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New Copyright Lawsuits Go After Porn On Bittorrent

neoflexycurrent writes "Three adult media entertainment producers filed suit Thursday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging copyright infringement against hundreds of anonymous defendants accused of trading videos using Bittorrent. This kind of action resembles the much-criticized mass litigation undertaken by the US Copyright Group against hordes of unknown accused Bittorrent users trading movies like The Hurt Locker. In this case, the subject matter promises to be more provocative."

6 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Sounds like extortion by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Funny

    Trannies From Hell

    Reminds me of my 94 Ford Mustang that would intermittently fall out of gear on the highway.

  2. Re:Sounds fair by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 5, Informative

    "When people download porn without paying for it it ultimately hurts the working stiffs..."

    I know you were going for a joke, but it is my understanding that the actors and actresses usually get paid a paltry sum up front rather than a decent share of the profits, so it doesn't hurt them*. It "hurts" the bottom line of a bunch of people who are already much richer than they deserve to be in my opinion, so I say screw 'em.

    * I'm sure there are exceptions to this, but I imagine they are fairly rare

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  3. The circle is complete by Kazymyr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    First they came for those who were sharing music, and I shrugged; I didn't care, because I wasn't sharing music.
    Then they came for those who were sharing movies, and I shrugged; I didn't care, because I wasn't sharing movies.
    Then they came for me, who was sharing porn. I didn't shrug, but there was nobody left to care for me.

    --
    I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem
  4. Great opportunity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Clearly, we need to relax copyright law in order to hurt the porn industry, for the sake of the children.

    If you support strong copyright law now you hate children, right?

  5. Re:Sounds like extortion by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why pay for porn and/or store it locally when the internet and its streaming-flash sites like Redtube, Pornotube, and even the vile borderline-legal Motherless are readily available*?

    * unless you made it yourself, that is :)

  6. Interesting Tension by MarkvW · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The judges will HATE dealing with porno cases. They will want to make them go away. Judges can make things "go away" very easily. One erroneous fact finding can kill a case dead--permanently and totally dead. They can also cut all the legal breaks in favor of dismissing a lawsuit. We place a lot of trust in our judges and sometimes they betray us. A good example can be found in the judges in the South tasked with enforcing the "separate but equal" laws. They enforced the 'separate' part, but the 'equal' part got lost.

    Even though the judges will want to make the porno cases go away, they won't be able to treat them too rudely (because the court rules and legal principles in effect are supposed to be "content neutral"). This tension might manifest itself in the porno cases in cool and interesting ways.

    Porno is the big sleeping giant that the big media ignores. If they behave like pricks (or like the RIAA), the judges are going to go all hairy on their ass. When mainstream media comes around and tries to do the same bad things that the porno media wasn't allowed to do, the Courts will be hamstrung by their need to appear consistent. This presents some pretty cool ideas.

    If you want to support internet freedom, support the Larry Flynts of the world in their efforts to protect their ultra-gross porno copyrights. You want them to be mean and brutal in the glorious tradition of the RIAA. Support them on appeal--all the way to the bitter end. This would be a legal version of a sapping attack. The judges will cut the filth-purveyors the absolute least slack possible. This will make for a better and more fair copyright law--and will have the humorous by product of watching the RIAA support the filthiest porn purveyors in the appellate courts.

    It could get pretty absurd.