 cabins - he's still walking around, sigh).
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
The only thing this poor guy is going to be sharing now is a jail cell or at least all the money he will make for some time to come.
Find where local [or indy] bands play and pay the cover, buy their cds, etc...
The kids being arrested for this are too young to get into places that serve alcoholic beverages.
Welcome to Capitalism. Perhaps you've heard of it? The most important insitution in capitalism is private property. It follows that the destruction of private property should carry a harsher sentence than the destruction of human life. Other cultures may value human life above private property but in capitalism we do not.
Expect lots of piracy justification responses to your post, and expect those replies to get mysteriously modded up. Pirates seem to live in a dream world where they have mentally blocked out the consequences of their actions, often with bizarre justifications ("It's too expensive for me to buy"). They are freeloaders who get bitter when the free ride is taken away. There is a big difference from the free-ness of the OSS world and the free-ness as in the -loader variety. It's as though Linux newbies apply one set of value to the other as though they are related. Just because you get TuxRacer for free doesn't mean you have a right to Doom 3 for free.
Slashdotters only care when GPL source code is "stolen." In any other situation, however, copyright never matters, and anyone attacking piracy or defending themselves from it is evil, "money-grubbing," and so on. When they go after individual downloaders--the very thing Slashdotters suggested they do during the Napster trial--they get attacked. It's easier to demonize then to address the issue.
someone that copies a program or song that doesn't belong to them is clearly doing something illegal and that has been illegal since the constitution was written
Copying a >= 30 year old song (e.g. anything performed by Elvis or the Beatles) was not unlawful when the copyright clause of the U.S. Constitution was implemented in 1790.
Maybe enough enforcement of this will get the idea accross that you are free to excahnge your _own_ ideas. You do _not_ have cart-blanche to exchange other peoples ideas whithout their permission. Something I seem to notices has been framed as "civil disobiedience" in these forums. Because, as we all know, downloading movies and music and books wihout paying for them is an inaliable human right. Obviously their unfair pricing practices have volated me as a person.
you completely missed the AC's point: the problem is not that there are FBI agent outside of the US, the problem is that FBI agent conduct searches outside of the US!
No, I didn't miss the AC's point. Perhaps you didn't read my post clearly, or failed to grasp the implications:
"Legats not only help international police agencies with training activities, they facilitate resolution of the FBI's domestic investigations which have international leads. The Legat program focuses on deterring crime that threatens America such as drug trafficking, international terrorism, and economic espionage."
Seems to me that "facilitating resolution of the FBI's domestic investigations" and "deterring crime that threatens America" might reasonably include FBI searches outside the US.
The FBI has a long and sorry history of conducting illegal searches inside the US -- why would the agency use lesser capabilities abroad?
-kgj
-kgj
"Aren't some of these companies small or midsized businesses that will go OUT of business if they can't get paid for what they're producing?"
I guess they'll have to go out of business then. What is the alternative, a police state with mandated DRM on everything, along with cameras making sure you're not copying what your not suppose to? Don't forget the cameras to make sure you are not reading anything without paying the authors for their hard work, including this sentence: That'll be $20 please.
We live in a digital age. Copyright should be reformed along the lines that free distribution is allowed for personal or non-commerical use. If the parties do not or will not reform they will quick see that people will do so anyway, it is difficult to keep information unfree in a free society. If noncommerical use is allowed then these 'pirates' will quickly see their cash flow evaporate, or better yet - the media companies should realize they are competing against free of charge distribution models (P2P) since the monopoly pricing that worked in the past does not work today.
-Commissioner Pravin Lal, Sid Meier's Alpha Centaurito GET access to other people massive shares so you can find some rare, hard to find file, you have to SHARE a massive ammount.
It's probably happening right now as we speak. Some new worm/virus goes out, turns said PC into an anonymous proxy, and someone decides to route their illegal crap through your cable connection. Since you have no log of the intrusion, you're the one that has to prove your own innocense. (But, on a side note, if some of the music/software/movie vendors got off their high-horse and sold their product at a resonable rate, TONS more people would buy it. $20 for a CD? Hell now... Put it on a shelf for $5 or $10, there's going to be a higher number of purchases... Simple economics.)
Morals and Ethics still fail to stop rampant software piracy.
The Software companies are themselves to blame for Piracy. I know from a couple of MS OEM retailers in India, their approach was to
1. Let the Pirated copies of Windows be installed by a user. Let him be used to the it till the time he can not make a switch back to an alternative.
