Guy Who Uploaded Star Wars Wearing An Ankle Bracelet, Banned From Using Linux
from the such-a-threat dept
When discussing how silly it is that the movie industry freaks out about people uploading movies online, we often point to the case of the last Star Wars movie. That movie was leaked the week before the movie came out in the theaters and was downloaded by fans around the world -- and yet it only seemed to get people more excited to go out and see it in the theaters. There were huge lines and theaters sold out left and right. That's because it's the same thing that many of us have been saying for years: going to the movies is a social experience. People want to go out with their friends and have fun and see a movie in the theater (that is, if the theater makes the experience worth while and doesn't treat them all as criminals or children). However, what we didn't know about that Star Wars example is that one of the guys who uploaded it (and you can bet that it was more than just one guy) ended up getting arrested for doing so and eventually he plead guilty to 'conspiracy to commit copyright infringement' and 'criminal copyright infringement.' For that, he ended up in jail for five months with another five months of home confinement. The home confinement part includes an ankle bracelet he needs to wear. I'd challenge the movie industry to explain how this can possibly be fair, given the fact that there's almost no evidence his actions did any real damage. However, here's where it gets even better. As part of his home confinement, he agreed to install some tracking software on his computer, so his probation officer could track what he's doing (and, presumably, to make sure he's not uploading more stuff). Only problem? He's an Ubuntu Linux user and the gov't doesn't have any tracking software for Linux. So he's been told that he must use Windows for the term of his confinement. He did plead guilty so he has to accept the punishment -- but all in all it really does seem like the punishment is excessive given the actual damage caused.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
banned
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: banned
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: banned
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: banned
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: banned
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And it gets worse
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: And it gets worse
judge was probably hit politically and financially to 'ensure' a punishment, no doubt
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: And it gets worse
granted, while there are a lot of things that are worthy to protect, i really dont think this is one of them.
i got busted for hacking way back when. Wasn't really doing anything special, just some goofing off. Didnt think it was a big deal, so I didn't really hide anything. Mostly was connecting, patching the holes and moving on. Keeping the faster connections to piggy back scan off of.
Found out that I could go to prison for 3 years. Go figure. Anyway, as one of the stipulations of my probation (i had gotten 3 years probation) I wasnt allowed to use the internet.
Luckily a friend of a friend knew the judge and got that portion removed, but for about 4 months, i was banned from the net.
Wasn't allowed to even be in the same room as someone else.
2 years later I was able to get back all of my equipment (including intact hard drives) as well as all my backups, some of which were clearly things they shouldnt have given me back.
So, long story short, when the courts are technologically inept, forcing these kinds of sentences is pretty stupid.
Besides, 2 pc's, one with the monitoring crap running winblows, another running what he wants.
whooppity do.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
what?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No problem.
That's our government for you. Justice. For Big Money. By Big Money.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No problem.
i'm willing to wager a vital component of my reproductive anatomy that a big piece of the tracking software is a keylogger, so you can SSH all day long from winblowz, but every keystroke (and username, and password, and URL) is logged and retained BEFORE it gets encrypted and sent.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No problem.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: who pays
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
pwned
and yes, forced to use Windows does fall under cruel and unusual punishment. I love the government policy of "we're not advanced, so you shouldn't be either."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Another issue I have is that while I agree that someone recording a movie with a video camera probably isn't doing much harm and I agree with you that theaters and studio's shouldn't waste their time with enforcing this, the guy in this article uploaded a screeners copy to the web. You can't say on one hand not to punish people with cell phones because its not as bad as industry insiders posting the film and then say that an insider shouldn't be punished for posting the film.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: RandomThoughts
Some people only rent movies and never go into a theater.
Then, these people would not be part of the damages the studio would worry about. Video rental companies have to license the movies they rent, so even if someone has a pirate copy that causes them to never rent it, the movie people still get their money.
You can't say on one hand not to punish people with cell phones because its not as bad as industry insiders posting the film and then say that an insider shouldn't be punished for posting the film.
