"Certainly users may have downloaded a torrent file but never did anything with it. That is, just left it sitting around or deleted it."
Or the logs may have been forged. Or the file may have been corrupt. Or the file may have contained a review of a movie or a trailer. Or someone may have trojanized the person's system. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
One is more than welcome to argue all those possibilities in the civil litigation process.
It will only cost you a few thousand dollars in attorney fees to do so. THAT'S THE BIG PROBLEM.
The point is, when you essentially offer some coaching to precisely those people who are pirating stuff, it just smells bad to the wider audience.
More important that that -- the advice I gave was perhaps even more important to those who have completely legal uses for purchases of large quantities of recordable media.
People like those who burn off dozens of copies of church service audio/video sermons weekly onto CDRs/DVDRs. Underground bands who burn off their songs onto dozens upon dozens of blank CDs to get their music out there.
You might think it'd be easy to just give them one of the above excuses. Bottom-line: They will think you are full of shit. They'll say, that's the excuse every pirate uses.
History is quite clear: These big corporations have no problems carpet-bombing, via civil litigation, anyone they suspect of engaging in piracy. Their philosophy is IF someone is innocent, then they will have their chance to tell it to a judge/jury, and if they are found "not liable", well then, great for them. Problem is, to litigate yourself "not liable", costs much more than settling. And the preponderance of evidence is 51% in civil court. No 5th ammendment and no court-appointed attorney. Pro-se? That's like doing open-heart surgery on yourself.
So my larger point is: Pirate or non-pirate -- you do NOT want to get into the crosshairs of a sue-them-all-let-the-jury-sort-them-out, corporation with a bunch of attorneys with nothing better to do litigate with maximum zeal and effort.
Pirate or non-pirate: Don't leave a paper trail. If you buy recordable media in quantities that can even remotely be construed as "quantities only a pirate would buy" even if for 100% legit, then do it via CASH and CARRY. To not, leaves you open to the very real risk of civil lawsuit.
Now that is the sort of shining beacon of ethics that you'd think would convice recording artists that there aren't really any pirates out there to worry about, no siree!
You apparently miss the point.
The point isn't whether you are a pirate or not, or even whether pirates exist. We all know that pirates exist.
And that just like speeding, 99.9% of the public has done it at some point in their life.
The point is, unless you are totally confident in your ability, and more importantly, don't mind wasting your money and time defending your purchase of recordable media in a CIVIL court of law, you may be wise to not purchase it in a way that leaves an electronic paper trail.
IOW, let someone else be a more visible target than you.
This is borderline tinfoil territory. I suppose OJ Simpson thought getting into smartcard programming would being him one step closer to finding the real killer?
I agree, but OJ was busted with the stuff hooked up to his TV/satellite box.
There are thousands of people who got sued for mere possession of the stuff, rather than caught in the act using it. Could you undergo a civil deposition where the RIAA's attorneys make you explain what you did with all those blank CDRs/DVDRs you purchased? I mean, NOBODY, other than a pirate could possibly go thru that much blank media.
The only "safety" one may have is the way larger numbers of people who pirate music/videos versus who hacked DTV.
Want to get illegally sued and threatened to get dragged into court and explain how you used every last one of those blank CDRs/DVDRs you purchased?
Think I've been looking for black helicopters? Ask the aforementioned THOUSANDS of people who got sued if they could do it all over again if they would pay with a credit card again?
Don't leave a paper trail, electronic or otherwise.
Bottom line: If you are gonna use blank media for quasi-legal purposes, then be smart and do it via "cash and carry." Let some other poor slob get sued.
"I HATE people who thump a bible every chance they get
WE DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT RELIGION YOU WORSHIP. Just stop trying to push it on other people by thumping your bible every five minutes, and for the love of humanity DON'T try to push it into government.
Seriously - KEEP YOUR RELIGION TO YOURSELF!"
Doing that would be contrary to Christianity:
"All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Mt. 28:18-20 ASV).
BTW, he was just pointing out another Biblical prophesy that may be coming true soon.
Let me guess.... You are one of those guys who believes that a tornado could go through a junkyard and assemble a 747. (Right? That's what you believe, right? Right? It is? Wasn't it? I knew it.)
C'mon I'm Trolling for a CAUSE here guys!
You can't really do that without line by line analysis which is unrealistic
Why not?
OpenBSD does this for everything.
And why not for something as crucial as your example of a TCP/IP stack. It is NOT unreasonable for someone/a group of people to go through that line by line.
I got a phone call from a big local lawyer office (no fake, I checked the caller ID and the phone number really belongs to a lawyer office). They have been hired to make me stop distributing the DVD-A tools. It was a reasonably big talk, but I can summarize it with
They: we are giving you two choices, either you remove all references to those tools from your site now, or we'll have to take you to court.
Me: I'm already removing!
