

Leaked Documents Reveal Anti-Piracy Cash Operation - alexkay
http://torrentfreak.com/leaked-documents-reveal-anti-piracy-cash-operation-091115/

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jacquesm
If it wouldn't be for the scumbags running the media industry I'm sure file
sharing would not have gotten as much traction as it did. Now that some of the
more sordid details are becoming publicly known the public will find less and
less reasons to be swung by the crocodile tears of the media industry.

For me the piece by Janis Ian was an eye opener, the movie or the music
industry does not seem to make much difference in general when it comes to
their attitude to the general public.

It's all about money, and it really doesn't matter whether they'll get it from
you legally, by hook or by crook.

If I ever get into a really bad mood I'm going to set up a service where you
can order hard drives with 'random' bits on them at cost.

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chrischen
Downloading shouldn't be illegal. It's not _my_ responsibility to determine if
what is sent to me is copyrighted, free, or in the public domain. There are
freely available music, movies, and games on the internet. It's not absurd.

~~~
Erwin
Well, if you acted in good faith I'm sure that would be a fair defense. For
example, buying stolen goods is illegal in most countries. If you're buying
something used for 60% of retail price off a classifieds site that turns to be
stolen, that would in be good faith. You might lose the stolen item in any
case, but you would not be prosecuted.

Similarly if you were downloading a black & white movie off some official
looking site that claims to collect out-of-copyright films.

But if you're downloading a 2009 blockbuster off Pirate Bay using BitTorrent,
that's clearly malicious. But it's not even that kind of case that's being
civilly prosecuted by RIAA and its ilk -- it's only when you start uploading
this material to others that they strike.

Personally I find the behaviour of many of the pirates pathethic. Just admit
that you want ready access to material that was expensive to create for free
already, don't make some nonsensical claims about free speech or restrictive
copyrights or oppressive record companies.

Want to fight exploitive record companies? Buy only music from independents,
support those band tours'. Ignore newest pop albums from RIAA companies. Tell
everyone how great your independent band is, play their music at parties.

Want to oppose restrictive copyrights? Make everything you create true Public
Domain. Microsoft using your PD code in a commercial product? Great, your work
is being put to good use.

~~~
chrischen
I think uploading is the threshold for illegality, but I still think
downloading should be a safe zone. It's up to the gov't to make sure no one
breaks the law by providing copyrighted stuff for free.

Morally speaking if I know something shouldn't be freely available online, it
would be wrong to download it, almost like how it would be wrong to buy
something you know is stolen.

------
uriel
This is what otherwise is known as a _racket_

