UUHH OOHH!!

[Timmy_2_Tones]

Hurt Locker Makers Sue 5000 BitTorrent Users:

A few weeks ago the makers of the Oscar-winning movie Hurt Locker indicated that they would sue tens of thousands of U.S. BitTorrent users. In a classic ‘pay up or else’ scheme, the first 5,000 victims have now been officially reported to court. If ISPs cooperate these downloaders can expect a settlement request in their mailboxes soon.

Hoping to recoup some of their claimed losses, the makers of Hurt Locker have partnered with the very lucrative ‘pay up or else’ money making scheme of the U.S. Copyright Group. The goal of the scheme is to identify as many infringers as possible, and threaten them with ruinous court action. Of course, they will also be given the offer to settle for a relatively low amount of money.

The first step of the scheme has now been officially initiated as a complaint against 5,000 ‘unidentified’ BitTorrent users was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. If the court approves, the ISPs of the alleged infringers will be ordered to hand over the personal information of the users associated with the IP-addresses.

All infringers that are identified will then be kindly asked to settle the dispute, or face further legal action. In the UK these schemes have been highly criticized by the public, consumer organizations and politicians because of the intimidating tactics and lack of solid evidence.

In the U.S. this particular case has not gone unnoticed either and it generated many headlines before an official complaint was filed. Although the U.S. Copyright Group say that 75% of ISPs are cooperating, most of the bigger ISPs remain skeptical, with Time Warner publicly resisting U.S. Copyright Group’s demands.

The U.S. Copyright Group, on its turn, went on to accuse Time Warner of inducing copyright infringement because of the refusal to expose its users. The group claims that Time Warner’s refusal to cooperate is a publicity stunt to gain the favor of consumers concerned about their privacy.

Then again, the U.S. Copyright Group is not totally open about its intentions either. Although they say it is their intention to sue individuals who do not pay, in reality that eventuality is impossible to maintain on any scale. Their aim will be to scare as many people as possible into paying, perhaps backed up with legal action against a tiny minority to prove a point.

The real winner in this soap opera is in fact the U.S. Copyright Group. As we reported before, the ‘pay up or else’ scheme is not only lucrative for the rights holders, who get only 30 percent of the settlement money. The remaining 70 percent goes to the U.S Copyright Group and its anti-piracy partners.

Ca-Ching!

We encourage people who receive a settlement request to contact us, so we can look at the details and possibly assist in countering the threats of which many more are expected to be sent out in the months to come.

:o :shock: :o :shock: :o :shock:

[saviger]

lol to bad for all those folks who use public trackers

[MaximusR3]

Find out who's heading this money grubbing scheme. Pay his kid 20 bucks to download the hurt locker from his personal computer. Then when his info comes up after they force it out of his ISP i guarantee this project will come to a screeching halt

[DaCajun]

Find out who's heading this money grubbing scheme.

Money grubbing scheme? So is it a scheme if someone robs your house that you call the cops to find the people responsible and get your stuff back? How about we get you a job and make you bust your ass for a year Max and then after it is said and done, not pay you for anything? How about that. We can call it a scheme when you go to the labor board or court to have them try to collect the money for the work you did at that job and didn't pay you.

Far as I'm concerned all you low life thieving lazy "A"holes out their that think you deserve everything who illegally download music, movies, and software deserve to be treated like any other criminal that would go into a mortar and brick store to steal, no difference. That goes for all my brothers in arms that I thought had honor and integrity and would not do these kinds of things but yet they do. You know who you are here and it's shameful and pathetic. These people work hard to make these things so pay what is due you lazy cheap bastards because I would bet money that if the shoe was on the other foot your asses would not be giving your services out for free, you would want everything you are owed.

[Simmion_1]

i just like this line..

The group claims that Time Warner’s refusal to cooperate is a publicity stunt to gain the favor of consumers concerned about their privacy.

Your only doing it because you care about the concerns of your customers!!
DUH!