They: Thank-you for your cooperation.
Oh, well. It's been fun. I'm amazed at how well it spread in these two days (!), and I'm sure from now on you'll be able to find those tools in countless mirrors, p2p and the like.
"According to the affidavit, in 2003 an undercover agent began inviting warez operators from all over the country to store pirated material on his site."
Same thing as when some local cop dresses up as a hooker and goes looking for johns to arrest.
But the local cop dressed up like a hooker doesn't invite johns to have sex with him.
"FBI case agent Julie B. Jolie's 11-page affidavit described the investigation, which took place largely over the Internet but ultimately included face-to-face meetings between Patel and the undercover agent, who was not identified.
According to the affidavit, in 2003 an undercover agent began inviting warez operators from all over the country to store pirated material on his site. As the word spread, more storage space was added and numerous groups began storing their stolen games and films that could be uploaded and downloaded by hundreds of warez members. A member who uploaded three movies to the server was entitled to download one movie, many of them pre-released movies that were placed on the site long before a DVD was released to the public."
It's an absolutely fantastic product WHEN it works. My experience was with a Cingular locked Treo 650.
Unfortunately, it didn't work too long without freezing or locking-up. I couldn't tolerate a phone/PDA that would reboot or freeze several times a day, so I went back to my Nokia 3600 that runs for weeks/months without any problems.
The stability is on par with Windows 95 running on buggy hardware.
My advice is to stay far away until people say it's reliable and stable.
"Do not forget that one of the reasons CNN.com beats FoxNews.com is because CNN is a better website. It is laid out better, it has easier to navigate categories. The colour scheme is less offensive on the eyes, and it has been around longer (i.e. bookmark habits).
This of course, is not a comment on one sites news. Given the current state of Slashdot, I am sure there are plenty of Anti-Fox posts getting modded as Insightful as we type.
But I prefer CNN.com because it is a readable website."
This is definitely true.
I used to watch CNN many years ago (1st Gulf War era), but switched to FoxNews in 2000 I believe.
Almost everything about FoxNews is "better" except their webpage. CNN.COM is much easier to navigage and aesthetically pleasing than FoxNews.COM.
"Consider a programming analogy: suppose two developers write code that ultimately achieves the same thing. Say one of them writes 200 lines of intricate technical detail, taking advantage of advanced features offered by the programming language, while the other writes 20 lines using nothing but the most basic language constructs. Which of these is the smart programmer?"
I'd say one is getting paid by the hour, the other getting paid by the job.
As to which is which, well, that is left as an exercize to the reader.
The RIAA/MPAA probably won't be that stupid, but they can sue you for downloading Linux with a torrent. You cannot prevent people from sueing you, but that doesn't mean that they have a case or will win in court. Most likely, a Judge will throw such a case out and refuse to waste his time on it.
But you might have to waste a lot of time and possibly spend a few hundred (thousands??) bucks just to get to that point.
Unfortunately, you can't just wave your hands in the air or call the judge and tell them they are FOS.
And remember, a few hundred/thousands dollars to you is only like $5.00 to the xxAA.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, that certainly worked for USA alcohol prohibition (not that I would call alcohol prohibition unjust.)
`iptables -L -n --line-numbers` output of your "idiot list" please!
Or the logs may have been forged. Or the file may have been corrupt. Or the file may have contained a review of a movie or a trailer. Or someone may have trojanized the person's system. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
One is more than welcome to argue all those possibilities in the civil litigation process.
It will only cost you a few thousand dollars in attorney fees to do so. THAT'S THE BIG PROBLEM.
Ask the people who were sued by DirecTV on the sole basis of purchase records, but no proof the stuff was actually used, whether logs are good enough.
Bottom line is those sued are screwed.
More important that that -- the advice I gave was perhaps even more important to those who have completely legal uses for purchases of large quantities of recordable media.
People like those who burn off dozens of copies of church service audio/video sermons weekly onto CDRs/DVDRs. Underground bands who burn off their songs onto dozens upon dozens of blank CDs to get their music out there.
You might think it'd be easy to just give them one of the above excuses. Bottom-line: They will think you are full of shit. They'll say, that's the excuse every pirate uses.
History is quite clear: These big corporations have no problems carpet-bombing, via civil litigation, anyone they suspect of engaging in piracy. Their philosophy is IF someone is innocent, then they will have their chance to tell it to a judge/jury, and if they are found "not liable", well then, great for them. Problem is, to litigate yourself "not liable", costs much more than settling. And the preponderance of evidence is 51% in civil court. No 5th ammendment and no court-appointed attorney. Pro-se? That's like doing open-heart surgery on yourself.
So my larger point is: Pirate or non-pirate -- you do NOT want to get into the crosshairs of a sue-them-all-let-the-jury-sort-them-out, corporation with a bunch of attorneys with nothing better to do litigate with maximum zeal and effort.