2. Go and ask for a ridiculus licensing fee, threatening to take action if not complied.
I worked for a steel company and fortunately our Net Admin was a smart ass. When MS came asking for a huge licensing fee, he bought 300 licenses of MS Office for the (Computer Dumb) execs. And he made rest of us learn Star Office 5. When MS Vendor came to know of this they came up with niceties like bulk discount and free training.
The whole point here I am trying to make is Software industry is not so honest as the RIAA or MPAA to stop the trade of their products.
"If I recall correctly, this was the major bust in april. This is one guy that the records finally became unsealed on. Most of this is done and over with, and the warez "community" has probably moved on."
Yeah. And everyone knows what a dent those arrests have put in the Warez industry. It sure seems like it's a lot bigger to me now.
This is the eternal game of cat-n-mouse.
The really funny thing is that the RIAA/MPAA is sponsering a new round of high-technology which will make it easier to track these people down. Of course, this "new tech" is all based upon the obvious holes of the current scheme (and that includes bittorrent, btw).
On the other side of the coin, we see the developers moving towards the next generation of protocols, which will make these new tech-gizmos obsolete and mostly useless.
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/April/04_crm_263. htm
Send thank you notes to:
The ongoing investigations were assisted by various intellectual property trade associations, including the Business Software Alliance, the Entertainment Software Association, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America.
That industry is privitized, and is intended to contain the offender in order to keep AV software selling service subscriptions.
Perhaps if there was some way to privitize anti-piracy enforcement, it'd get ignored as a crime too.
" The wholesale looting of others intellectual property is a very destructive thing."
:). This maybe one of the few free things we can read in our nice DRM future:
Not any more destructive than turning our society into a police state with mandated DRM on everything i'd guess.
Since I dislike short replies but do like free stories I'll share one with you all
--
The Right to Read
by Richard Stallman
[image of a Philosophical Gnu]
Table of Contents
* Author's Note
* References
* Other Texts to Read
This article appeared in the February 1997 issue of Communications of the ACM (Volume 40, Number 2).
(from "The Road To Tycho", a collection of articles about the antecedents of the Lunarian Revolution, published in Luna City in 2096)
For Dan Halbert, the road to Tycho began in college--when Lissa Lenz asked to borrow his computer. Hers had broken down, and unless she could borrow another, she would fail her midterm project. There was no one she dared ask, except Dan.
This put Dan in a dilemma. He had to help her--but if he lent her his computer, she might read his books. Aside from the fact that you could go to prison for many years for letting someone else read your books, the very idea shocked him at first. Like everyone, he had been taught since elementary school that sharing books was nasty and wrong--something that only pirates would do.
And there wasn't much chance that the SPA--the Software Protection Authority--would fail to catch him. In his software class, Dan had learned that each book had a copyright monitor that reported when and where it was read, and by whom, to Central Licensing. (They used this information to catch reading pirates, but also to sell personal interest profiles to retailers.) The next time his computer was networked, Central Licensing would find out. He, as computer owner, would receive the harshest punishment--for not taking pains to prevent the crime.
Of course, Lissa did not necessarily intend to read his books. She might want the computer only to write her midterm. But Dan knew she came from a middle-class family and could hardly afford the tuition, let alone her reading fees. Reading his books might be the only way she could graduate. He understood this situation; he himself had had to borrow to pay for all the research papers he read. (10% of those fees went to the researchers who wrote the papers; since Dan aimed for an academic career, he could hope that his own research papers, if frequently referenced, would bring in enough to repay this loan.)
Later on, Dan would learn there was a time when anyone could go to the library and read journal articles, and even books, without having to pay. There were independent scholars who read thousands of pages without government library grants. But in the 1990s, both commercial and nonprofit journal publishers had begun charging fees for access. By 2047, libraries offering free public access to scholarly literature were a dim memory.
There were ways, of course, to get around the SPA and Central Licensing. They were themselves illegal. Dan had had a classmate in software, Frank Martucci, who had obtained an illicit debugging tool, and used it to skip over the copyright monitor code when reading books. But he had told too many friends about it, and one of them turned him in to the SPA for a reward (students deep in debt were easily tempted into betrayal). In 2047, Frank was in prison, not for pirate reading, but for possessing a debugger.