I just went through my CD binder last night and wrote down probably 60 albums that are totally ruined, and i fully intend on using a bit torrent to download digital copies of that material. i would be pretty upset if some corporation convinced my ISP to release my personal information because of that.

[DaCajun]

I just went through my CD binder last night and wrote down probably 60 albums that are totally ruined, and i fully intend on using a bit torrent to download digital copies of that material.

Ok maybe I'm just plain ignorant and missing something here. Explain to me how it is justified that you couldn't take care of your CD collection enough not to get scratched up or it's just worn from use and now that it is, you feel you are entitle to illegally download it from a torrent site without consequences. So when your TV or computer craps out you're going to go to the local electronics store to steal a new one? If your can't take care of your CDs better or they are just old doesn't give you the right to do something illegal. They wear out buy a new one, it doesn't say anywhere on that CD that you are entitled free copies for life. It would be awesome if it did but it doesn't.

[David_3033]

How can you worry about,Those billion dollar industries, I am not worried about giving them a dime of my money. These guys aren't lossing any money because someone here and there downloads their item. They are just greedy as shit and want to nickel and dime you for everything. Even with torrents out they aren't lossing money trust me.

I can honestly say the only thing that I ever got from a torrent was photoshop. That shit is so ridiulously priced that any average working person couldn't afford it unless they saved up for months. They mainly charge the price they do because it is smaller and bigger businesses that can afford it.

You know that movie theaters don't make a profit from movies that they sell. They make it from the concession stands. That is why popcorn is 5 dollars for a mid size bag. And they charge the same for the drink because they know you ass is going to be thirsty so they sell the drink at the same price. Same reason Mcdonalds salts the shit out of their fries. Noone can eat them and not want to drink something after...

[Timmy_2_Tones]

I have to say that I didn't think this would spark so much debate. I torrent, and I am not ashamed to say it. Just to clear it up I am Morally Handicapped. I do not give two shits about the companies, bands, film makers, etc... I can honestly say that more than 75% of what I have Downloaded I purchase or have purchased. I have a few programs that I got from torrents, again though, I am not ashamed of what I have done. Honest, dishonest, the point is, that I do it understanding the potential consequences, and because I want to. It is nobodies place outside of a court to judge me or anyone on what they/I choose to do. You can say all that you want about losing respect for me and the rest of the torrenting nation, but quite honestly it does not matter.

Furthermore, if I have a CD and make a copy for a friend. Should I go to jail or have to pay a fine? If I were to sell burned copies to people for the price of a new original , Yes, that is illegal. The whole concept to torrents is that you are SHARING files with others. Is it illegal to share what I have purchased? Digital Media Rights is Bullshit, Once I purchase it I OWN IT!!!! I can do as I damn well please with it.

If anyone of you can say that you have never received a burned CD, DVD, borrowed a movie, lent a movie to a friend, borrowed a video game, lent a video game, Cheated on a video game, watched a movie streaming on ninjavideo, etc. Then I take my hat off to you because you are the most legal person I have ever met. However, if you have done that, YOU ARE committing Copyright Fraud. DMR is intended to make every person purchase their own copy for their own use. Do you know why? SO THAT THEY CAN MAKE MONEY, more money than they realistically need to make. Do not judge me for what I choose to do, it is not your place, and you are most likely not as innocent as you would like to believe.

[MaximusR3]

i apologize for fueling a heated debate. I was just trying to be a little humorous and I only said money grubbing in regards to the way they will not be just saying something like "hey pay us the 25 dollars that movie costs new or face legal action" but more than likely trying to get people for much much more than that, far over compensating for any lost revenue, simply because they can. The example with the burglar taking your stuff, if used in the same way this thing will go, would be more like the guy takes your stuff, you call the cops, get it returned, the thief pays for any damages, and also has to give you 10X the amount that was taken, for the inconvenience. Or with the job example, demanding the unpaid wages and an additional 10 years of pay because you can. I'm not trying to argue right and wrong, i just don't like people using lawsuits as a way to make a huge profit for personal gain. An eye for an eye. download the movie and get caught, pay for the movie. Goes on your record as petty theft (under $400) and get jail time if a judge sees fit

only a mere 30% of the money made through this even goes to the film companies, the ones that had the product stolen, while 70% is going to these other guys for their services? seems a little steep and like they do not have the best interest of the film companies in mind

