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US Unveils Charges Against KickassTorrents, Names Two More Defendants (arstechnica.com)
A total of three men are said to be operators of file-sharing site KickassTorrents (KAT), according to U.S. prosecutors. Last month, federal authorities arrested the 30-year-old Ukrainian mastermind of KAT, Artem Vaulin, and formally charged him with one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of criminal copyright infringement. Two other Ukrainians were named in the new indictment (PDF): Levgen (Eugene) Kutsenko and Oleksander (Alex) Radostin. While only Vaulin has been arrested, bench warrants have been issue for the arrest of all three men. Ars Technica reports: "Prosecutors say the three men developed and maintained the site together and used it to 'generate millions of dollars from the unlawful distribution of copyright-protected media, including movies, [...] television shows, music, video games, computer software, and electronic books.' They gave out 'Reputation' and 'User Achievement' awards to users who uploaded the most popular files, including a special award for users who had uploaded more than 1,000 torrents. The indictment presents a selection of the evidence that the government intends to use to convict the men, and it isn't just simple downloads of the copyrighted movies. The government combed through Vaulin's e-mails and traced the bitcoins that were given to him via a 'donation' button."
Is that the same as illegal hyperlinks?
When white men are arrested and charged, it's for a non-violent crime that arguably has no victim. Meanwhile black males are 7% of the population yet they commit 50% of all murders! It's as though one race is more violent and savage than the other.
Google is the biggest distributor of .torrent files I know of.
Stealing everyone's content and putting it up for free while making ad revenue of intellectual property they didn't create
If anyone at Google gets arrested for linking to infringing content, it will be the end of the Internet as we know it.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
What "millions of dollars" did the site generate? I can understand a claim of lost profits for the content owners, perhaps, but it's not like that translates into earned revenue for the site owners. And if they made money from paid memberships or ads or something, that's hardly illegal.
Google still remains the best torrent site ever. You can get any torrent on google and google is making money on ads that pay for those torrent search results.
Let's all just take a moment to honor the people that sacrifice so much for us. Without them, there wouldn't be a one-stop shop for commercial free content that can be obtained while using a VPN service. As an added bonus, nobody knows when you pause, rewind, fast forward, adjust the volume etc.
If you interact with US citizens, you are apparently subject to US laws. No borders. No sovereignty. You are a pawn in the global arena. Stepping outside your square will be dealt with swiftly and severely. Don't fuck with the US money /*holders*/ hoarders!
Is like Trent Reznor works at DOJ now instead of Apple.
loCating #GNAA, for tOrolls' users. BSD/OS Be in a scene and It's going,
I don't understand why someone in Ukraine is liable for violating the US's stupid copyright rules.
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
Because we have solved crime and inequality in the U.S., our tax funded law enforcement and legal system can now focus its resources on foreign torrent sites, because they represent the next largest threat to everyday Americans.
Money laundering? At least pretend that the words mean something other than "and now we can get what we really want. "
Requiem for the American Dream
No. And the more they push the less I'm buying. It's really that simple.
You can't make this shit up.
Meanwhile you have a murderer and a con artist running for president.
was arrested because he was the wrong nationality in the wrong country.
If he was Polish, Poland would never have extradited him.
But he's Ukrainian, and Poles don't exactly have a favorable view on them.
It's a good lesson for filesharers on minding your geo-politics in your business.
Should have just raped some little kids.
Since poland the country that just handed them over to the usa for 'piracy'.
Has no problem keeping roman polanski safe from extradition.
I only use google to get torrents, can someone throw them in front of a judge please?
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=filetype:torrent+dvdrip+magnet
This is a transparent attempt to put the onus of policing copyright onto the shoulders of people who not only have no responsibility to do, but in point of fact cannot do so: only the copyright holder can decide what is an authorized copy. Google has neither the right, nor the obligation, nor the ability to police your content for you.
Others, do take note that no legal challenge or change has ever been penned by YouTube detractors, and I don't believe any will be so foolish as to do so. Also note well the focus of the complaint: the supposed profits of Google. The recording industry doesn't want a change in law, they just want a bigger cut. Don't be fooled.
If I become a citizen of a foreign planet, can I escape US justice?
Fuck yeah!
Eh, this isn't about combating piracy. It's about control over the available means of distribution. Attacking competing content delivery methods. Fighting piracy is just the socially acceptable face they put on it. When they shut down a file sharing server or torrent site, there's no distinction between legal or pirated files. They just want to make sure you have a harder time getting content from anyone but them.
And yet -- despite all this -- Kickass Torrent is still up, and it has plenty of fresh content.
(Just a minute ago I searched for this week's Mr Robot S02E08 on kickass.cd, and I got over two dozen different torrents.)
So, how are these US charges supposed to thwart file-sharing? I don't see the connection.
The US Gubmint, striking yet another blow against internet freedom! Listen and hear, you poor and you workers of the world - you will NOT have access to the same cultural data as your betters, and Soviet America will use the violent coercive power of the imperial state to make sure of it.
and rightfully so.
The social contract that was copyright was nullified when Sonny Bono & Mickey Mouse abolished public domain.
We give you limited monopoly of the distribution of content and in exchange you contribute to the public domain.
When they suspended public domain, they reneged on their side of the bargain. There is no reason that we should continue to uphold our side. And we haven't been. And we wont until there is once again some equity in it.
Piracy will continue to grow and profits will continue to shrink until this damaging concept is completely routed around.
and chased down by the government (rather than in civil court by those holding the copyright) but one never hears the same government actions against trademark violation?
> We need to impound all of the world's beaches.
Somebody call King Kanute. We need to get his advisors in here for this one...