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Sony Hack Reveals MPAA's Big '$80 Million' Settlement With Hotfile Was a Lie
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Tech Dirt: For years, we've pointed out that the giant 'settlements' that the MPAA likes to announce with companies it declares illegal are little more than Hollywood-style fabrications. Cases are closed with big press releases throwing around huge settlement numbers, knowing full well that the sites in question don't have anywhere near that kind of money available. At the end of 2013, it got two of these, with IsoHunt agreeing to 'pay' $110 million and Hotfile agreeing to 'pay' $80 million. In both cases, we noted that there was no chance that those sums would ever get paid. And now, thanks to the Sony hack, we at least know the details of the Hotfile settlement. TorrentFreak has been combing through the emails and found that the Hotfile settlement was really just for $4 million, and the $80 million was just a bogus number agreed to for the sake of a press release that the MPAA could use to intimidate others.
That's still not exactly chump change...
#DeleteChrome
The real Hollywood Magic is in the accounting departments.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
That they moved the news up from 11?
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
There are always limits to what they can take. Depending on the state you live in various assets are protected, and only so much of your income can be taken for payment. They don't get to just take everything you own and demand all your money. You will find it is usually things like your primary residence, primary vehicle, and so on are protected, and the limit of monthly payment is a certain percentage of after tax income.
So while a big judgement sucks and can effect you in various ways, it isn't a life ending "you are forever in debt and can never keep a dollar" event.
How many songs or "incidents of infringement" did Sony claim Hotfile was guilty of? What did Sony settle for as the price per infringement. Knowing the price sets a negotiation point for anyone else in a similar situaiton.
If Sony claimed there were 800M bad files sent out by Hotfile and the settlement was $4M then when Sony knocks on Joe Publics door. Joe Public can say "You settled with a commercial infringer for 4/800 = 1/200 = 0.5cents a file. As I am not a commercial operation lets start the negotiation at 1/10th of that or 0.05cents a file."
Makes it hard for Sony to intinidate the public if the settlement cost is going to be less than an hours of lawyer fees.
Why are so many commentators constantly in need of surprises these days? Life generally too exciting?
I, personally, like to have my opinions based in fact. I like to change my opinions when facts show otherwise. I like to consider my opinions correct when the facts match up to what I thought all along. Reading a news story that confirms an opinion is just as important as reading a news story that indicates I might be wrong.
1/ MPAA / RIAA lie - news at 10
2/ PR statements are bullshit - news at 10
Where's the surprise here?
Actually, if they report this as part of their stockholder's meeting/information about the state of their company, I think it's quite illegal. As in the Feds can come in and start checking your books for other 'hundred million dollars lies'.
(Sorry, did not mean to post anonymously).
No! It's a *SIG*. Keep the Special Interest Groups away! (Con joke!)
I'm pretty sure that if I ran a business and I misrepresented a $4 million deal to my business partners, investors, and/or the general public as being 20 times larger, either my ass would be in jail or I'd be sued into oblivion.
Log in or piss off.
The judgement was in fact entered for $80 million. That's true. A judgement doesn't mean you're going to get paid. I've had a judgement for $2,500 against a guy for fifteen years. He paid $40. There's basically no way to make someone actually pay a judgement, especially if they are going out of business. The executives take their last pay check and close up the business. The judgement creditor can send demand letters all day long to where the business used to be, demanding that the now non-existent business pay the judgement.
Here, they agreed that Sony would get a judgement for $80 million, so reporting that judgement isn't exactly a lie. In addition, they agreed that the defendant would actually pay $4 million of that judgement, since they probably didn't have the money to pay the whole thing and even if they could, it's pretty easy to avoid paying a judgement in most cases. Just ignore the judgement. Then the plaintiff has to file additional law suits trying to get specific property seized to pay the judgement, after they identify specific non-exempt property that won't disappear before it's seized.
Especially considering that the NKVD was disbanded in 1946...
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
it was meant to affect shareholder value, value of future negotiations and all manner of other things.
further, it was meant to be used as a number to throw around when trying to extort money from other sites. like, when negotiating with isohunt say that the other site paid 80 million bucks and vice versa.
basically.. at the core of things.. it was fraud.
not just on one level but on many levels. all the mpaa member companies should be held accountable for that fraud... but guess if they are? fuck no..
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
It is sad, and somewhat scary, just how accurate Marilyn Manson was in his interview in Bowling for Columbine. The gist being, "keep the masses afraid. scared people spend money."