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IsoHunt Guilty of Inducing Infringement
roju writes "The MPAA has won a summary judgment against torrent indexing site isoHunt for inducing copyright infringement. Michael Geist notes that '[t]he judge ruled that the isoHunt case is little different from other US cases such as Napster and Grokster, therefore concluding that there is no need to proceed to a full trial and granting Columbia Pictures request for summary judgment.' Attorney Ben Sheffner, who worked on the case for Fox, explains some of the implications, noting that 'the most significant ruling in the opinion was the court's holding that the DMCA's safe harbors are simply not available where inducement has been established.' This case could have implications on other indexing sites, and creates a gap in the DMCA safe harbor provisions that could have far-reaching implications on other sites."
Watch out about calling it "stealing." That usually gets you a lecture about why it's not the same as stealing (i.e. there's no taking/depriving of an object/material).
There is, however, a breach of contract behind every instance of copyright infringement. So congratulations to all the non-thieves...their behaviors still depend on, and capitalize on, somebody screwing somebody else.
A proud generation? The virtues of good law are likely to prevail. May vote is for the party of greatest integrity. The GP's argument is weak in ethics, and strong only in the everybody-is-doing-it way...the same underlying strength as we saw behind the dot-com bubble and sub-prime mortgage borrowing/lending.
Yes, too often the many are wrong.