Dan would later learn that there was a time when anyone could have debugging tools. There were even free debugging tools available on CD or downloadable over the net. But ordinary users started using them to bypass copyright monitors, and eventually a judge ruled that this had become their principal use in actual practice. This meant they were illegal; the debuggers' developers were sent to prison.
Programmers still needed debugging tools, of co
The statement is NOT making an assumption OR using false math, you just need to read more carefully. If it had said "personally responsible for $200,000 in losses" you would be correct, but the author didn't say that. Read what you excerpted. It says "as much as". If you don't understand the phrase, it means it could be any amount 'UP TO' $200,000. That includes other amounts, like $10.00.
/Inigo
And you were modded insightful!
You mods keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
"When they are in college they are usually 17 youngest and most likely 18-19 so they are no longer kids and they should know right from wrong by now"
Excuse me, right from wrong? I have little doubt that sharing certain kinds of information is *illegal* but immoral? I don't think so.
Feel free to give me your arguement though as how an artificial state created barrier (called copyright) against information flow is a moral imperative to be followed.
You fail to explain how it results in a loss. According to you a person who would never have bought the software results in a loss to the company. What about a person who has never used a computer before? Are all computer illiterate people costing Adobe money? Suppose they receive a pirated copy of Photoshop as a gift but they lack access to a PC or electricity? If you install a pirated copy of Photoshop on a computer used only by your cat, does this result in a loss for Adobe, and if so, why? If you download a pirated copy of Photoshop, burn it to cdrom, then smash the cdrom into thousands of tiny pieces of plastic with a baseball bat, does this result in a loss to Adobe? If this does not result in a loss but still "hurts adobe" please explain how.
- Confused
The need to change the system is clear, in my eyes. We are placing a higher priority on softer crimes that hurt only a corporation than we are of harder crimes where people hurt other people. The problem is not in government. Government is elected in this country by YOU. If there were enough people out there getting outraged by this, then it would stop. The real problem is that the politicians KNOW that the group of people whothis targets the most 18-30 year olds, tend not to vote anyways. So passing a law that targets them is actually a good move. "I can say I am fighting crime and not hurt the people who vote for me". Best of both worlds for them. That group of people, 18-30 yrs old, sealled their fate in the last national election. They were supposed to be out in force, they never showed up
You guys are screwwing yourselves and then complaining about it! Here are the US Census stats. Look at them yourself, 18-24, one of the largest segments of the population right now. 38 percent registered to vote. The election results say that only about 25% of those registered actually voted. 45-65 age group, 70% registered and actually nearly 75% of them voted too. Who is screwwing who here? If you actually voted, I would bet you the politicians would take sharp notice over your issues or fear losing their jobs. I would personally guarantee it! Those numbers have to drastically change before ANYTHING is going to happen though.
I suppose you could look at it that way.
When I think of "One World Goverment", what comes to mind is: Coca-Cola; Nike; Wal-Mart; etc.
-kgj
-kgj
And what about my right to take GPLed software, ignore the copy right, and redistribute it as a commercial product?
So what is the RIAA going to do when they show up to someone's house, like myself, who has probably >5000 LPs, not including singles or CDs. Are we going to spend years sitting around proving, yes I have a legit copy of X recording?
Doesn't make much sense to me.
Have you considered that it has more to do with /.'s editorial slant than the truth? Which busts get posted here, the college students (whio make up a significant percentage of /.'s readership), or large corporations (who don't)?
/. prefer to post "800,000,000 college students arrested for choosing Liberal Arts majors" stories than "Scumsoft Corp was fined $100,0000.00(US) for using one illegal copy of MS Paint" as nobody really cares if a corporation gets busted.
Trust me, large companies get busted for using pirated software all of the time. The BSA audits large companies and even government bodies, all the time looking for pirated software.
The difference here is that most corporations who get busted are not distributing said software openly on the Internet. Most of them are using illegal copies of said software in house. And the fact that the editors at
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
He includes a false implication (implying erasing HDs would actually destroy evidence) in his attempt at humor and gets modded up for being funny. I correct him and getting modded as a troll.
Insightful moderation.
-- Scientist: You aren't going to leave me here, are you? Boagh! Thump...
Seriously, the more they crack down on warezed apps, the more people will be open to free alternatives.
I can see a world 2 years from now where DRM has effectively killed Windows and everyone uses Linux.
An act that is immoral is immoral regardless of whether or not it's against the law, and an act that's morally OK is morally OK regardless of whether or not it's against the law.
