RIAA's Latest Trick: When Backed Into A Corner, Try To Associate File Sharing With Child Porn
from the any-way-possible dept
When other efforts to make life difficult for file sharing systems didn't work, the entertainment industry started going after them by trying to associate file sharing systems with pornography. Of course, a GAO study on the matter found that porn on file sharing networks wasn't a very big deal, so the entertainment industry has been a bit quieter on that front. That doesn't mean they won't try to bring up the connection when they can, however. In one of their lawsuits, where the defendant is trying to make the case that simply making available copyrighted material is not the same as distribution, it appears that the entertainment industry lawyers are trying to cite a child pornography case as a precedent to suggest that making available is the same as distribution. Of course, as the lawyer on the other side points out, the two cases are about two entirely different laws -- and on the copyright case, they're working with the definition of "distribution" as put forth in the law, rather than a random definition used in a case about something entirely different. It's no surprise, given some of the other tactics taken by the entertainment industry in these lawsuits, but it does seem pretty sleazy to try to connect a case to child pornography, even when they're not really related.
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Taint?
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Re: Taint?
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Re: Taint?
In Hollyweird!!
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Re: Taint?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=taint
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Re: Taint?
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I Want To Scream
I bought Walk The Line on DVD last week for $9.98 CDN at Costco. The first thing that came up when I played the DVD was a lame-ass PSA comparing auto theft with copyright infringement and so on. No "thank you for buying this DVD and supporting thousands of people in the entertainment sector". You spend money on a DVD or CD and they treat you like a thief. Morons. Thank god I have software that lets me rip the movie only and burn it to a blank DVD.
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meh
Thanks again for blaming the WRONG people.
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dissemination
Regarding dissemination vs "making available", I think they are on shakey ground, though possibly not if property boundaries are correctly observed.
The only case where this would stand up is if I have a file on my home computer, properly secured on my own property, and I enable filesharing. In this case a request for information through an open port to an available service must be made, hence the instigator of the request is the person who performs the act of dissemination by transferring a copy of the file off my physical property.
However, if I publish a file to a remote webserver, even where that is my "electronic property" I have disseminated the information, if only once. This has a direct analogy to printing a poster and placing it in a public space.
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Re:
Between DVD Decrypter, DVDfab Decrypter, DVD Shrink, RipIt4me, VOBBlanker, and FixVTS, I am able to decrypt DVDs, copy the decrypted DVD to my hardrive, remove the material I don't need, reauthor, encrypt and burn a movie-only backup of the original DVD that will play in all my DVD players. I can put the original away, safe from little hands. What's the point of copy protection again?
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Most statutes have definitions that leave a lot to be desired. As such, where there is a question on a law or definition of a law applies, case law fills in the gaps. This why we are a common law country and not a civil code country like France.
If the definitions of distribution between the two sets of laws are similar, regardless of the facts asserted in precedent, if the law is instructive on an issue and supports their position, of course they should cite it. They should not be attacked for doing so.
Learn the law before castigating a group of people for doing their jobs. Just because you do not like the RIAA does not mean everything they do is evil. I do not like a lot of their tactics either but one should never listen to zealots like yourself.
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Re:
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Read the Case First - THEN Comment
Looks like we might learn the answer, eh? Frankly, I think the result in the child porn case is BECAUSE it is child porn and not the latest ditty by the pop-tart flavor of the moment. In addition, there was scads of evidence against the child porn defendant, not the least of which was that the law enforcement agent actually downloaded some of the files to determine they were in fact child porn. That lead to a search warrant, which lead to an arrest, which lead to a conviction, which always leads to an appeal, which lead to the opinion with a single sentence the RIAA wants to use.
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Easy to Fix
Copy-protection and MAFIAA (I like that acro btw), bulls**t will matter little if they can't sell their crap to us.
We should all make a concerted effort not to purchase any of their content until they stop treating their customers like criminals.
Idealistic? Very. But it really is a simple, and legal, way to give them the finger for this kind of crap.
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thats sounds nice and all but...
the RIAA is intrinsically evil, their mission statement (before all their PR guys set things straight) probably read something like "To accumulate as much money as humanly possible, whether it be from the Recording Industry, Hollywood, 15-year old file-sharers, or the U.S government itself, under the guise of being concerned about copyright infringement while secretly encouraging file-sharing so that we never run out of people to sue. Oh... and to be a dick... to EVERYONE."
rofl
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uhh...
The real problem with file sharing isn't going to change with legislation, sneaker net will remain, always has, always will, but I have definitely seen a great deal of porn being access via file sharing.
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These notices only serve to annoy and anger decent, law-abiding, paying customers, and people who ignore the warnings and rip the DVDs are going to remove those notices anyway. The last time I went to the theater (which isn't often), I was thoroughly disgusted to see a flashy 2-minute advertisement warning people not to pirate movies, after having paid good money to legitimately see a movie. That's like driving down the interstate at the posted speed limit and have a cop drive drive by waving a sign to slow down. It's very insulting to paying customers.
Any business that treats all of its customers like thieves is doomed to failure. I believe the fact that pirating activities have yet to decrease and in fact are increasing proves that.
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Re:
You must not have kids. Ever seen what a kid or two can do to a CD or DVD? Nope, I need to have the ability to make a backup of any CD or DVD that will be used by kids. I'm not spending another 20 bucks on buying a replacement CD or DVD.
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