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Library.nu and Ifile.it Shut Down
Ralph Spoilsport writes "A coalition of 17 publishing companies has shut down library.nu and ifile.it, charging them with pirating ebooks. This comes less than a month after megaupload was shut down, and SOPA was stopped. If the busting of cyberlockers continues at this pace and online library sharing dismantled, this under-reported story may well be the tip of a very big iceberg — one quite beyond the P&L sheets of publishers and striking at basic human rights as outlined in the contradictions of the UN Charter. Is this a big deal — a grim coalition of corporate power? Or just mopping up some scurvy old pirates? Or somewhere in between?"
Adds new submitter roaryk, "According to the complaint, the sites offered users access to 400,000 e-books and made more than $11 million in revenue in the process. The admins, Fidel Nunez and Irina Ivanova, have been tracked down using their PayPal donation account, which was not anonymous. Despite the claims of the industry the site admins say they were barely able to cover the server costs with the revenue."
I've heard of these buildings, many even publicly sponsored, where books are shared, and one does not need to pay the publisher for the privilege of reading their work. I propose these houses of corruption be banned, so they stop stealing from the coffers of the rich!
If you honestly believe what you are saying and/or are not a troll you need to get off the MegaMediaNewsSteam. I haven't heard anyone I know that still downloads their wares and were actually affected by MegaUpload going bunk. The best thing about the "pirates" is that they are extremely resourceful and have many, many different outlets to get their files. If you ask me, MegaUpload was probably the worst tool to use for this anyway. There are many more ways to get files and are just as effective. Hell, IRC was and still is better that MU.
Sad
Well, something is. Just not what you think.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
MegaUpload and similar sites were used by general population, and outright made money from copyright theft. It was very similar to selling warez on streets, they just tried to hide it behind "clever" subscription models and affiliate programs. Yes, serious pirates will always be able to get their files, but when the circle is small enough companies don't care. They care about what most of population does, and they can easily make it harder and inconvenient enough for general population.
I borrowed a newspaper today. I didn't pay for it, but I still read it.
Also, I have 3 books at home which aren't mine (borrowed, not stolen).
Basically, that's at least 30 euro of lost revenue for the industry.
Yet I don't feel guilty...
30? More like 3 million. Thats how piracy works, haven't you been paying attention?
Just roll over, shrug their shoulders, and say "oh well"?
No, Mr. Media Giant, I expect you to die.</Goldfinger>
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Infringing copyright isn't theft. Copyright theft is when a record company takes the rights to their musicians' work. If I held a gun to your head and made you sign your copyrights over, that too would be copyright theft.
The publishing industries should stop listening to the advertiser's mantra "sell the sizzle, not the steak" and try to understand what the phrase means. You can't sell me a sizzle, but the sizzle might help you sell me a steak.
What's the difference between downloading a CD's worth of songs and checking the CD out from the library? It has dozens of movies, hundreds of CDs and thousands of books -- all free.
Since the invention of moveable type, the content sold the book. The music sold the record. Plays, concerts, and movies were the only exceptions. Study after study shows that music pirates spend more money on music than non-pirates. Attack piracy and you attack your best customers. I can think of little more foolish.
However, I agree that those making money from piracy or counterfeiting are in fact stealing. In that case, something is indeed lost.
Free Martian Whores!
Noooo...they should embrace the valve model and realize while you will NEVER get rid of piracy you CAN turn a hell of a lot of those pirates into customers by embracing the big three concept, which is make it simple, make it easy, make it cheap. I knew a LOT of game pirates, yet almost none of them actually pirate games anymore...why? because of Steam, Steam makes it simple as "push button to get game" and makes it easy with instant patching and matchmaking, and more importantly they make it cheap with constant promos and sales to entice those that wouldn't pay full price.
You could do the same with TV and movies VERY easily, there is no damned reason why i shouldn't be able to buy an AVI of any episode of any show for say 25c. that roughly figures up to about what you'd pay for a box set on Amazon and if you showed the episode free in the clear in the first place you sure as hell aren't gonna affect piracy by giving me an AVI that would actually play on my dad's media tank. Same thing for movies, why should I be able to buy that 4 year old movie out of the Walmart bargain bin for $4 but a digital copy costs something like $20 and is DRMed out the ass? if its on DVD you sure as hell aren't affecting piracy by selling me an AVI because the pirates will have uploaded it years ago.
This is no different than how the RIAA kept shooting themselves in the face screaming " Music downloads will kill music!" and now are setting record profits thanks to iTunes. In fact as valve showed when they mad over 1700% PROFITS by selling L4D at $1.99 if the RIAA would lower that MP3 down to say a quarter a song they would be raking in truckloads of money and wiping out the pirates. So my friend this has NOTHING to do with pirates, it has to do with control and the ability to sell an infinite resource as a scare commodity and therefor charge assraping prices. go DIAF media companies, we won't miss you.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.