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TV Links Raided, Operator Arrested

Posted by Zonk on from the there-goes-the-neighborhood dept.

NetDanzr writes "TV Links, a Web site that provided links to hundreds of movies, documentaries, TV shows and cartoons hosted on streaming media sites such as Google Video and YouTube, has been raided by UK authorities. The site's operator was also arrested, The Guardian reports. Even though the site has not hosted any pirated content, it was a thorn in the side of movie and TV studios, thanks to having links to newest movies and TV shows. As the largest site of its kind, it showcased the power of user-driven Internet, with the site's visitors helping to keep links to content constantly updated."

3 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Power of the People...fails again by gsslay · · Score: 0, Troll

    Oh dear. If anyone's throwing a hissy fit it's the big babies who are upset about this site being closed down. Big babies like their tv! Big babies want their tv! Why won't nasty Big Business give it?!

    Big babies want their tv. Yes, even while half the time they're complaining it's crap. This is a defence mechanism they use to justify why it should be ok to not pay for it.

    Big babies don't want to pay for their tv. Or certainly don't want to pay what it costs to make.

    Big babies are happy to join in leaching off a process where other people pay the bills.

    Big babies run off crying if stopped getting their tv for free.

    "Big business" is what produces there TV shows in the first place. If "people" don't pay them for producing them, then they'll stop doing it. Then no-one gets to see them, ever. Everyone loses.

  2. Re:I didn't know this existed by infidel13 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Darn, no mod points. Please mod parent up.

    --
    quia potentia mens mentis
  3. Re:Power of the People...fails again by gsslay · · Score: 0, Troll

    My POINT was, this is something people want. Instead of providing it, the movie and record companies sue everyone to prevent it. The bottom line is that nothing the companies could provide can be anywhere as convenient as a service that's free and doesn't bother itself with legal restrictions, artists contracts, TV channel contracts, national boundaries, etc. All that boring stuff that ensures everyone gets paid for their work, and if you pay for exclusive rights for a show, that's what you get. These are the technicalities you don't have to worry about when you're obtaining revenue from a product that you didn't make to begin with and have no rights or obligations for.

    Compare that to a TV company. You are considering entering an online market providing your product, while all the time competing against your own product given away free by someone else. You have no chance. So the only thing these companies have to allow them to compete in this market is use of copyright law, which was designed to give them a fair right to exploit commercially their own product without others ripping it off. This is exactly what these companies are doing

    So rather than whining about this, you should be welcoming it as a step towards a fair and level market for online video provision driven by healthy competition and consumer choice. But instead you'd rather support some third party leechers, providing a shoddy product and making it impossible for others.

    Just because their current business model no longer suits the enviornment they're trying to use it in, that's no reason they should be able to sue everyone to MAKE it work. For millions of years it's been 'adapt or die'. It's time they learned the same lesson. Wrong. They have every right because it's their product and they can do whatever the hell they like with it. If their "business model" is so poor that they can't make a successful business out of selling their product, then yes, they deserve to fade away. And if someone else is more successful with some other business model, then good luck to them. But no-one has the right to base their "business model" on ripping off someone else's product. If their business model is so good, then let them see how it works when it has to support the overheads of making the product to begin with. Only once that works do they deserve congratulations.

    I'm thinking it's not nearly as simple as you like to think. Just because you can say "business model" doesn't mean you know anything about what it involves.