[MaximusR3]

If anyone of you can say that you have never received a burned CD, DVD, borrowed a movie, lent a movie to a friend, borrowed a video game, lent a video game, Cheated on a video game, watched a movie streaming on ninjavideo, etc. Then I take my hat off to you because you are the most legal person I have ever met. However, if you have done that, YOU ARE committing Copyright Fraud. DMR is intended to make every person purchase their own copy for their own use.

another thing that falls in this category that people don't usually think about is ripping a CD to put on your iPod. You purchased a CD, not a CD and a digital copy of that CD. so to be 100% correct, you would need to purchase it again in digital form to put on your portable music player. This may be why it is becoming more common for movies to also come with a code for a digital copy, so you can put it on a portable device without violating any copyrights.

[DaCajun]

If anyone of you can say that you have never received a burned CD, DVD, borrowed a movie, lent a movie to a friend, borrowed a video game, lent a video game, Cheated on a video game, watched a movie streaming on ninjavideo, etc. Then I take my hat off to you because you are the most legal person I have ever met. However, if you have done that, YOU ARE committing Copyright Fraud. DMR is intended to make every person purchase their own copy for their own use.

Seriously? Lending or borrowing a physical media that you bought like a DVD, CD, or Blu-ray is legal. Copying the information from it to another disc is illegal. Once you buy the disc you can do with it as you please but you did not buy the rights to the data on the disc therefore you are not allowed to duplicate it onto anything else. I have never received or ever burnt disc, never streamed a movie, and I have not cheated at a video game that I know of. Unlike you believe lending and borrowing of the physical media is not illegal or fall under copyright fraud.

It is nobodies place outside of a court to judge me or anyone on what they/I choose to do.

So with that mentality when we all see someone getting robbed, raped, murder, or anything else we should just walk the other way and pretend we didn't see anything because it is not up to anyone else but the courts to judge what we see is wrong at that moment? As we all know the courts can see everything they don't need the rest of us to help them in anyway. Yea you just keep making that crack and meth in your house and we'll keep ignoring it.

Is it illegal to share what I have purchased? Digital Media Rights is Bullshit, Once I purchase it I OWN IT!!!! I can do as I damn well please with it.

You didn't purchase the rights to the digital media just the physical media. So what you are saying is if that we should let production companies spend millions of dollars making these movies or music and just have one person buy one copy of it and spread it out to the rest of the world and have that be ok? So basically they will have spent millions and only get about $25 back for the hard work they did because you think its wrong for them to charge people for their work and you have the right to distribute it as you see fit? Yes I would say in my opinion that you are way pass morally handicapped into morally dead or maybe I'm in bizzaro world and my morals are the incorrect ones. That's it that must be it what was I thinking I should go steal, murder, and pillage(sarcasm).

[Simmion_1]

I just went through my CD binder last night and wrote down probably 60 albums that are totally ruined, and i fully intend on using a bit torrent to download digital copies of that material.

Ok maybe I'm just plain ignorant and missing something here. Explain to me how it is justified that you couldn't take care of your CD collection enough not to get scratched up or it's just worn from use and now that it is, you feel you are entitle to illegally download it from a torrent site without consequences. So when your TV or computer craps out you're going to go to the local electronics store to steal a new one? If your can't take care of your CDs better or they are just old doesn't give you the right to do something illegal. They wear out buy a new one, it doesn't say anywhere on that CD that you are entitled free copies for life. It would be awesome if it did but it doesn't.

