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BitTorrent User Guilty Of Piracy

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the only-a-matter-of-time dept.

DIY News writes "A Hong Kong man has been convicted of movie internet piracy in what is believed to be the first case involving BitTorrent file-sharing software. The man was found guilty of copyright infringement for distributing three Hollywood blockbusters using BitTorrent."

12 of 470 comments (clear)

  1. Next Gen p2p by VAXGeek · · Score: 5, Informative

    All actions like these do is force development of next gen p2p like Mute Filesharing.

    http://mute-net.sourceforge.net/

    --
    this sig limit is too small to put anything good h
    1. Re:Next Gen p2p by ronocdh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Since these systems have no advantage whatsoever over non-anonymous systems like Bittorrent except when being used to distribute material illegally, it will be easy to get such a change to the law made.

      That's like saying only criminals have things to hide, therefore good citizens will not mind a compulsory search and seizure. "You want a warrant? What are you, a terrorist?" We have a right not to show the government everything we do. That doesn't make it illegal.

      Hey, at least we got buttsex back from the Republicans.

    2. Re:Next Gen p2p by UnrefinedLayman · · Score: 5, Insightful
      the people at Guantanamo were all captured on the battlefield against US soldiers, operating under the control of no nation, not signatories to any of the Geneva conventions, are not US citizens, and in many cases have been shown to have attended training events on terrorism tactics.
      So, what, is war now something that you can't go to without first passing some tests? People aren't allowed to defend their land from invasion by a foreign force without first checking in with the head-office and reading "7 Habits of Highly Effective Soldiers" and "Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned at the Geneva Convention"?

      I think people are quick to dismiss the rights of those held in Cuba; if our places were reversed and it was a Middle Eastern country invading the US to spread Shariah Islamic Law, would you be so quick to condemn your countrymen--fellow citizens--caught fighting that force? Because they're disorganized and haven't been through boot camp?

      The fact is those people were defending against invaders, ideological differences aside, and were not wealthy enough to have a highly-organized and well-trained militia like much of the rest of the world. Just like many Americans don't feel the government adequately represents their interests abroad, it's certainly within the realm of reason that some of those individuals did not feel Osama bin Laden represented their interests in attacking the US, but when a counter-attack was launched it was a matter of defending their home and way of life.

      Being poor requires fighting face-to-face and with short-range mortar and explosives, not invisibly from the skies like Americans, and these people resorted to whatever tactics were necessary to muster a defense against invaders. In my opinion (whose weight is questionable), it is much more a terrorist act to strike at an enemy from the sky without fear of retribution than to fight him on level-ground, face-to-face. At least when you can see your enemy you know who you've killed, instead of accidentally exploding a wedding party.

      The reasons you're giving for giving the OK for locking up these prisoners of war sound an awful lot like the reasons given for rounding up and imprisoning or killing Native Americans (and I have therefore a hard time accepting that). My point behind replying is to say that the quickness with which you determine guilt and innocence can easily be turned on you and the ones about whom you care. Justification of the treatment is justification of your own treatment.

      I am not speaking regarding the rest of your post (which may or may not have merit).
  2. in related news by Artie_Effim · · Score: 5, Funny

    the torrent of his trial is available at http://www.chin.../ oh wait, nevermind ;)

  3. No crime for good taste... by LV-427 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Daredevil, Red Planet and Miss Congeniality.

    Piracy is the least of his problems...

  4. In other news ... by TheGavster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In other news, a man in Delaware has been found guilty of beating another man to death with a toaster. The toaster industry declined to comment.

    --
    "Because Science" is one step from "Because old book". Try "Because of my experiment testing my falsifiable assertion".
  5. More reports on this by cciRRus · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here, here and here.

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    w00t
  6. I wish people would stop using this analogy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    "Why don't you go out this monday night and grab a bunch of kids trick or treat bags... its all stealing, either way you look at it!"

    How many times must this get corrected on /. before people stop using this false analogy? If you take a kid's candy, you have the candy and he does not. On the other hand, if you share a movie over the Net, you still have the movie, and so does the other guy. This is not stealing, it's copyright infringement.

  7. Re:Well, duh... by FidelCatsro · · Score: 5, Funny

    My initial thoughts were "Prison ? he only uploaded the thing , he didn't produce it"

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    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  8. Re:Here we go again by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't forget the grammar pedants who waste everyone's time without contributing to the discussion. That's "cue", not "queue", BTW.

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    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  9. strange fixation on transfer protocol name by Ahaldra · · Score: 5, Informative
    I cannot remember any slashdot article reading "HTTP user guilty of piracy" - What is it with BitTorrent that people are so hung up on the name of the transfer protocol?
    Just because it's fast doesn't make it illegal! Every time a dumb headline like this is posted the tech crowd shoots itself in the foot - It's like saying "Porsche driver guilty of manslaughter", these two things may have something to do with each other, but expressing it this way makes it appear as if they are causally related - which they are not.
    It's not that this specific transfer protocol enables copyright infringement right out of the box or anything....

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    Code is Speech. No to Censorship.
  10. Re:Of all places by nutrock69 · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's hilarious.

    The one city in the world where you can buy pirated DVD's on the street from the pirates themselves and they're cracking down on Bittorrent. I guess the p2p was infringing on their local economy... :)