To quote Mike, above: He did plead guilty so he has to accept the punishment -- but all in all it really does seem like the punishment is excessive given the actual damage caused.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: RandomThoughts
Soooooo...hypothetically speaking, If I rent a movie, burn a copy, and upload it to my computer to share with my friends, this would be legal, since the video company paid the money for the license?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
WINDOWS!
'vmware'
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
anti-trust
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Haha
go ahead and install winderz.
as a dual boot.
do some stuff that gets logged, keep them happy...
then reboot into linux and upload all day long.
then before bed do some more surfing under winblows and get it logged.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
cant do the time....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cruel and Unusual?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ubuntu on a stick
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
So basically,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
wtf?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
New Internet pucnishmnets for crime
Perhaps forcing someone to use AOL with Dial-up would be an effective tool in reminding other people not to screw around.
Spammers could be forced to become manual spam blockers and search every piece of email making sure no spam messages get through.
We could even force someone to sit in jail on Second Life for hours everyday. Think of the costs we could save with virtual imprisonment! lol
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
See it now
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wait a minute...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Descent
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
For all those suggesting a workaround...
But... Wouldn't the software run under Wine???
EtG
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You kiddies just don't get it
You guys all think that stealing other peoples property, whether it be intellectual or not, isn't a crime and actually creates more business for the people the crime was made against...so breaking the law is a good thing right?
Wrong.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Why so complex?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jail time? Are you crazy? If every company exec that was guilty of approving a $700 ripoff of a person or company went to jail the prison population would suddenly jump to 60% White rich guys.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Dear Author:
Or, in net-speak: Learn2rite n00b!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Dear Author:
I couldn't have put it better myself.
Unfortunately though, in this Internet age, it is not considered necessary to have any knowledge of correct English usage. (Or whatever the official language is in your part of the world.)
Things like grammar, spelling, syntax, punctuation and other rules of a bygone age are, apparently, no longer necessary.
i gess i shood get with the times and stop wurrying abot this stuf doood!!!!!!!!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Dear Author:
Go 'n git yerself a intro to linguistics textbook.
There is no correct usage of any language, less said
utterance is unintelligable between given speakers of a given language. Guess what we call it when that happens? Sometimes its known as a dialect or a language.
There are however dialects that are considered more or less prestigious than other dialects.
Grammar and Syntax are pretty much the same thing unless you are from the pre-chomsky 1950's. Syntax varies from language to language and dialect to dialect.
Spelling and Punctuation are add-ons to human language. They are entirely arbitrary in nature. Oh and guess whaT? they change too. For example, lets look at how much english has changed in the last oh........600 years.
Eft he axode, hu ðære ðeode nama wære þe hi of comon.
Yay!! Old English. can you natively read this? no.
what anonymous coward and dear author have wrongly committed is however a logical no no. what? Attack on the Person. this is when you attack something extraneous to the person you are debating (like the way they write or talk) instead of attacking their argument.
And if either of you are linguists, shame on you! stop being skanks. if not,....whatever.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Dear Author:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hmmmmm
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re #24
They are backwards enough to end up going for that.
I am once again ashamed to be an American.
No tracking program for Linux.
How very very sad.
As for #30 and anyone else who still thinks that way.
Please, for the love of gawd learn the difference between stealing and copyright infringement. They are two different types of ideas.
One post long ago from somebody on here sticks in my mind.
You leave your car in the driveway overnight.
Over that night I come to your drive and use a machine to make a perfect copy of your car.
You wake up in the morning, and its still there, unharmed.
I did not steal it.
Thats how it works.
It is copyright infringement though.
At least, that is what I garner from everybody's posts, Techdirt employees as well, over the past long long while reading many a thread here.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Gov. Promoting a Monopoly?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Come on...think before we post, hm?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ROTFLOL
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A shame.