I have CD's that are over 10 years old, theyve gone all over the world with me, some of them are scratched beyond repair.. there is nothing Illegal about replacing the digital content which i have already purchased.

when you buy a CD your not paying for the plastic and mylar that spins, your paying for the data contained on that material. and the rights to possess that intellectual property.

when you buy a tv or a computer your buying the physical items, and if they are destroyed they cannot be replaced without some cost. but if someone was willing to give you the parts to fix it for free then i guess that would be illegal for you to accept it then.

[shonyx]

Man, oh man. This thread is like heated, LOL! So if we continue this train of thought, you know what, the cars we buy do not belong to us (until we have the title in-hand), they belong to the bank. The houses, we buy, and pay mortgage on are not ours (until we have the deed in-hand) they belong to the bank... yady yada... How about the OS we use everyday? How about the games we use on steam? Nowadays, a lot of things we use really do not belong to us, instead we are allowed to use for a fee. I personally do not give a dam about the bands that make millions every year or the movie moguls who make billions every month, regardless on how much piracy there is. How about these mother!@#$%^& donate some money to our troops for equipment they need so they can protect their rich ass lifestyle they have? They can bitch all they want, in the end the greenbacks are always flowing regardless. So, is my tapedeck illegal yet?, My reel to reel? My Blue-Ray burner? When I have a party at home, am I a criminal because everyone is listening to the music without paying royalties? or is everyone in the party criminals? How about the people that come to my house to watch games, movies, or my friends kids to play XBOX? Is it illegal to let someone borrow a game? Everyone does these things!!! THE ENTIRE WORLD WOULD BE IN JAIL OR IN LITIGATION!!! How ridiculous is that? Even the Amazon indians trade movies or music... All of our enemies... Let me see RIAA go after Kim Yong-il, LOL...

[Pakman3000]

I use torrents and I can tell you straight up that the quality of music and movies is lacking nowadays. I'll be damned if I pay $10-15 for a music CD with only 1 or 2 songs being worthwhile. The music industry shot themselves in the foot back in the day by doing away with the Single. Before you could buy a song for 99 cents, Kazaa, Napster, Limewire etc got popular because of it. I have no problem buying a song for $1 or buying the entire album to support the artist. Is it realistic to think I'd fill up my 32GB ipod touch with all paid music?! File sharing has been beneficial because it's opened my eyes to new artist that I'd never take a chance on or buy a song from a 30 second snippet on Amazon. When it comes to movies, what am I to do about foreign films or small time flicks that never see the light of day? I love films from overseas because they are just better than domestic ones plot wise. I just watched Jeruselama, a South African crime drama, which according to movie sites isn't even on screens here but has been on DVD there for about a year or 2. This happens with most movies I watch? Saw Mic Macs(French) the other day:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810045737/info

The release date is(May 28th) yet it's been out in Europe for over a year! What are guys like me to do? File sharing can open up your eyes to media most would never even give a 2nd look or consider if they had to blind buy.

[Simmion_1]

What you say makes a lot of sense. There is good reason that its a hot subject though, its all new, its not something that we as a people are used to dealing with yet. At my college there are entire classes just based on theories of Computer/Internet ethics. What really is right/wrong when it comes to digital information, sharing, and reproduction.


I do have a problem with downloading or otherwise acquiring things that I don't own or intend to buy though. Just because someone makes a ton of money does not mean its okay to posses their property without paying for it. and a lot of them DO donate to various causes, usually due to tax reasons in most cases they have to give away a large portion of what they make in order to save a great deal of money. Thats why youll see a lot of bands doing free charity concerts and things. A lot of the film industry donates to theatre and art departments in schools across the country also. among other causes.

