Feds Seize Korean Movie Download Portals

SharkLaser writes "Homeland Security's ICE unit has just started another phase of Operation In Our Sites. Last week the seized sites were selling counterfeit goods, but this time the list consists solely of movie download sites. ICE has now seized the domains of 11 Korean movie download portals. This is first time Operation In Our Sites has been expanded to include sites targeting non-U.S. nationals and non-English sites. ICE has since added a message in Korean to the seized sites. Interestingly, while the sites were in Korean, the domain names are all connected to a Seattle-based company World Multimedia Group, Inc."

Comments

First (I think)

[cpicon92]

Honestly this is getting kind of ridiculous, though. Doesn't the US government have more pressing issues on its hands right now?

Re:First (I think)

[masternerdguy]

Do you think the US is going to just pass up a chance to throw their weight around?

Re:First (I think)

[TheGratefulNet]

elections are coming up, maybe?

Re:First (I think)

[cheekyjohnson]

It's funny because they probably actually think they're saving it by seizing a domain name. Or that the website was actually a threat to anything.

Re:First (I think)

[failedlogic]

The great American companies complaining about IP problems are happily headquarted in tax safe havens. They get the protections of American law and Washington policymakers while paying a minimal amount of tax to the American government.

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

Like what? Jailing bankers, economy advisors, rating agencies CEO's for fraud, extortion, betting against their clients lying to congress (ahem...), getting 7 trillion with virtually 0%tax then selling it back to the government and the people at interests rate to pay for their bonuses, their credit default swaps, and the damage themselves created and extorted from both public and private (AIG's etc) entities? Oh yes the US government has allot of issues not only right now, but right years ago. See how well they'v been busy at pretending to care while fund raising more bribes...err financial support..incentives...America needs you! god bless America, 999!

Re:First (I think)

[gVibe]

Being American who is disgusted with the state of our nation...I can honestly say no, we don't have anything better to do other than imposing our nonsensical overbearing egotistical attitude. Can someone PLEASE tell me what in the hell Immigration and Customs has to do with movie piracy...?

Re:First (I think)

[houghi]

The only thing America manufactures any more is Intellectual Property.

They keep using the word Intellectual, but I don't think it means what they think it means.

Re:First (I think)

[houghi]

Reminds me of the case in Belgium where in the morning providers where blocking thepiratebay.org and in the afternoon all traffic was directed to http://depiraatbaai.be/ which is basically the same site.
And done in such a nice way that people don't even had to do anything.

Re:First (I think)

[gVibe]

Not in a million gajillion years. I mean...who really wants to solve unemployment, education, or the economy anyway...right?!?

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

elections are coming up, maybe?

The Democrat party wants more "donations" from the Hollywood corporate entites, sorry, "people".

Re:First (I think)

[Runaway1956]

MPAA, RIAA, and the other alphabet soup organizations OWN the US government. Said government does NOT represent the American people, anymore. That government represents only the wealth "rights holders". A mere citizen is unworthy of congress' attention, or concern.

Re:First (I think)

[InsightIn140Bytes]

US is just scared of rest of the world going forward while they're still lacking in last century. They should know - blatant violation of European copyrights was how US got its power and industry where it is to begin with.

Re:First (I think)

[SuricouRaven]

Now, that isn't fair. The GOP arn't attacking Obama because he is black - they are attacking him because he is a Democrat, their natural enemy. They may at times use the blackness in some manner - typically indirectly, by questioning his patriotism or by suggesting that he is a racist himself who will unfairy hurt the white man to enrich his black bothers - but it's his alignment with a major political party that makes him their enemy. The racial is just a tactic.

Re:First (I think)

[Fluffeh]

Can someone PLEASE tell me what in the hell Immigration and Customs has to do with movie piracy...?

It is likely a simple distraction method to make them look like they are doing something. Business 101: If you aren't able to do your given job well, find something else that is visible and do a great job at it. People will then not focus so much on the fact that you aren't doing your job because you have done such a great job elsewhere.