Copyright violation is an immoral act, period--regardless of the law. If it's not against the law in a certain jurisdiction, then it should be--or that government becomes illegitimate, because it is failing in its sole proper purpose of protecting individual rights.
"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"
If every /. user who replied to this would take the time to write to their newspaper/s about the injustice of a 15 year penalty and the glaring inaccuracies between who commits a crime, how hyped it is, and how much money is spent on lawyers as to what sentence is actually given. The judges and administration involved might be put between a rock and a hard place.
With libraries, you don't retain a permanent copy of the original work. There is a convenience factor as well. It's much more convenient for me to pay $50 for the techinical book I need and have it around any time than to check it out once every two weeks to avoid being fined. Not to mention it's difficult, if at all possible, to find new works in a public library.
So I think your analogy is a bit wrong. A copier might be a better one, but copying a book page by page wouldn't be very convenient either. Plus you'd probably pay more for your single "copy" of the book in paper, toner, etc... than if you bought it off the shelf.
The point is there really isn't a good analogy for sharing copyrighted files.
Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
Pirates were just privateers with out a license..
I think this will eventually end up the same way as it did with Microsoft. People will start switching to alternatives ('linux'), the company ('Microsoft') will begin to realize that having people dependent on your product and getting it for free is better than them not paying at all, which will cause them to relax their anti-piracy operations.
Capitalism is like drugs. You want to keep your users hooked while at the same time ensuring that you make your money. Piracy makes for good publicity, but without proper enforcement, there runs the risk of losing money. At least the way that I see it. I don't think the general rule is that piracy hurts business.
The only clear solution is to not buy that shit. I can't remember the last time I saw a movie I didn't forget about upon leaving the theater. Or the last time I listened to a new song that didn't get dated within a week. Anyways, it's time to fight that media addiction! Support the independent artists, even if they suck.
Usual "Speeding" scenario:
Empty ~straight road as long you can see (hundeds of meters) behind and before you. You drove 20..30+ km/h last 40 km, going +10 if you catch up with somebody and then continuing.
Then ~1 km before the limit gets upped by +20 policeman comes out of the bush and says, that well, you are danger to yourself and everybody around you, and we have to remind you of this with this little piece of paper.
final comment of policeman: "now, kilometer from here begins +20 area, race there."
moral of the story (besides my bad english):
by doing this most of the time I avearage 2 tickets in a year. Only times I have been in a car crash were in the city streets. considering all the statistics and FUD, I should be dead.
Point: driving faster than allowed with minimal car passing technical examination by person barely able to notice red lights in front of him is not ignoring laws of physics or mutilating children jumping in front of cars. It's about "choosing appropriate speed for current conditions".
I understand that this individual has commited a crime, by violating copyrights. What I do not understand is why companies such as Adobe charge so much for thier software. $400 for Photoshop seems a little steep to me. Perhaps if software prices were lower there would not be this huge warez problem. Until the prices drop I will continue to use Open Source, and there will continue to be warez on the nets.
Flamebait my ass, that's some bullshit. He's making a valid point.
Fucking moderators with their heavy handed political tactics
Think of a recording head magnetizing a spot on the disk. The medium itself will have a strongly magnetized spot with a less stongly magnetized area around it. It's careful measurement of interferance patterns in these what you could call wakes that can be used to recover overwritten data. Overwriting several times with random data makes this very hard if not impossible to do. The wakes are there regardless of how perfect track alignment is.
I got this from an FDA employee that researches this stuff at a law enforcement conference. I really wanted to know why they can't stop the "prescription drugs without a prescription" spam. I'm not happy about it because with it divided by states it would require concerted action by multiple states to get anything done.
There are a couple of deterrents to shoplifting - getting caught, people thinking it is wrong, stuff like that. A lot of people - not quite most, but it is getting there - think there is nothing wrong with downloading music and movies. Your real chance of getting caught is almost non-existent now and is likely to stay that way for a long time. So, why would anyone pay $5 for a movie when they can get it for free? Quality? Minor hiccup. When people start ripping DVDs and posting them with high-bandwidth pipes the quality will go up. Too many people on "sharing" services are on low-bandwidth DSL or even dial-up connections still.
You know he'd just punch the accelerator, hit the kid, and then drive off. Why is this even up for discussion?