[clarkness7112100]

Unfortunately. this is a slippery slope. When you use torrents, its not totally free. You may not be handing over any cash, but I bet on a lot of those sites are advertisements that probably gets a few hits here and there making whomever runs a lot of these sites some money. And who are these people running these sites? A lot of them aren't here in the US. We're giving money to who knows outside this country. Maybe its some snot nosed punks in the UK or some tech junkies in Russia or it could be some damn terrorist group. At least the money that we spend on legally obtained merchandise stays in America. Sure argue semantics and some of it leaves, but I would rather have American people get the money somewhere down the road. I don't care of some 20 year old rocker is getting paid tons of money, I just hope he spends most of it on a lot of the American vices like beer, cheeseburgers, and porn and keep it in America. I can make an educated guess of where my money goes or the profit generated from that material is going. Sure a lot of the components of the industry is overpaid, but its the millions of Americans who "need" it so badly. Prices of music and movies goes down within 6 months after it is released. If you have patience, you can save a lot of money. Why do we feel the need that we must have a library of music and movies when we all know that out of 10,000 song library you have, you would probably listen to same 20 songs on repeat for a week. If you have CDs that are worn and scratched, then consider that you got your moneys worth. A $20 CD/DVD probably gave you a month or more straight of continuous enjoyment in the CD/DVD's lifetime, so consider it a good deal.
So what's next if we say illegally obtained media is okay? Well, we don't need movie theaters anymore because everyone is just downloading it on the internet. The musicians probably will just stop recording if they see it not being as a profit but as loss, so concert tickets may skyrocket, or even worse no one will make music. No one will make movies. Hell, they just stop making video games because anyone can just download those from the internet too.
Considering America will erupt into chaos is people don't have their games, music, and movies, people will have to return to reading, playing outside, maybe doing community service and charity events. People will have to play board games and spend time with each other. Families will start getting along more, America's youth would have more of an identity than their screen name. Less crime and teen suicides. Kids would get more sleep rather than staying up late which would lead to better grades. Obesity would go down because we wouldn't be sitting on our fat asses playing games or watching movies. Gas prices would go down due to millions of people not making that midnight run on Tuesdays to pick up that cool new movie or game. Violence and sex would no longer would saturate our lives and a new moral society comes about. People actually take an interest in our politics and changes that effect the people in a good sense. Drug use, both legal and illegal go down because with the renewed look of society in our young and old's eyes, no one feels that they should escape reality. The war on drugs would be won and we would have less violent crime and would require fewer police officers. Taxes go down for all local governments. People are no longer obese so people are living happier and healthier lives and the government and hospitals no longer have to eat tons of money to support people who did not take care of themselves. Federal taxes go down. All families can afford to go to college and we have a smarter country. We find the cure to cancer, AIDs, and even the common cold. All other countries love us for that and unite under the Stars and Stripes because they want to be just like us. The world is at peace.

Fuck that.

What we were taking about again? Oh yeah downloading stuff illegally is bad.......

BTW, can I get a cool USMG signature thingy with a sub???

[smoke]

Actually, as long as he has the original media, he is well within his right to download a backup copy of a movie. Just read this article from US News and World Report.

I just went through my CD binder last night and wrote down probably 60 albums that are totally ruined, and i fully intend on using a bit torrent to download digital copies of that material.

Ok maybe I'm just plain ignorant and missing something here. Explain to me how it is justified that you couldn't take care of your CD collection enough not to get scratched up or it's just worn from use and now that it is, you feel you are entitle to illegally download it from a torrent site without consequences. So when your TV or computer craps out you're going to go to the local electronics store to steal a new one? If your can't take care of your CDs better or they are just old doesn't give you the right to do something illegal. They wear out buy a new one, it doesn't say anywhere on that CD that you are entitled free copies for life. It would be awesome if it did but it doesn't.

[smoke]

If anyone of you can say that you have never received a burned CD, DVD, borrowed a movie, lent a movie to a friend, borrowed a video game, lent a video game, Cheated on a video game, watched a movie streaming on ninjavideo, etc. Then I take my hat off to you because you are the most legal person I have ever met. However, if you have done that, YOU ARE committing Copyright Fraud. DMR is intended to make every person purchase their own copy for their own use.