Can't stop drugs crossing the border? Can't stem the flow of illegal immigrants across the fence? Easy, take down a few shitty websites, do a "great job" of it, get in some news articles, maybe get into TV and do a nice show and tell about how much money this is saving the US (it doesn't matter if everything you say is garbage) just say "millions of dollars" and "American Taxpayers", maybe throw in a few "terrorits groups" and button it with "Jobs for hard working Americans!" and you have a wonderful media distraction while drugs keep flowing, people keep jumping the fence.

Sadly, I think that there will be a lot more of your type (Americans who are disgusted with the state of your nation) long before anything positive happens. From what I see, there are three types of political views in America at the moment.
1) Happy becuase I am making buckets of money through any means (Small but very connected and powerful group this lot).
2) Disgusted with the state of America (Slowly growing middle class, and generally older or middle aged sensible folks. Remembers the days when America was really something special - and wants it to happen again).
3) I don't give a fuck about anything, or I don't know enough about politics to make an informed stance (This is the real killer. There are so many Americans who seem to be totally and utterly living in a fairytale land of unicorns, fluffy clouds and the "Red, white and blue", getting all their information from Fox News or other similar sources who would likely be totally stunned if they knew what the rest of the world thought of America and it's longer term prospects.

While the media and big business/big government is doing all it possibly can to ensure that group three totally outnumbers group two, I think that it is a slow war of attrition. The glory days of America are fading fast, and while there are still of course bright sparks in otherwise doom and gloom, America needs to learn to compete truly on a global scale again. Not just in small high tech niches, but in day to day manufacturing, tools, construction and really try to force home a concept of getting back to business, not importing anything and everything from some third world country with cheap labour.

Re:First (I think)

[bzipitidoo]

Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

You talk of products and of counterfeiting. You are once again conflating the material with the immaterial. Although the term "product" does apply to a movie, there are better terms, such as "data". Nor is piracy is the same as counterfeiting. Counterfeiting also means that the origin of a product is being misrepresented, similar to plagiarism. Pirates aren't claiming to be the authors of a Beatles' song.

You speak of "allowing", as if the default is that copying is hard, and as if some human agency has the power to grant people the ability to make copies, and can take that privilege away anytime. And as if the US has authority over Korea.

Nor do you know what effect it all has on jobs. For all you know, your way would kill jobs, not create them. Your way certainly would hurt the economy, benefiting a few monopolies a little in exchange for a lot of expense for everyone.

Re:First (I think)

[Anonymous Coward]

blatant violation of copyrights was how Holywood got its power and industry where it is to begin with.

fixed.

Re:First (I think)

[AK Marc]

Nothing. The only thing to do at this point is to take up arms. I'm a pacifist kind of guy, so I just got residency elsewhere and moved. I'll be a citizen elsewhere soon enough, and not be necessarily tied to the sinking ship of the US. I'm just hoping the rest of the world can route around the economic damage that is the US.

Re:First (I think)

[ThePeices]

And why should they pay tax? tax money can be used to help other people! How dare they!

Helping people other than me, and without my consent, sounds too much like socialism. Dirty, dirty socialism.

And every God fearing American knows that socialism is a sin, and therefore is the work of the DEVIL!!

And prey tell, who exactly should good American Citizens put their trust in? GOD, that's who, ( the Christian one ), just as it says in the constitution, the courts, and more importantly, on American currency.

So companies are doing America a favour by not committing the sin of paying taxes. Amen!

( If you have read this far, and still cannot see the sarcasm dripping from the gaps between these sentences, then this is not the right website for you )

Re:First (I think)

[GumphMaster]

Until there is some form of international minimum wage established...