"Laws protect you against those that would do you harm."
bullshit.
microsoft has done plenty of harm to me, yet the law hasn't done squat to protect me. microsoft has gotten off with not even a slap on the wrist in the last federal antitrust trial, which gives them a green light to continue their incredible abuse (with a wink from the current administration of course).
laws only protect the interests of those with deep pockets, the rest of us get screwed.
That's because you and your friend are windows zombies, preying on other Window Zombies brains. Any "residue" left over by you Windows Zombies is purely ironic. You eat eachothers knowledge, and shit what's left of it..
It's pretty damn easy to wipe your tracks clean with a couple, and i mean couple, clever "dd" commands.
1. overwirte all addressble regions with some character.
2. take the 2's complement of that character, use that character and write it.
3. then pick a random character and write it.
4. verify.
* That's the common procedure used by securing all government sources of media, before it hits the scrap shredder.
Just formatting your hard drive is about as effective as wiping your ass once before the flush.
That when they shut suprnova.org down, the Azureus bittorrent client on Sourceforge got 3 million downloads in 2 days? Someone needs to go to Washington and beat everyone in sight with the Cluebat: Trying to resist the Internet is futile. Stop trying.
"Transfer logs obtained from the computer service show Desir transferred numerous titles between Aug. 16, 2003, and April 2, 2004. Records show he copied and distributed at least 10 items every six months"
Or 15 times in the 9 months he was operating.
One year in jail per file transfer.
Beautiful country!
With libraries, you don't retain a permanent copy of the original work. There is a convenience factor as well.
How many people read a book more than once? Same thing with a DVD - you watch it once and then 99.9% of the time it sits on the shelf doing nothing. In other words, retaining a permanent copy is of trifling little value to the vast majority of consumers. The value is in the first watching or reading of it. Sure there are technical books, but you walk into any public library and you'll find that the books meant for "entertainment" outnumber the reference manuals by at least 100 to 1.
Thus, libraries do definitely "hurt" the market for books (and increasingly for DVDs) which is why you get things like Pat Schroeder attacking librarians.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
For more information, the DOJ has posted an article on its site talking about the sting. It's *old*, but still relevant for those that are new to the topic._ crm_263. htm
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/April/04
With all due respect, your posting is just BS.
Any software company which can't compete when someone offers a 25% discount is just run wrong.
When hundreds of copies of your software turn up elsewhere, you should be selling *service*. As in upgrades, support, training, and new features. It's just that simple.
Secondly, any software of note should be sold through the various distribution channels. Those suckers want 30-50% off list, for starters. And your supposed fairy-tale company couldn't compete at those levels?
Thirdly, it is absolutely stupid to compete on price in the software biz. If you are, you aren't going to be around for long.
I'm sorry, my original statement stands. This story is pure BS. Even if such a company did exist, it was clearly incompetantly run.
The bottom line is that your management put your mythical company out of business. It wasn't the pirates.
> If, as the Counting Crows put it,
> "They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
> And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them..."
I just find it interesting that this particular song was chosen as an example.
How many artists have sung this particular song? Eight? Nine? More? Oh well.
All this is - is a big scare thought up by the BSA to scare people into not buying bootleg music and games. See coming up to Christmas they don't want the legitimate market losing revenue. To that end they phone up their good buddies at the DHS and get the FBI to rustle up some bogus raids on some students residents. Do you seriously think that a multi-national piracy group is operated out of someones bedroom.
What 'international piracy groups' ? Some student makes a Warez site is all. A total non story thought up by the FBI to find some excuse for earning their salaries. A more accurate title for this piece is 'FBI blackmails student into incriminating self' or 'BSA dream up bogus piracy ring'. And you are equally bogus for repeating this BS.
Aren't you scared watching all your painfully won freedoms being eroded in the greater interests of big business ?
Yeah, I work at an ISP, and we are starting to see the dmca complaints for bittorrent. 99% of the people that get hit are using suprnova.
The next generation is already out there, full 2 way encryption, servers based in countries that don't care about US IP laws, and complex routing that makes it virtually impossible to trace who's getting what from where. I see people talking about these, and I wonder why the p2p community who swarmed suprnova hasn't moved to these more advanced protocols yet.
"(But, on a side note, if some of the music/software/movie vendors got off their high-horse and sold their product at a resonable rate, TONS more people would buy it. $20 for a CD? Hell now... Put it on a shelf for $5 or $10, there's going to be a higher number of purchases... Simple economics."
I'm not sure where you're getting $20... is that Australian or Canadian dollars? For what it's worth, the average price of a new CD is $12.95 in the US. That's 4% less than last year.
