Major Piracy Bust Against Top Providers

An anonymous reader writes "It appears the German copyright authority has launched a massive offensive against top warez providers. According to Slyck, GVU (the German version of the RIAA/MPAA) coordinated a wide spread effort that included the seizure of 20 servers and 30 arrests in 5 countries - Germany, Austria, Holland, Poland and the Czech Republic."

Comments

Police raid at GVU-headquaters

[ga53n]

The interesting part ist, that according to Heise News http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/68760 (in German) the police raided the GVU offices in Hamburg. It is assumed that the GVU paid some people for administering warez-servers. Maybe they used it at a honey-pot, but is was illigeal participation, if it is true.

Like, duh

[Dekortage]

From the article: Initially, these raids may place a damper on spread of pirated material, however the allure of public recognition is simply too great for many to avoid. With time, their role in the online warez community will most likely be replaced.

This is news? It's been like this since way, way, way before the World Wide Web was invented. (Yes, children, there was software piracy back in the days of 5.25" floppy disks.)

Of course, with the Internet, all the other warez sites on the planet can easily fill the void left by the ones that were just shut down.

Re:Like, duh

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

(Yes, children, there was software piracy back in the days of 5.25" floppy disks.)

However, even further back, in the days of 8" floppy disks there was hardly any piracy because it was mostly all Free Software to begin with.

Re:Like, duh

[Dekortage]

However, even further back, in the days of 8" floppy disks there was hardly any piracy because it was mostly all Free Software to begin with.

Quite true. And disks made better frisbees back then, too.

Re:Like, duh

[Xemu]

in the days of 8" floppy disks there was hardly any piracy

I think you're on to something.

8" floppy disk: hardly any piracy
5.25" floppy disks: some piracy
3.25" floppy: lots of piracy

Similarly,
LP: hardly any music copying
tapes: some piracy
CD: lots of piracy

and it holds true for video too!
laserdisk: no piracy
vhs tape: some piracy
dvd: lots of piracy

Clearly, the smaller the media becomes, the more copies are made. The MPAA should make a note of this and make pizza-sided Blu-Ray media.

Re:Like, duh

[Anonymous Coward]

I was an amiga owner that had a cassette tape player for loading programs.

I belonged to a trial software company that sent you a cassette to you every week or so in the mail. The software was copy protected as is you couldn't write back out the program once you read it in.

If you kept the cassette tape they billed you for the program, if you sent it back all it cost you was the shipping.

I sent every tape back because as soon as I got the cassette tape, I went down to my local Radio shack that had high end tape recorders, purchased a chrome tape and then asked the guy behind the counter if I could hook up two recorders together and make a copy of the cassette that I had.

I always told the guy it was a tape of some music a friend of mine made for me. They didn't care I was gone in a half hour and they sold me a tape.

Piracy as been around a long time.

Re:Like, duh

[msbsod]

Oh, back then someone showed me BASCOM80 for CP/M. It was so bad, I decided that the cost of an 8" floppy would outweigh the value of this product. Of course, these days media are much cheaper, which might be the reason why the makers of BASCOM80 are still so popular.

so much for obscurity

[2TecTom]

thankfully, this type of tyranny will only result in better anonymity

if software was reasonably priced, there would be very little piracy

Re:so much for obscurity

[rednuhter]

why has this been moderated Funny ?

" thankfully, this type of tyranny will only result in better anonymity"
correct.
As the main stream public facing services are removed they will be replaced by underground systems(i.e. non public facing, invite only etc).
Seeing onion proxys and other anonymity systems gaining ground will allow these to reach the public with negligable risk.

"if software was reasonably priced, there would be very little piracy"
again correct.
I refuse to buy DVDs and games when they are first released as they are too expensive for what I make use of them.
i.e. I watch the DVD once and am unlikey to watch any extras (excluding anime), I play games usually once through before sheving them.

if I could find more titles at better prices I would buy more, my DVD (especialy anime) and game collections are full of 3rd of the original price sales.

Re:so much for obscurity

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

if software was reasonably priced, there would be very little piracy

Where "reasonably priced" is roughly equal to "Free" that is.

Re:so much for obscurity

[barc0001]

Where "reasonably priced" is roughly equal to "Free" that is.

Not really, no.

I buy games used for my consoles all the time. I almost never buy them new, because I don't feel there are that many games worth $60-$70 CDN. However, if I can get it used for $15-$20, that is just fine for me. Ergo, for me, games are too expensively priced for me to consider purchasing them at their initial sell price, so I don't buy them there. I either wait for them in the used bin, or the bargain bin after they get to be 3 or 4 years old. I don't need to buy a game the day, week, month or year it comes out, so I can afford to wait.

It makes me wonder if a game that sells 100,000 first run copies at $59 would sell more than 200,000 if it came out at $29. Those are just off-the-cuff numbers, I'm sure in reality there is a better profit/unit count sweet spot somewhere in the middle, but it seems nobody has seriously tried to find it in years.

Re:so much for obscurity

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

I buy games used for my consoles all the time.

Wow a personal anecdote. What a stunningly perceptive analysis of human nature and market forces. NOT

Here's how it works - as long as people can get a product for a lower total cost they will do so, individual non-rational actors notwithstanding. So as long as software, or any digital product for that matter, is available through easy to find (i.e. low cost) illicit venues, then people will use those venues instead of purchasing it legitimately for a higher total price.

The trick is to figure out how make money by charging for the work of creation, not the work of distribution (i.e. making copies) which, with the pervasive internet, is now a zero-margin - and thus effectively a zero cost - operation.