Be careful what you wish for. Many western countries have a minimum wage substantially higher than the US, e.g UK at about USD 9.50/hr, Australia at about USD 15, and US around USD 7.25, and most developing countries have a minimum wage that is essentially zero. Which way do you want to move your US minimum wage, who will oppose it, and what will happen when the bean counters see? If you raise it, US businesses will oppose in force and the bean counters will lay people off to keep the profit margin the same. If you drop it everybody's wage will follow. Which political party will back either option overtly? Ultimately the US doesn't want to move their minimum wage, or even obtain a uniform one, just raise the lower ones to the same level for US benefit.

Re:First (I think)

[countertrolling]

...a Democrat, their natural enemy...

Yeah, in the same way that Curly was Moe's 'natural enemy.

Re:First (I think)

[Bob9113]

The GOP arn't attacking Obama because he is black - they are attacking him because he is a Democrat, their natural enemy.

I suspect you are thinking of the 20th century. This is the new millennium. The GOP is attacking Obama because the political theater script specifies it. The unwritten charter clearly states that the one political party (commonly known as The Lobbyist Party) shall be split roughly evenly along pretentious wedge-issue lines, that no substantive change will be made on any wedge issues unless it increases the vitriol on the lips of the 80% of citizens who are not really paying attention, that all office-holders will work in earnest to prevent anyone who is not a member of the lobbyist party from winning any election, and that all actual bill passage must be coordinated in closed-door sessions to be attended by representatives of not less than 10% of the major lobbying firms.

The GOP's greatest ally in keeping their share (of political seats and of the lobbying cashflow) at 45% - 55% is the Democrats. And visa versa. The parties are not stupid, and they most certainly are not honorable. The one party exists either by evolution or by intelligent design, depending on your perspective, but that it exists is as obvious as a pumpkin in a pea patch.

Look at it this way: Nobody would believe in God if it weren't for Satan. Put either party in either role, the other is the other. 'round about the 80's or so, the parties smacked their collective forehead and said, "Ohhhhh, that's how we keep ourselves in power without having to actually figure out a healthy path forward for all citizens (that would be hard)."

Re:First (I think)

[Ihmhi]

Yes, if we're not careful, illegal copies of movies will... do... something.

Look man, I don't know. The only thing that comes to mind is translating Glitter into Arabic and air-dropping it over our enemies.

Re:First (I think)

[korean.ian]

Aren't you lot supposed to be against cruel and unusual punishment?

Re:First (I think)

[Widowwolf]

You may have missed out that had nothing to with Tactics and Promises..It was Lying about Lewinksy

Re:First (I think)

[fsckmnky]

You talk of products and of counterfeiting. You are once again conflating the material with the immaterial.

Material possessions, are protected by law, from theft, as copyrighted intellectual property, is protected by law, from piracy. There is no conflation. These two different types of property have in common the protection of law, although one has physical form while the other does not.

Although the term "product" does apply to a movie, there are better terms, such as "data".

Better [for you] in this case, because it allows you to justify the transgressions you commit when depriving the creators of the products you pirate compensation. Data, as in, formless, random, data, or data as in publicly available data, are not subject to copyright. Collections of data, including public data such as a phone book or other works of reference, are in fact subject to copyright.

You speak of "allowing", as if the default is that copying is hard,

No, I speak of allowing, as in, the creator of the original work has granted you rights for its use, or not. While you are busy getting stoned and redefining the terms used throughout the legal system to justify your own selfish behavior, you might some day get lucky and stumble upon the fact that the rules of the system are designed to protect productive behavior and the means of production, as opposed to, shifting the balance of protections to consumers such as yourself, which would result in wasted consumption of resources.

and as if some human agency has the power to grant people the ability to make copies

That would be the lawful owner of the original work. Just as you may grant someone use of the computer that you incurred an expense to acquire, the creators of original works incur expenses and have lawful protections concerning their ability to recoup said creation expenses. Once again, the rules are designed to promote and protect production, and minimize consumption for consumption sake.

Nor do you know what effect it all has on jobs.

If a person such as your self, sitting at home, smoking weed, plays video games all day, you wont be out in the world creating products, performing services, operating a business, and creating jobs. Im well aware of the destructive affects of the illegal behavior you advocate, regardless of your failed attempt to redefine all the terms for selfish purposes.