It's a given that the folks who run the industries whose goods you desire also understand simple economics. To wit, the demand curve and the necessity of making a profit. The latter would rule out your suggestion of selling for $5.00. In the meantime, if they can make more money by selling a CD for $12.95 than they can for $10, that's precisely what they'll do. That might cause some people to opt out of buying it, or pirate it instead, but the most important thing to understand about the demand curve is that most of the time, you use it not to find the price that will sell the most units, but which will make you the most money.
Also, it's important to understand that if a company or individual clearly doesn't understand "simple economics" and prices something higher than you'd prefer, this is not a moral free ride to pirate the work.
Sitting in my day care, the art is decopainted.
Operation FastLink II has just been announced and has apparently already located numerous regional underground locations, often called "Libraries" from which thousands of law-breaking users have been flagrantly "sharing" copyrighted material including Books, Videos and Compact Discs.
This so-called "Public Library" system has apparently gone unchecked for hundreds of years, denying authors and owners of copyrights millions of dollars in lost revenue from potential sales.
Over 9,500,000 Librarians and criminal "Library Users" have been identified through user-logs and membership lists. Some users have even so bold as to carry identifying "Library Cards" on their persons.
Book Publishers are quick to point out that participation in this copyright-evasion scheme by these "book-sharers" denies the original copyright holders of their fair due from successive readings.
Thanks to Operation Fastlink II (sponsored in part by Barnes & Noble Booksellers as a public service) these institutions of uncontrolled information exchange are finally being shut down one by one.
God Bless America. Here's to upholding our moral character.
-Popo
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
If he were quoting a novel, play, or even a politcian, would that somehow make his statement more credible?
I don't see the problem with quoting from a videogame if its an intelligent statement. Does being in a videogame somehow make his statement less worthy? Whats wrong with judging the comment based on its own merits?
excellent!
somebody please mod that as "F*cking Brilliant"...
what gives someone else the right to take something that does not belong to them?
What, ultimately, gives publishers the right to claim that the work "belongs to" them. Furthermore, what gives publishers the right to claim that derivatives of their works "belong to" them? How would one reconcile copyright law with most ideologies?
Some small companies and people do go out of business because of piracy. But many small companies and individuals do make it, despite people pirating their software. But it's not these small companies that are fighting this battle. In fact, most of these small companies I've worked with myself use pirated software themselves, until they reach a point where they couldn't afford to get caught.
It's the big guys that are fighting this. The RIAA, the MPAA, MS. They don't risk going bankrupt because of piracy, the worst they can get are fewer profits. And the notion of fewer profits scare them more, far more even, than going bankrupt. It is greed that motivates them.
Recently, I read in an online interview that an RIAA spokesmen spoke of p2p software creators as 'parasites leeching of the creativity of others'. I found it ironic, as I've not heard a better description of the RIAA.
If I pulled my toaster apart, got some cheap materials and replicated it, then gave it to a friend, would it be wrong? It is the exact same concept.
I believe that although morals and piracy are things that need to be studied fertively, I do not believe the current battle against piracy is right. It is a battle of greed, and has nought to do with justice. Laws were once meant to protect people and to serve justice. Nowadays, they protect companies and profits.
Whether piracy is correct or not I cannot say. Neither can you. But do not blindly believe what these companies are telling you, they are motivated by all the wrong things. Greed will always be worse than any crime known to man; it is the root of all evil.
QUESTION:
So, if little segments of older tracks get stored as a sort of extra blur along the sides of current tracks, what happens to all the extra tracks when you overwrite the disk five or six times with random hex data?
I'm thinking, after five or six times, you've got whole new layers of residual effect, which would end up masking the old residual effect the same way multiple rewrites mask the original hard disk data.
Would this be correct?
I didn't give you the right to copy it.
Was that right yours to give and take, other than through a body of law with which many ideologies disagree?
You're taking it from the recording studio or whoever has the rights to his recordings.
Why do you find it desirable that "the recording studio or whoever" still retain the privilege under copyright law to control copying even after all natural persons who materially contributed to a work are dead and buried?
I'll prbably get modded down for this but to me file sharing doesn't seem so bad. It was the engineers that created the technology for conventional IP distribution (records, cds, tapes, etc) that the artists and execs made millions off of and it doesn't seem so bad that the engineers score a free copy of something every once in a while.