Re:so much for obscurity

[barc0001]

Wow a personal anecdote. What a stunningly perceptive analysis of human nature and market forces. NOT

Yes, a personal anecdote. Which holds about as much truth as your editorial opinion above. However, unlike your little rant, I can back up my anecdote with additional info. There's lots of easily located evidence that a lot of people prefer to buy used as well, cost being a major, if not the only factor. Can you think of another "market force" that would convince all those people to buy used except the price angle?

And digital distribution doesn't work. Yet. How many people in comparison to the general PC gaming public even use Steam? Or Xbox live subscribers vs the install base of the Xbox? How many households in the US even have broadband vs the number of households with PCs? Until those numbers are way on the other side of 50% it won't take off as the principal method.

Re:so much for obscurity

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Which holds about as much truth as your editorial opinion above.

Perhaps you should quote the part where I cite well understood principles of economics instead of just smarting over being called ignorant.

Re:so much for obscurity

[Anonymous Coward]

bicker, bicker ... :~(

why can't people stick to the point?

Just to reiterate, the main point is:

"Casual piracy is the result of abusive pricing!"

Re:so much for obscurity

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

"Casual piracy is the result of abusive pricing!"

False. Casual piracy is the result of human nature, and will occur no matter what pricing is set at.

I wonder...

[wbren]

...if this story has anything to do with my favorite tracker, Torrent Finder, being taken offline. http://www.digg.com/technology/Torrent-Finder_gone _

FYI: The GVU is...

[mjbkinx]

a "part of the Motion Picture Association's international network of anti-piracy organizations":

The GVU - German Federation Against Copyright Theft, was founded in late 1984 by companies that hold a stake in the German film market. Its members include national subsidiaries of US majors as well as independent companies. suppliers such as post-production and replication companies, as well as national and international industry associations and lobbies. In response to developments in multimedia, the GVU also offers its services to other industries affected by copyright infringements, and interactive software manufacturers/vendors have also joined the GVU as a result.

Dare I say?

[twitter]

Of course, with the Internet, all the other warez sites on the planet can easily fill the void left by the ones that were just shut down.

Dare I say that free content is making warez redundant, even second rate? Free software works better than commercial software. Free media, such as can be found at places like the internet archive or http://magnatune.com/">Magnatune is better than RIAA/MPAA crap. Give your money and mind share to those who deserve it!

Allow me to pimp the Radiators, one of the best jam bands to come out of New Orleans. There are hundreds of hours of their concerts available that you can share with your friends without charge or greed.

Remember kids!

[beacher]

Don't copy that floppy!

-B

Re:Remember kids!

[Anonymous Coward]

ROFL that was hillarious! Interresting how that the doomsday picture they portrayed never happened, even though we all copied and did exactly what "Dip-stick Protector" said not to do. People copied because it was good, and if it was good enough, you bought it from the store. Simple and elegant viral marketing.

T34|\/| \/\/4R3Z

[Odiumjunkie]

When warez groups begin to realise the effects of publicity, maybe we'll start seeing scene releases without file.names.that.are.redundantly.long.and.tagged.wi th.the.Gr0uP_N4ME.rar and juvenile NFOs filled with ASCII art that looked outdated ten years ago.

In groups that are dedicated to the free distribution of other people's content, why are they so keen to show that a release is "theirs"?

Re:T34|\/| \/\/4R3Z

[CaptSisko]

Because for the 'real' groups that are out there, it's not so much release itself that counts, but beating the rival groups to the punch.

Nice try

[the-amazing-blob]

This time, they went for the big boys. Straight for the top. Too bad the ranks will just fill back up within a month.

Re:Nice try

[sepluv]

>>they went for the big boys. Straight for the top.

Ye, the GVU. Their website was down when the police seized their servers. Apparently they keep their warez/moviez on their main website servers. I'd expect better covering up of their involvement (as a protection racket for both the `piracy' industry and the copyright holders) from a branch of the MPAA.

yo

[kevin.fowler]

Don't Copy that Floppy

How many people even use private servers?

[Anonymous Coward]

Anomity is the key and private servers are responsible for the arrests of many prominent warez group leaders. Isn't the news filled with reports of Bit Torrent eating up as much as 50% of all bandwidth? I think the heyday of ftp has passed and we must welcome the p2p behemoth it has spawned.

just needed a modem

[eamonman]

And an account with a local bbs to get the old software way back when. My friend had a both of the above back in the mid 80's, so we were able to play different (some crappy) games back in the apple iie/c etc days.

brun choplift

Of course, those games kept us entertained for weeks on end. Now, you can just dl a mame pack or apple roms and play all known games from 2001 and back. Crazy.

good news. this means my group can be more popular

[Anonymous Coward]

We were always second rate

OMG, 20 servers!?

[Jugalator]

Wow, that'll like take... ages to replace for the million sized community.

the scene

[my_haz]

For those that want to see a sort of drama about this whole piracy bit try
http://www.welcometothescene.com/


Free and entertaining.

Re:the scene

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah but for those who want some entertainment, try http://www.welcometotehscene.com/

Oh, it's piracy, not privacy

[Jim in Buffalo]

When I saw the headline in the sidebar, I thought it was "Major Privacy Bust," and I was thinking, Great, the authorities have busted some company for giving away private information, always glad to see that... Imagine my disappointment. Oh, it's just some warez kids getting someone in trouble, and in Germany, no less.