For all you know, your way would kill jobs, not create them.

It's not "my" way. Oopsy, I believe some transference is occurring here.

Your way certainly would hurt the economy

So the last 200 years of successful policy and data, because you don't agree with it, is completely invalid, because your *new* way, certainly is going to work. Nice try Einstein. If only the world would give you everything and treat you like the supreme ruler and intelligent singularity you know you are.

Re:First (I think)

[raynet]

I dunno, there are some small titles like Harry Potter and James Bond that might be worth copyrighting, but am from EU so what do I know...

It is only a matter of time...

[bky1701]

...until the United States loses this power. You can't abuse control of a protocol like this and not have people in other countries (like Europe and Japan) start to wonder if they should break off.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why? .com domain names are US domain names. If they want to have a pirate site in Korea, how about getting a .kr domain name? You do know that the US can only seize US domain names right? If you don't want it taken, then get your domain name registered in your own damn country.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Baloroth]

However, it was originally administered by the US DoD and is currently run by Verisign, whom you will note is a US based company and is therefore required to obey US laws. And TFS points out that the domains were "connected" (whatever the hell that means) to another US based company. So, everything about this was entirely US based, despite the sites being in Korean.

Not that that justifies ICE in any way shape or form, but they do have legal authority, or so it would appear.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[shutdown -p now]

RFC 1591:

Each of the generic TLDs was created for a general category of
organizations. The country code domains (for example, FR, NL, KR,
US) are each organized by an administrator for that country. These
administrators may further delegate the management of portions of the
naming tree. These administrators are performing a public service on
behalf of the Internet community. Descriptions of the generic
domains and the US country domain follow.

Of these generic domains, five are international in nature, and two
are restricted to use by entities in the United States.

World Wide Generic Domains:

COM - This domain is intended for commercial entities, that is
companies. This domain has grown very large and there is
concern about the administrative load and system performance if
the current growth pattern is continued. Consideration is
being taken to subdivide the COM domain and only allow future
commercial registrations in the subdomains.

EDU - This domain was originally intended for all educational
institutions. Many Universities, colleges, schools,
educational service organizations, and educational consortia
have registered here. More recently a decision has been taken
to limit further registrations to 4 year colleges and
universities. Schools and 2-year colleges will be registered
in the country domains (see US Domain, especially K12 and CC,
below).

NET - This domain is intended to hold only the computers of network
providers, that is the NIC and NOC computers, the
administrative computers, and the network node computers. The
customers of the network provider would have domain names of
their own (not in the NET TLD).

ORG - This domain is intended as the miscellaneous TLD for
organizations that didn't fit anywhere else. Some non-
government organizations may fit here.

INT - This domain is for organizations established by international
treaties, or international databases.

United States Only Generic Domains:

GOV - This domain was originally intended for any kind of government
office or agency. More recently a decision was taken to
register only agencies of the US Federal government in this

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[spauldo]

Rome was the best armed group (countries didn't really exist then) of its time. It fell, just like all empires before it.

There's a lot more to holding influence and power than a large army. Most of the influence America has is economic and social rather than military.

A few reasons for this:

1) We won the cold war. Previous areas of Soviet influence look to democratic countries as a model, and the U.S. pushes its pro-democracy stance pretty hard.

2) The English language. Yeah, the U.K. and various other countries have this too, but it benefits the U.S. more than any. English has become the dominant language for business and culture around the world.

3) Pop culture. When I was in Japan, I saw almost as many CDs and records from the U.S. as I saw Japanese ones. American TV shows are shown all over the world. American movie stars are known world-wide.

4) Inertia. America was once an industrial powerhouse. Many things which are standard now were originally conceived in the U.S. For example, most computer-related things are English-oriented (programming languages, network protocols, RFCs, etc.). Even computer standards not created in the U.S. often use English (see HTML, for instance).