Pirate or non-pirate: Don't leave a paper trail. If you buy recordable media in quantities that can even remotely be construed as "quantities only a pirate would buy" even if for 100% legit, then do it via CASH and CARRY. To not, leaves you open to the very real risk of civil lawsuit.
You apparently miss the point.
The point isn't whether you are a pirate or not, or even whether pirates exist. We all know that pirates exist.
And that just like speeding, 99.9% of the public has done it at some point in their life.
The point is, unless you are totally confident in your ability, and more importantly, don't mind wasting your money and time defending your purchase of recordable media in a CIVIL court of law, you may be wise to not purchase it in a way that leaves an electronic paper trail.
IOW, let someone else be a more visible target than you.
I agree, but OJ was busted with the stuff hooked up to his TV/satellite box.
There are thousands of people who got sued for mere possession of the stuff, rather than caught in the act using it. Could you undergo a civil deposition where the RIAA's attorneys make you explain what you did with all those blank CDRs/DVDRs you purchased? I mean, NOBODY, other than a pirate could possibly go thru that much blank media.
The only "safety" one may have is the way larger numbers of people who pirate music/videos versus who hacked DTV.
Unless you want to risk being sued...
I mean, who, other than a pirate, would buy a couple hundred blank CDRs/DVDRs?
Learn your lesson from those who got sued by DirecTV because they merely bought something that could be used for an illegal purpose.
Want to get illegally sued and threatened to get dragged into court and explain how you used every last one of those blank CDRs/DVDRs you purchased?
Think I've been looking for black helicopters? Ask the aforementioned THOUSANDS of people who got sued if they could do it all over again if they would pay with a credit card again?
Don't leave a paper trail, electronic or otherwise.
Bottom line: If you are gonna use blank media for quasi-legal purposes, then be smart and do it via "cash and carry." Let some other poor slob get sued.
Doing that would be contrary to Christianity:
"All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Mt. 28:18-20 ASV).
BTW, he was just pointing out another Biblical prophesy that may be coming true soon.
Let me guess.... You are one of those guys who believes that a tornado could go through a junkyard and assemble a 747. (Right? That's what you believe, right? Right? It is? Wasn't it? I knew it.) C'mon I'm Trolling for a CAUSE here guys!
That is simply not true.
Yep.
And I bet if you went to GOOGLE and searched for DVDDecrypter, it would be nowhere to be found.
And just how would a normal user go about doing that? One that can't grok C, I mean?
Why not?
OpenBSD does this for everything.
And why not for something as crucial as your example of a TCP/IP stack. It is NOT unreasonable for someone/a group of people to go through that line by line.
It's reported that the RIAA's lawyers have taken action.
I got a phone call from a big local lawyer office (no fake, I checked the caller ID and the phone number really belongs to a lawyer office). They have been hired to make me stop distributing the DVD-A tools. It was a reasonably big talk, but I can summarize it with
Oh, well. It's been fun. I'm amazed at how well it spread in these two days (!), and I'm sure from now on you'll be able to find those tools in countless mirrors, p2p and the like.
Shine on!
R.
But the local cop dressed up like a hooker doesn't invite johns to have sex with him.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/busines s/12021852.htm
Cool. Expect to get sued soon. I hope you have deep pockets.
It's an absolutely fantastic product WHEN it works. My experience was with a Cingular locked Treo 650.
Unfortunately, it didn't work too long without freezing or locking-up. I couldn't tolerate a phone/PDA that would reboot or freeze several times a day, so I went back to my Nokia 3600 that runs for weeks/months without any problems.
The stability is on par with Windows 95 running on buggy hardware.
My advice is to stay far away until people say it's reliable and stable.
That only works for the Sprint/PCS version of the Treo 650.
There are a lot of people out there using the locked Cingular/GSM version Verizon/CDMA of the Treo650 where this still fills a void.
This is definitely true.
I used to watch CNN many years ago (1st Gulf War era), but switched to FoxNews in 2000 I believe.
Almost everything about FoxNews is "better" except their webpage. CNN.COM is much easier to navigage and aesthetically pleasing than FoxNews.COM.
I'd say one is getting paid by the hour, the other getting paid by the job.
As to which is which, well, that is left as an exercize to the reader.
How do we find out the voting record of our Representatives so we know who to thank?
In particular, is there someplace online, that shows how all the Representatives voted on this?
I'll probably be modded as a TROLL, but truer words have not been spoken.
He makes Ted Waitt look like a genius, and that's saying a lot.
But you might have to waste a lot of time and possibly spend a few hundred (thousands??) bucks just to get to that point.
Unfortunately, you can't just wave your hands in the air or call the judge and tell them they are FOS.
And remember, a few hundred/thousands dollars to you is only like $5.00 to the xxAA.