Sounds like real pain to support. I've seen lots of different license services and product activation keys and they usually result in lost productivity. Currently we use "only" four software packages that use license server, each its own. After an OS upgrade, it is very likely that some of those breaks and if you want to support several versions of operating systems you need to tweak license manager tools for the magical combination.
The protocols are not documented, so you need to try to find out how you configure firewall and you still worry for security problems.
I wonder why companies must treat their customers as thieves. If your customer cannot use software because your copy protection sucks, she may end downloading a cracked version. Then you wonder why those customers do not pay to you...
When i was in pre-school i was told i should share everything.
When i was in junior school i was told i should share everything.
When i was in senior school i was told i should share everything.
Now that i go to college i share everything and get told i'll go to jail.
Someones been telling me porkies!
If your software computes a hash of "various system bits" and runs only when such hash remain constant, you really do deserve to go out of business.
Karma motherfucker!!!
Internet piracy is, surprisingly, still alive and doing very well, despite the FBI's latest attempt to discourage individuals from doing so by holding them personally accountable for their actions.
"We understand how much our clients are suffering," reports Jonathan Smith, head FBI agent of 'Operation Fastlink'. "I mean, can't these pirates see what they're doing? They're dashing all these poor companies hopes of making their money. And without money, how can their employees enjoy their temporary, godless, materialistic life?"
Neither side seems willing to budge.
"Them reality-lubbers be causin' lots of trouble in the cyber-seas," says one pirate who wished to remain anonymous. "we be tryin' to pay for nothin' and do nothin'. Yearg, but it's never good to see one of your own walk the plank."
Arresting college students? Grandmothers? Kids playing video games?
What that fuck is wrong with you sick bastards. Seriously, is your $75K ghetto salary a year worth fucking over your neighbors? How worthless are you?
Do you salute Hitler before you go to bed at night? Does it give you a warm feeling to know that you are on the wrong side of Freedom?
Then again, I suppose I understand, what can you expect from a faggot company founded by a crossdressing homo and getting corporate kickbacks.
15 Years! People embezzle millions (a.k.a. "real stealing") and get shorter sentences. Ridiculous.
NAKED SEXS!!!!!
Sounds easy to 'crack'
1. run VMware.
2. install inside VMware.
3. copy vmware image for everyone.
4. 10000s copies running all thinking theyre unique.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Say the average guy makes $10/hour. The price of a song is about a $1 off the internet. That means Average Joe has to work 6 minutes to be able to hear a song (unless he has one these new high-tech FM "radios" which are clearly beyond the reach of common men.) If the average song is 3 minutes, Average Joe will have a 3 minute deficit for every song he purchases unless he's really into Purple Rain which would be a five minute surplus. Therefore all non-Prince fans should be allowed to download music for free. Anyone who doesn't see the logic in this must be a corprate stooge.
File sharing... You share too many files - You get caught - You get a fine. Think of the possibilities:
- Set an arbitrary limit. Say 100 files.
- Set the fine at $10 for every 100 files over the limit.
- You accumulate "points" when you get a file-sharing "ticket". Too many points and they take away your internet access.
I'd love to hear the conversation:"Dude, I lost my internet access."
"Oh man! Why?"
"They caught me sharing 13,000 over. Now I have this HUGE fine, and I have to go to internet copyright school to get my DSL back."
Link is broken, fuckwagon
There is very little difference between the present nature of copyrights and the older practice of trade guilds. For a time trade guilds prospered and their monopolies on trivial enhancements were important until modern industrial practices wiped them out. Piracy today is equivalent to trying to break the rules of guild societies.
;-)
It's the wrong way to go about it because it's built on a close knit community of people who realize they will soon be obsoleted if the secret of their trivial enhancements become widely known, and they WILL fight long and hard to defend it.
Working towards automation of code generation should up end their stranglehold on such institutions. And from the flames the inanity of pop culture has been getting i'd say automation of mass culture generation should also be possible in the near future
I can find nothing ontopic in page after page of comments!
The comments are nothing but people's silly opinions about copyright law. It starts with the self-righteous claiming that people who violate copyright laws are no different than armed robbers. Instead of being modded down as trolls, these posts are modded up and then they are replied to ad nausium.
Where are the moderators? This topic is nothing but useless garbage now. There is nothing in here about "Operation Fastlink."
In the future, people who feel compelled to share their opinion with an uncaring puplic, should start a "Give your opinion about copyright law" thread. I don't care what your opinions are. I came here looking for information. Slashdot is not supposed to be a flamefest.
