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MPAA Chases Uploads, Ignores Open Sales of DVD-Rs?

Posted by Zonk on from the maybe-they're-just-lazy dept.

rbrander writes "Go to TVBoxSet.com and find a remarkable sales site for box sets of TV shows, including not only surprisingly cheap deals, but offerings not found elsewhere. For example, they have a set with all ten seasons of 'JAG'. The problem is that the production company is only up to season 4 so far. Google "tvboxset" and find every link below the first is to a complaint or news website complaining of the scam. Those who do shop at the site get a product that appears to be a DVD-R recorded off of cable. The really odd thing? They're still in business! A story at the Montreal Gazette about the scam is six weeks old. Now what's in it for the content industry to beat up private citizens with $220,000 judgements or scrambling to get DeCSS sites shut down within hours, while corporate scammers openly sell pirate DVDs for months on end, unopposed?"

20 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. They are just selling instant DVDs by Zarhan · · Score: 5, Funny

    "There's been a new venture in home video market - instant DVDs. They are out in stores before the movie is finished!"

    1. Re:They are just selling instant DVDs by trickyrickb · · Score: 5, Funny

      What the hell am I looking at? When does this happen
      in the movie?

    2. Re:They are just selling instant DVDs by Merls+the+Sneaky · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're looking at now, now.

    3. Re:They are just selling instant DVDs by RasputinAXP · · Score: 5, Funny

      But when will then be NOW?

    4. Re:They are just selling instant DVDs by ThePengwin · · Score: 5, Funny

      Soon!

    5. Re:They are just selling instant DVDs by Dark_Lord_Prime · · Score: 5, Funny

      Um.. yeah. That was the point of this series of posts/replies.

      Not the brightest color in the Spaceballs: The Crayons® box, are ya?

      --
      Come hear me sing!
  2. Wow! by Perseid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A season of X-Files, presumably bootleg, is $56. I think I'm in the wrong line of work. Anyway, perhaps the reason they aren't being pursued is that they may not be in the US. If they are in, for example, Russia, allofmp3 has shown how much fun suing them can be. Single mothers with Kazaa, on the other hand, tend to be easy to pick off.

    1. Re:Wow! by ShaunC · · Score: 5, Informative

      Anyway, perhaps the reason they aren't being pursued is that they may not be in the US. If they are in, for example, Russia, allofmp3 has shown how much fun suing them can be.
      TFA makes it fairly clear that this operatiion is based in Canada.
      --
      Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
    2. Re:Wow! by irc(addict) · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ah. THAT's why they are still going then.

      We all know Quebec isnt subject to Canada's laws.

    3. Re:Wow! by ShaunC · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A season of X-Files, presumably bootleg, is $56. I think I'm in the wrong line of work.
      Oh, and that reminds me. The X-Files is my absolute favorite television series of all time. Through Blockbuster Online or Netflix, you can rent all nine seasons on DVD for far less than $56. They appear in your mailbox on DVD, one right after the other. IMO, it's better to go the legit route. You get a real, honest-to-gosh DVD to hold in your hands, and watch, and do whatever else you might do with it.

      There's really no sense buying the junky bootlegs on a street corner. I honestly don't understand how any for-profit duplicators make it these days. It was one thing in the age of VHS tapes, but in our current environment, it's far easier for the average consumer to get his hands on a legitimate, high quality copy (and "back it up") than it's worth attempting to purchase a counterfeit copy.

      Alas, the penalties for downloading (or uploading) a movie via, say, BitTorrent are tens of times more harsh than the penalties for buying or selling a counterfeit DVD on the street, or for just shoplifting the damned thing. So I guess I don't understand why these guys get into the business. They'd face less potential jail time if they set up a rape/murder cartel.
      --
      Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
    4. Re:Wow! by speaker+of+the+truth · · Score: 4, Insightful

      IMO, it's better to go the legit route. The problem is people think TVBoxSet is a legit route.
      --
      Using openSUSE instead of Windows since 9th of October, 2007 and liking it.
  3. Wrong purpose by speaker+of+the+truth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the purpose was to go after infringers in order to recuperate lost sales, they wouldn't be going after housewives or children who pirate for personal use, they'd be going after commercial pirates. Y'know, the people that the ridiculously high penalties were created for?

    Instead the MPAA's purpose is to create an environment of fear. This is presumably so people will forget their fair use rights and give them up so the MPAA studios can put even more DRM on their products.