1. Paragraphs would've really helped while reading this.
2. An Ubuntu user and he couldn't spoof his tracks so as not to get caught?
3. Forced to use winblows, I just can't fathom this as being OK.
For shame for shame for SHAME!
No thank you on this tracking software mr. probation officer, I'm just going to take up reading for a while.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: A shame.
Yeah, so? Ubuntu was designed to be easy to use so why would the person running it necessarily have the technical know-how to cover their tracks? I don't get it.
Although, I will agree that it doesn't seem right to make him change OS's. Shouldn't that be in the Constitution somewhere? Kind of like freedom of religion? Freedom of OS? :)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Morons
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Morons
Ya, like Rosa Parks... Maybe he's trying to make a point about dumb laws..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Punishment of any sort is just plain stupid. 10 years from now people who went to jail for copyright infringement will look back on their experiences like those who went fighting for civil rights. Hopefully the RIAA and the MPAA really are losing as much money as they claim so that they can become unprofitable roll over and die. Its the only way for a new paradigm to replace the ridiculous system currently used for media distribution.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Intellectual Property
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Intellectual Property
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Intellectual Property
you might want to take that advice yourself, consult some law books and discover that the guy didn't steal anything, he wasn't charged with or convicted of theft...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Yeah, maybe you need to get new friends.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The punishment is excessively harsh (not just the windows bit either).
I know people are calling this stealing, but that's bullshit. When you steal something from somebody, they're generally hurt as a result of it. Like somebody stealing your lunch money or your precious ipod.
Nobody is hurt by this. The industry is just overly greedy. They know damn well this will only help to promote the film. Like the article said, I'd bet anything that it just got more fans hyped about seeing the film in theaters. Not to mention that only Star Wars fans would waste their time downloading the new Star Wars film, and they're usually the ones who would repeatedly see this flick at the cinema anyway.
I'm sure I'll see this film eventually, but I'm definitely not going to rush to spend my money on it after reading this.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Frankly...
And quite frankly I would give up the net for the term of confinement. Can't track what he's not doing. I get the feeling that he agreed to the monitoring of his computer activity under threat of getting a much larger sentence if he didn't.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nicholas Wright is Stooo-ped!
Back on topic...Nicholas Wright you are as the title says, stupid. People are hurt by what this guy did. You're chalking everything up to big Hollywood showbiz names as the only profiteers from this movie. You forget that there are sound crew, camera operators, light crew, etc. They are being robbed of their royalties by things like this so it's certainly like someone stealing from you. I'm not a Star Wars fan, in fact I hate Star Wars. This is about the fact that some dude took the movie and uploaded it before it came out, regardless of what movie it was. Your claims have no merit. I can easily prove that a film's numbers can be hurt by this action on any movie. You however can't prove that "nobody is hurt by [uploading the movie before it's released]". As Maddox would say - "Ditch this bullshit!"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Nicholas Wright is Stooo-ped!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sysadmins beware
I suppose the moral of this story is to be extra careful and not piss off the MPAA if you rely on linux for your job.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
simple
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Can we all agree that it's unreasonable for the government to require this guy to donate his spare cycles and bandwidth to a a spam-spewing botnet?
Of course, the court isn't explicitly demanding that he get his box zombified....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
only in the US...
The bad thing about is, that some US laws have an influence on people outside the US, even those who never visit the US.
Anyway, my views on the issue:
* According to US laws, the guy committed a crime and should receive a just punishment.
* If you don't like the law, don't break it but change it. That's what they call democracy.
* If part of the punishment is installing windows-only monitor software and he is known by the judge to be a linux user, then the judge (or the experts he consulted) should have known that in effect he totally prohibited the use of his computer.
* My conclusion: there is a conflict in his punishment, and this is the stuff that landsharks find yummie. The last word isn't said yet.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: only in the US...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I didn't know that the courts had to worry to much about the hardship that was placed on a convicted person. I guess the ACLU will have to get involved in this.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hrdware Keylogger
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
He needs therapy
I'd say he needs therapy for his chronic bad taste and not punishment.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]