I loathe the RIAA along with you, but am so utterly disgusted by tech folk who feel the primadonna entitlement to use others work without permission that I must ask,
Can I come to your house and 'GPL' a quickie off your wife, husband, daughter, girlfriend, car, poodle or sofa? You're just leaving it there, unused most of the time anyway...You'll still have your wife, husband, daughter, girlfriend, car or sofa when I'm through...you can't claim that I've cheapened it...
OK, now imagine I just finished screwing your wife, husband, daughter, girlfriend, car or sofa, if you support 'shtealing' copyrighted work, shut up and deal with it. I'll be back tomorrow.
If someone offers their work under a public license willingly, trade it. If not, don't or rightfully be called a thief.
Most of the best arguments suporting peer to peer are undermined by a bunch of spoiled assholes stealing other people's work. Claiming that someone else posted it is a cheap cop-out. How many of this same crew actually CONTRIBUTE to anything, online or otherwise? Quit making Lawrence Lessig's goddam job so hard!
Some asshole offering 13,000 Britney Spears wannabe titles has closed my torrents for distros, etc. I hope s(he) gets their ass vigorously raped for betraying the open source community. And then spends an eternity listening to Andy Williams.
...then where do the opensource hackers go to find jobs when they get tired of working for nothing?
So nobody is paying for music anymore, so that would make touring the only way for a music artist to make money. Or perhaps we'll see a resurgence of the Rock Opera. Hurrah. No MTV, no money for videos. (MTV still show music videos, right?)
Nobody going to the cinema anymore, why there's always Uncle Tony's home movie about his trip to Spokane. Special effects? How does cross-fade AND fade grab ya?
The right to copy/access information crowd assumes somebody is willing to pay, just as long as it isn't them. It wouldn't matter if a song cost 1c on iTunes - they'd still pirate it.
However, music isn't really the problem, it's always going to be out there because it actually costs very little to put together a few songs if you're only doing it for the love of it and maybe playing for beers.
Commercial software is vulnerable and to an extent so is niche television. The future of the new Battlestar Galactica could rest on whether enough people watch it after the wholesale downloading of the episodes that have already shown in England. The sharing of recorded television shows threatens free television or is going to lead to sponsor driven product placement in your favourite shows. That's make historical dramas a challenege as they discuss that damn black death thing over a couple of Coors.
Here I am castigating my son the college kid for wasting good homework time on his immoral filesharing networks but maybe he has a more surefire plan than I do!
[ha! they don't have mod points for sarcasm!]
I don't mean to tar all employers as potential outsourcers...many of those 18 employers might still be in business if my wages and health bennies didn't cost so much But I am getting seriously OT here.
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
Whose intellectual property am I stealing by listening to a song on the internet? I already have the right to listen to my tape of the radio broadcast, why should I pay $15 for packaging?
If you cannot make money producing an honest product, don't come crying to me about it.
Changa hates change.
Man, you really don't understand channel distribution, do you? There are only about a little over a dozen distributors in the US. Ok, maybe 14. These are the people to whom you want to target. With only a piddling 5000 customers, the sales group clearly didn't know what it was doing.
Sorry, you're just spouting BS. This is all a mythical fairy tale. The final proof is your refusal to actually name a real name.
However, it was an excellent troll.
it is still a person using adobe's software without paying for it. had that person paid for it adobe would have gained however much adobe charges for photoshop. so it indeed is a loss for adobe.
In the last few months, I've filed complaints with the FBI's Internet crimes task force about a number of things: paypal and ebay spoofed sites hosted on us servers and fraudulent sellers on ebay.
My understanding after discussion of similar issues with clients is that the FBI doesn't care unless the $$ is >100K (as of a few years ago) even for traditional white collar crime.
I've also notified commercial software companies of fraudulent software sold on ebay and offered the seller up on a silver platter (paypal invoice, packaging, product, my contact info, my testimony, etc). Veritas in particular never even returned my call.
If you ask me, these are the people that deserve to be prosecuted. The ones who are directly financially profiting from piracy. Not some poor schmuck who is doing it to be elite.
Who will guard the guards?
Last time I went to a museum (Smithsonian) is was OK to take pictures. I'll sure it's legal for me to show those pictures to friends and family. And I believe I can post them on the Internet if I'd like.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is true of all museums.
Who will guard the guards?