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Warner Bros. Admits To Issuing Bogus Takedowns
An anonymous reader sends this quote from TechDirt:
"One of the bizarre side notes to Hollywood's big lawsuit against the cyberlocker Hotfile was a countersuit against Warner Bros. by Hotfile, for using the easy takedown tool that Hotfile had provided, to take down a variety of content that was (a) non-infringing and (b) had nothing to do with Warner Bros. at all (i.e., the company did not hold the copyright on those files). In that case, WB admitted that it filed a bunch of false takedowns, but said it was no big deal because it was all done by a computer. Of course, it then came out that at least one work was taken down by a WB employee, and that employee had done so on purpose, annoyed that JDownloader could help possible infringers download more quickly."
So if my computer just happens to download your copyrighted files by algorithm, it's okay because it was all done by a computer.
Sounds reasonable to me.
My wiener did. So, we're good, right?
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
They're totally guilty as charged. They attempted to take down a video that (kinda) had some of their content. The problem was, it was a lecture about fair use AND the topic was about a song that should have been a fair use of their content. The band had been sued by Island back in the early 90's and there were lots of issues with the way the whole thing went down.
"In that case, WB admitted that it filed a bunch of false takedowns, but said it was no big deal because it was all done by a computer." Tell that to all those people who lost their homes due to robosigning.
PERJURY, with a computer!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Isn't making a false statement under the DMCA essentially like perjury? And if it is, why isn't someone being charged criminally?
It's gotten to the point where these companies ignore the letter (and intent) of the law at will, and with no penalty.
If your computer system is identifying incorrect stuff, your computer system is faulty. If your humans are illegally issuing take downs for stuff you don't own, that's a criminal act.
And don't tell me it's a civil matter, because the *AAs have gotten enforcement of this ramped up to a federal crime.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
> Penalty for infringing on copyrights: uncounted billions.
:-(
Uh, excuse me, sir. It was $75 TRILLION. Not mere Billions. Google it: RIAA $75 TRILLION.
Oh, wait, but this is about movies rather than music. Nevermind. It's all okay then.
This may be more than the global GDP, but music is worth it. If you FEEELTHY pirates can't pay $75 trillion because there's not enough wealth on the planet, then you shouldn't listen to the music. Better yet, all music should be locked up where nobody can ever hear it again -- to protect the artists.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
The same thing we do every night Pinky try to get slapped with a perjury claim from filing false takedown notices.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
Some days, I feel almost bad for torrenting. But then I see something like this and go back to my gleeful piracy.
I know, right?
I mean, I could have people over to my house and play music for them -- and I would be denying studio executives their huge compensation and causing the artists to have to eat their own feet in order to survive.
I could be really subversive and have people over to watch movies, and I would be robbing the studios blind.
My god, I need to go to my nearest Copyright Re-education facility and atone for my sins.
All I can say is it's a good thing we've got just and rational laws like the DMCA protecting us from people like me.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Just remember the next time you fork over $12 for a movie ticket, who are you supporting with that money.
I have a friend who has been in several not so famous bands. We worked together back when napster was still a place people went to get music.
His comment at the time was "if I found out someone had put my bands music up online for people to download, why I would hunt him down and shake his hand".
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Yes, filing false DMCA is explicitly defined by the law as perjury and the EFF is currently pursuing a number of these cases. The problem is that perjury is defined as the "willful act of swearing a false oath" so they're just going to claim that they didn't know the takedown notices were wrong and that it was just a mistake.
Which raises the question, when did they find out the program kicked out false positives and did they continue to use it after that? IANAL, but if they used a program they knew would commit perjury, I can't see how it's different than committing the perjury themselves. I find it pretty implausible that a company that lives by its copyrights doesn't know -- and is not required to know -- what a legitimate copyright claim is.
===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
Hotfile should just suppose that all takedown sent to them from the form might be bogus, and ask for handwritten letters to be sent to them to verify that a human was behind it.
Section 1:
If corporations are people, then all corporations and individuals have a Constitutional right to equal protection under the law.
In short, if the corporations can do it, so can individual citizens; just cite the court case and the 14th Amendment as precedent.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Kill Michael Jackson: 5 years Pirate Michael Jackson music: 15 years
We could only dream that the government comes down on them the same way they did on Aaron Swartz for what his computer was set to automatically do.
I'd guess the potential killers have higher moral standards than the execs, and don't want to inflict the mental pain / sorrow on the not-guilty family members. Sadly this means the morally bankrupt studio execs can't be expunged from the gene pool.
That and there's a huge line of contenders to replace the execs anyway, all with moral compasses permanently set to "screw everyone except me".
Above the law? They practically make the law.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!