5) Size. The U.S. is large, and has a large economy. The state of California has (or recently had) the 6th largest economy in the world - and it's just one state. Anyone doing business internationally would be missing a large chunk of the market by not doing business with the U.S.

As far as our military, so what? We've never gone to war with anyone with nukes. There's a good reason for that - mutually assured destruction works. If the Soviets didn't have them, the cold war would have gotten pretty hot. I doubt even ol' W would have been crazy enough to attack China.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[shutdown -p now]

"International in nature" is so vague as to be virtually meaningless.

international

Adjective:
Existing, occurring, or carried on between two or more nations.

And what does that have to do with the plain fact that that .com, .org, and .net are run by companies under the jurisdiction of the US Government?

It means that U.S. government is abusing its historical jurisdiction over those domains in a way that was not intended by the designers of the system.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Dan541]

Of those 5 extensions only .mil and .edu are US domains.

You know you're wrong otherwise you wouldn't need to comment anonymously.

Re:It is only a matter of time...

[Raenex]

Anybody have a link to the full lecture?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti3mtDC2fQo

Selling copyrighted material

[Dan East]

On first inspection, the majority of the sites offered access to downloads of the latest Hollywood blockbusters for a small charge.

Okay, so they were selling and profiting off of someone else's IP. Doesn't matter who they were "marketing" it to, if the copyright violation crosses into the jurisdiction of the US government then of course they will act.

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[masternerdguy]

I agree that the Korean sites were in the wrong and should have been taken down, but is ICE really the right group to do this crap? Isn't there some kind of international thing that should be handling this?

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Ethanol-fueled]

There were congressmen comparing ICE to the gestapo years ago.

The moment I knew that Homeland security was out of control happened a few months ago. I was in the City Heights section of San Diego buying beer. Some little Mexican kid jaywalked and ran across El Cajon Blvd in front of an SUV. The SUV, along with another SUV and an unmarked car, pulled into the parking lot the kid ran into and then no less than 6 fully armed ICE agents jumped out of all 3 vehicles and had the kid sitting on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back. A truly disgusting and overkill display of power. The kid was probably 4 feet tall.

What is especially creepy about this is that all three vehicles were all unmarked GM-made vehicles (undercover cars are always American-made) with inconspicuous non-government ("average-Joe") license plates.

You can rest assured that the DHS are like the Iranian Basij, a paramilitary force bent on enforcing the morality of the citizenry and keeping them in check should they get to loud for the status quo. They will be the ones rounding up the protesters and other undesirables, eventually whisking them away into detention centers.

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Ethanol-fueled]

Link.

The two are Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill, and Sam Farr, D-Ca.

The last time I posted that here, years ago, It was met with a bunch of "but those two are liberal pinko" comments. Now you have Immigration and Customs enforcement going after kids downloading music, under the umbrella of "Homeland Security."

Do you not see a problem with that blatant and inappropriate mission-creep?

Re:Selling copyrighted material

[Arker]

Okay, so they were selling and profiting off of someone else's IP. Doesn't matter who they were "marketing" it to, if the copyright violation crosses into the jurisdiction of the US government then of course they will act.

On the surface that seems like a reasonable argument. However it ignores the fundamental principles our justice system is founded upon, on several points. We supposedly believe in innocent until proven guilty, and due process of law, for example. Yet these actions are being taken without a trial. Furthermore, the offenses you mention are not criminal offenses, but civil offenses, which in our system of justice are supposed to be handled in a very different way from this.

Without in any way defending the sites in question, the actions being taken by ICE in this case do not seem at all consistent with the principles of american justice.

Ridiculous

[Anonymous Coward]

Further proof that the US Govt/ICE is a police whore for the Entertainment Industry.

Re:But illegals with fake health cards make our fo

[masternerdguy]

Vote with your wallet. If you're really against big media don't consume their products*. There's tons of high quality CC licensed, and independently produced, media out there. Otherwise quit your bitching.