Seriously? Lending or borrowing a physical media that you bought like a DVD, CD, or Blu-ray is legal. Copying the information from it to another disc is illegal. Once you buy the disc you can do with it as you please but you did not buy the rights to the data on the disc therefore you are not allowed to duplicate it onto anything else. I have never received or ever burnt disc, never streamed a movie, and I have not cheated at a video game that I know of. Unlike you believe lending and borrowing of the physical media is not illegal or fall under copyright fraud.

Actually, that is incorrect. Lending a dvd that you own is not illegal, as long as you don't benefit monetarily from the process of lending. and it is absolutely legal for you to make a copy of a CD/DVD/Tape/Blueray that you own.

Is it illegal to share what I have purchased? Digital Media Rights is Bullshit, Once I purchase it I OWN IT!!!! I can do as I damn well please with it.

You didn't purchase the rights to the digital media just the physical media. So what you are saying is if that we should let production companies spend millions of dollars making these movies or music and just have one person buy one copy of it and spread it out to the rest of the world and have that be ok? So basically they will have spent millions and only get about $25 back for the hard work they did because you think its wrong for them to charge people for their work and you have the right to distribute it as you see fit? Yes I would say in my opinion that you are way pass morally handicapped into morally dead or maybe I'm in bizzaro world and my morals are the incorrect ones. That's it that must be it what was I thinking I should go steal, murder, and pillage(sarcasm).

Also not accurate. You own the media, and you own the rights to do whatever you want with said media.. ie... (If you take all your dvd's and toss them into a 55 gallon drum, and burn them with gasoline, other then being harmful to the environment, the FBI is not gonna come beating down your door. Now if you take those same movies, pitch them in a drum, and then charge people to watch you burning them up, now you have violated the copyright. Copyright only comes into play, when YOU the purchaser, attempts to profit from someone else's work, without paying them a royalty.)

[Guest]

I am glad that somebody is putting out the facts on this thread. So, I CAN'T filter my urine after a good night of drinking Labatt Blue and sell it as Coors Light??? Damn, I could have made me some $$$$. Oh, well I guess I will just stick to downloading my music from MP3 Rocket. Oh, by the way I bet I haven't bought a CD from a store in 10+ yrs.

[squidfamily1]

yeah, it's wrong but it makes me feel dangerous when I buy bootleg DVD's.

[Timmy_2_Tones]

So, I CAN'T filter my urine after a good night of drinking Labatt Blue and sell it as Coors Light???

Soooo, what you are telling me is that Coors Light IS actually Beer, I was convinced a long time ago that it was piss in a bottle.

[saviger]

yeah, it's wrong but it makes me feel dangerous when I buy bootleg DVD's.

LOL your a bbbaaaadddd BOY! does your woman spank you?

[WileCoyote_2009]

[quote=Timmy_2_Tones]

So, I CAN'T filter my urine after a good night of drinking Labatt Blue and sell it as Coors Light???

Soooo, what you are telling me is that Coors Light IS actually Beer, I was convinced a long time ago that it was piss in a bottle. [/quote:7jn5alv7]



Hey, you guys get Labatt Blue in the States? Awesome. My GF and I may head to Grand Forks this weekend, and I was thinking I'd have to buy my beer up here.

[jack]

yeah, it's wrong but it makes me feel dangerous when I buy bootleg DVD's.

LOL your a bbbaaaadddd BOY! does your woman spank you?

when I see a pretty girl, I say her ass is like a spaceship that I want to ride. so SEXY!!!

[saviger]

Unfortunately. this is a slippery slope. When you use torrents, its not totally free. You may not be handing over any cash, but I bet on a lot of those sites are advertisements that probably gets a few hits here and there making whomever runs a lot of these sites some money. And who are these people running these sites? A lot of them aren't here in the US. We're giving money to who knows outside this country. Maybe its some snot nosed punks in the UK or some tech junkies in Russia or it could be some damn terrorist group.

The site I use has no banners, and is based in the US


The only 'safe' way to use torrents is a private tracker, unfortuantly you hafta know someone, who knows someone to get an invite, or even know the URL.



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