
Two Danes face up to six years in jail for explaining how to use Popcorn Time - rinesh
http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/08/two-danes-face-up-to-six-years-in-jail-for-explaining-how-to-use-popcorn-time/
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flexie
Danish lawyer here. They don't face up to 6 years in jail. No-one in their
right mind is thinking they will get even 1 year if found guilty, or whether
they have pleaded guilty. Still outragous, though. But they will never get
anything like 6 years. I will get surprised if they receive more than a
suspended sentence, and if its not suspended they will never serve more than a
few month in jail. Even with the most harsh judges.

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Tangokat
The law states that up to 6 years is only in "exceptionally aggravating
circumstances" which would be difficult to argue here I believe (not a
lawyer).

About 15 years ago some kids got punished for explaining how to download mp3
files so it is very likely that these guys will also get some sort of
punishment.

The reason for them pleading guilty, I'd imagine, is because whether or not
they did it is not hard to prove.

The law itself is pretty scary although never really used as far as I know.
The Danish version of MPAA has largely given up on suing private citizens and
I had hoped they would stop completely since Netflix et al. are gaining
ground. This is an unfortunate development.

As a side note, according to a specialist lawyer, it is questionable whether
or not it is actually illegal to stream pirated content since the user does
not download anything to save locally [1]. Although maybe you could argue that
since you are sharing it with others while you watch that is a crime.

[1] Danish: [http://www.computerworld.dk/art/234666/it-advokat-derfor-
er-...](http://www.computerworld.dk/art/234666/it-advokat-derfor-er-det-helt-
efter-bogen-at-sigte-to-danskere-for-streaming-info-paa-website)

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bediger4000
Now tell me again how copyright is compatible with any reasonable idea of free
speech?

Once you're done with that, tell me how I can tell what speech is legal and
what speech isn't, without consulting a specialist lawyer.

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SomeCallMeTim
I'm old. When I see "Popcorn Time" I always do a double-take, because when I
was growing up, you would dial "POP-CORN" (767-2676) to get the time. "At the
tone, Pacific Daylight time will be ..."

Considering the history of the app, I'm sure there's no connection.

~~~
feld
Wow, thank you for reminding me about this. Totally forgot it existed.

There were other common ones, especially an echo test and a tone generator.
Useful for folks in the phone repair industry.

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marcelocamanho
Wouldnt stories reporting this also fall into the same definition? After all
this is also "distributing knowledge on how to obtain illegal content online"
since some people might not know what is Popcorn Time at all. I know this is
to make some people targets to make people afraid, but still.. Very weak
definition.

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eridal

        "guilty of sharing knowledge"
    
    

I don't know anything of law, does _illegal knowledge_ exists? If so, can you
name an example?

~~~
geofft
Classified information is perhaps the most obvious example. Attorney-client
privilege also comes to mind.

A somewhat subtler example is insider trading. Knowledge of material non-
public information isn't, per se, illegal, but sharing it with someone who
intends to trade on it is.

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wishinghand
Why on earth would they plead guilty to that charge.

~~~
sandstrom
US and European law, and surrounding practices, are quite different. It's not
what it sounds like to an American.

I guess they've only admitted to having run the sites (probably easy to
prove), not necessarily admitted to any wrongdoing.