*That doesn't mean you can pirate them. Consuming them anyway without paying isn't a protest.

All the Images

[pgn674]

I gathered all 10 of the banners used in the 377 seized domains, and uploaded them here: DOJ Seized Domain Notices - Paul Nickerson - Picasa Web Albums

Re:Take some of the big names already.

[houghi]

Unfortunately it won't piss off enough people. You perhaps can't fool all the people all the time, but you only need to fool enough of them.

The abuse of power has not reached its peak yet. Not even close. It is going to get much worse. This also means when people are fed up with it, the American Revolution will look like a tea party.

I think in 25 to 50 years. This is what history has thought me.

Re:FAIL!

[AK Marc]

.com is administered by the US and is implicitly US. .us is explicitly US.

Law enforcement multi-tasks.

[westlake]

Honestly this is getting kind of ridiculous, though. Doesn't the US government have more pressing issues on its hands right now?

This is the same question the cop is asked by every white collar criminal he collars.

No matter how small the crime or how big.

Re:But illegals with fake health cards make our fo

[betterunixthanunix]

Vote with your wallet

Sounds like wealthy people get more of a vote than I do.

Buy second hand

[future assassin]

Seriously $2 DVD's at pwn shops = money in YOUR pocket. You can get a 50' plasmas now for $799 thats like seeing 16 movies with you and two kids $50. Now you just wait a little longer for the dvd, hot the pawn shop and relax at home while you watch the movie/

Re:Constitutional protections for non-Americans?

[Arker]

By the letter of the law this is not true. The fifth amendment, for example, begins "No person shall be held to answer..." NOT 'no citizen.'

The founders made clear their belief in *human rights* which emanate from natural law and are common to all people, given by our creator and common to all human beings regardless of nationality.

However unfortunately we have been doing a very poor job of living up to the ideals of the founders or even the letter of our own laws, so what you say seems to be defacto correct.

Media Companies Need To Change or Die

[Hyperhaplo]

I am in Australia. I would like to play several movies and TV shows on my mobile. How can I do this legally?

I have a stack of CDs at home. Went through them last night to organise what I'll be watching for the next month or so (in regards to watching from physical medium). While annoying to have to change the disks each time, it's something I can put up with.

My SO is currently travelling. Good news is that the primary communications device she has, a Samsung Galaxy S, is well capable of video playback and could store several movies and quite a few TV episodes.. so how can this be done legally?

The answer of 'rip the DVDs, compress, and encode to AVI, then upload the files to the phone' is not the answer I am looking for.
Big Media is currently looking to sue downloaders, and by extension any related illegal activity in Australia.

So let's drive in the white lane. Let's do The Right Thing. Here is a list of movies and TV shows to put on this phone. How can this be done legally?
(and not all at once, obviously, due to the amount of content. Although, with enough memory sticks space should not be an issue)
(this is her 'for start' list.. just the things she'd like to watch now.. and yes, already have the DVDs for all of these

* Easy A
* Gilmore Girls
* Life on Mars
* JAG
* Serenity
* Firefly
* Brothers and Sisters
* Morning Glory
* The Good Witch
* Modern Family
* Castle

Now, for a good old fashioned rant regarding the story..

Some time ago we purchased the Gilmore Girls DVDs. Local store, all 10 seasons. All good, right?
Well, no. The sound was bad. Terrible actually. So, we put up with it thinking that it was our TV / System.
Had a few issues with a few disks. Long story really short is that a kind soul purchased the series online (and yes, the whole 10 seasons) as a boxed set which "patched the holes" from the 'store bought' disks. Excellent.
The 'online version' of the Gilmore Girls DVDs is of superior quality for the sound, the DVD menus and DVD functions. (I am not sure how to explain this. The 'store bought DVDs always seem to have issues loading / reading .. but the online version just works.. some issues with loading sometimes, but generally works without issue.. )

Cost comparison:
Store bought: We between $15 and $20 per season for Gilmore Girls at the local Kmart / BigW stores. For the 10 seasons I estimate that we spent ~170 in total for 10 seasons.
Online version: The boxed set of 10 seasons on DVD online apparently was just under $100 delivered (along with other stuff.. so, possibly $80).
Difference: Around $50 to $90 depending on local price vs online price

Quality: I would never purchase this DVD boxed set, either locally or online. The sound is terrible.