    --
    Using openSUSE instead of Windows since 9th of October, 2007 and liking it.
  4. microsoft too by ClippySay · · Score: 5, Funny

    / This is a home pirated version of       \
    | Clippy. Please turn to your local       |
    | Clippy retailer or a professional Jolly |
    \ Roger-compliant pirate.                 /
           \     ____
            \   / __ \
             \  O|  |O|
                ||  | |
                ||  | |
                ||    |
                 |___/

    --
    cpu0: Microsoft Clippium ("GenuineClippy" ChromedMetal-Class). Paperbinding, lockpicking, fish-hook-hack support.
  5. They're safe because they are identifiable by tech10171968 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Personally, I believe they're getting off scott-free because TVBoxSet.com is a company, but P2P networks and their filesharers are not. It's easy to compete against another company (like TVBoxSet.com), especially one which allegedly offers questionable content; on the other hand, with P2P, how in the world does a company compete against free? I may be wrong but I can't think of a business has yet figured a way to do that (Microsoft is presently trying to answer that question as it pertains to GNU/Linux and FOSS). Seems to me that , correctly or not, they don't percieve a much of a threat to their bottom line coming from TVBoxSet.com as they do from some kid with a torrent client.

    --
    This space for rent!
    1. Re:They're safe because they are identifiable by TubeSteak · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Personally, I believe they're getting off scott-free because TVBoxSet.com is a company That's a pretty dumb line of thought.
      If anything, they're easier to go after since they have a business address & a bank account.

      As a side note: Why would anyone contact the MPAA and not the CRIA about a situation with a Canadian company?
      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    2. Re:They're safe because they are identifiable by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's simply not true. My wife bought a DVD box set from eBay recently that turned out to be bootlag. In the process of trying to get a refund, the seller was shut down by eBay due to piracy complaints. The whole thing made matters worse for my wife, who was accused of turning the seller in and who generally went from "slightly nuts" to full-on "Maybe we should get a restraining order".

      Generally bootleg sellers on eBay don't last long. The issue right now is that policing them is a little more difficult. Unless the eBayer is selling something that's never been on the media offered, or is stupid enough to directly admit the item is bootleg in the description, the copyright holder actually has to buy a sample before he or she can be certain that copyright violations are going on. This is in contrast to someone redistributing a studio's movie via BitTorrent, where the movie has never been released in a form that would allow for that redistribution legally. It's immediately obvious a violation of copyright is occurring and the studio can immediately start legal action.

      Even then, the number of BitTorrent movie redistribution copyright violation cases is tiny. A lot of people here seem to be conflating the movie industry's efforts with the music industry's, but these are two entirely seperate actions, and the music industry isn't exactly reknowned for sitting on its hands when it comes to commercial piracy either.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  6. Re:Double standards! by laughingcoyote · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If we really must use your poor analogy, it would be more like:

    "I got caught speeding 10 miles an hour over the limit once, and got 15 years in jail for it. In the meantime, there's a guy who's running around hitting pedestrians all over the city. They know exactly who he is and where to find him, but they haven't even given him a ticket yet."

    --
    To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
  7. The #1 reason by jonwil · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The payouts they can get for one copy of a given film or TV show being shared over BitTorrent are higher than the payouts they can get for many illegal DVDs of the same film or TV show.

  8. Re:Double standards! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wah wah wah, stop making pathetic excuses, speeding is wrong and you know it, if you can't do the time don't do the crime. Moron. And stop making stupid arguments like "speeding isn't theft", you didn't PAY for the right to drive 10 mph over the limit so you STOLE it, that's what STEALING is. Thief.

    Oops, sorry, my slashbot implant seems to be malfunctioning slightly today...

  9. Re:What's the difference? by StormyWeather · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why in the world is this insightful? I own my own small business that is incorporated even though I'm a 1 man show, and I try to uphold the greatest ethical standards possible. I truly believe that the vast majority of rich people become rich through ethical means, and a horrid amount of hard work. All you hear about are the greed is good crowd just like all you hear about with professional athletes are the ones who are arrested and who do stupid things. I incorporated because I didn't want someone to slip on the curb outside, crack their skull open, and sue me for everything I own. The most they can get from me is the business, but not my kids college funds. Does that make me an evil person?

    Most companies are full of good people, run by good people who try to do the right thing. Just because publicly traded companies are sometimes forced by the shareholders to do things that aren't cool it doesn't mean business is bad, or even that big business is bad.