So, here the 'pirates' are producing a superior product, selling it for cheaper than the local retailers, have a 'disk replacement' policy with (what amounts to) DRM free and no UOP (which are highly irritating).

It's a pity that they don't have a service to buy properly encoded and tagged AVI's.

So far as I am concerned, Big Media are shooting themselves in the foot right now. Who doesn't have a smart phone capable of playing movies an TV shows? How many of us would watch shows on our phone if we could?

Here is my money. Will you take it?

No.

*sigh*

Yes, I know, it's been said before. Now it's just biting, kicking and screaming. Personally, I wish the 'pirates' all the best. They are providing a service that Big Media won't.

Badly moderated

[kiwimate]

1. Read the article. They are counterfeiting in some cases. In other cases, they're charging a fee for access to the pirated movies. Most people here on Slashdot, even if they support piracy, argue that charging for the pirated goods is wrong.

2. What would you suggest instead of "allowing"? As far as your comment about the US having authority over Korea, again, you should read the article.

So despite the fact that the sites were targeted at Korean speaking visitors, the websites appear to belong to a Seattle-based company.

3. I suppose the poster doesn't know for sure what effect it has on jobs, but I posit that you don't either. I could just as easily say for all you know, not doing this and instead allowing the U.S. based piracy that is aimed at Korean audiences will kill jobs.

Re:Badly moderated

[raynet]

There is one very good reason to complain about the takedown. The way it was done. USA shouldn't be able to close a Korean site down without the help of Korean officials and it should be based on Korean law, now US law. Otherwise I am all for closing down every site that wants money for pirated stuff.

Re:But illegals with fake health cards make our fo

[syousef]

Vote with your wallet. If you're really against big media don't consume their products*. There's tons of high quality CC licensed, and independently produced, media out there. Otherwise quit your bitching.

*That doesn't mean you can pirate them. Consuming them anyway without paying isn't a protest.

Last time I checked, using something and refusing to pay for it was a protest. Whether or not it's effective or moral you can debate. Certainly it is not legal in most countries, but to argue that it's not a protest is childish and being modded up for it is childish too. As is the line "quit your bitching".

While we're at it there's a lot more dross on CC than in commercial and yep that's saying something. The only useful thing the industry does is increase the signal to noise ratio a little.

Finally as someone else pointed out the terms "pirate" and "consume" are correct only in the broadest terms here. No one is raping nor pilleaging, and nothing is being used up.

So while I understand your point, I disagree, and even if I were to agree I'd encourage you to make it more coherently.

and nothing of value was lost

[crossmr]

These sites are nothing. There are tons of major, and apparently legal download sites in Korea. You can download the latest blockbuster for 10 cents. They're advertised everywhere, they sponsor stuff, you get coupons for them when you order stuff, etc.

They're most run off Korean servers though. Very few Koreans would be going to overseas sites to download this kind of stuff. The current state of the underseas cable to the US is still very bad after the earthquake/tsunami and speeds continue to get slower.

It's an incredible victory to announce though

It's the same as with drugs

[devent]

It's the same stupidity as with drugs counterfeit. The US government will spend millions to fight copyright violations, with will have no effect on the quality and availability on sites. But it will make the organizations more criminal and will put more people in jail for minor offends.

Here is a forecast how this will end (just replace drugs with copyright infringement)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsk8R_j5zzg
""It pains me to know that there is a solution for preventing tragedy and nothing is being done because of ignorance, stubbornness, unsubstantiated fear and greed."

Hear Neill Franklin, Executive Director of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), speak on the problems and costs of the war on drugs, and the reasons society would be better off if it were ended."