OiNK Admin: Not Guilty
from the and-there-we-go dept
We were just explaining why it appeared that Alan Ellis, the admin for OiNK had not actually violated any UK laws, and it looks like the jury agreed. Ellis has been found not guilty. I have to admit that I'm really surprised by this, but it is certainly a good thing. You shouldn't be found guilty of actions done by others, and if people were using OiNK to violate copyright law (as, certainly, some were) that shouldn't fall on Ellis. Separately, as has been noted previously, OiNK really highlighted where the recording industry itself failed to fill the demand that was there.Of course, it will be interesting to see what comes next. My guess is that the entertainment industry will use this to support Mandelson's Digital Economy Bill as necessary, or to push for even more draconian copyright laws, such as adding in "contributory" copyright infringement into the law in some manner. This was a good ruling, but it may be used to push through bad laws in response.
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Filed Under: alan ellis, copyright, infringement, oink, uk
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Conspiracy Theory
Any chance of collusion between the industry and court to get this ruling specifically for the reasons you stated?
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Next
On the stand he admitted to downloading music himself as a way to discover new artists. Everyone here knows what the next course of action will be.
Civil suit.
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Re: Next
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On the other hand, I don't see how Ellis could actually have prevented the service being used that way without a massive investment of man-hours and money, things he probably didn't have in abundance. I dunno.
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/sarcasm
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I have a hard time believing that should matter. Auto makers know that their vehicles will make it easier to make bank robbery getaways. Gun makers know that their guns will make it easier for others to unlawfully kill others. There are measures to try and prevent that, but we all know it's about as effective copyright filters (which is to say, not at all).
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Of course that analogy isn't great either, because copyright infringement never got anyone killed or crippled for life. That's why I can't say I'm sorry Ellis didn't go to jail, even if I don't think much of a shrug and a "not my problem" as a defence.
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Gun dealers have to know that at one point there gun will be used to break the law but the courts don't convict them for legally selling that person a gun.
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Oh.
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I wasn't a member (never heard about it until it got raided, kind of a Napster story I guess), but the site's full return would be cool too.
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This was in the US, but I would have no confidence that everything will be promptly returned.
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It is clear that he made hundreds of thousands of dollars off of charging for access to content he didn't have the rights for. It is hard to make a modern crime match up to pre-digital laws. It is also very clear that this sort of thing cannot continue without in the long term causing a major disruption in the music world, and not the type of disruption that benefits anyone. The users are paying, the artists are making nothing, and some guy in the middle is walking away with the cash.
If you cannot see what is wrong with that, then your moral compass is probably stuck and needs fixing.
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If only the recording industry could offer up the same. Oh right, they never will.
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Just modifying your text with just one word (in caps) :
Describes the "music industry" perfectly.
Where was your moral compass lost for the last few decades?
/Ryan
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The only thing that is clear is that you can't read.
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An outrageous decison!
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Re: An outrageous decison!
Obvious troll is obvious.
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Re: An outrageous decison!
Be careful not to sell any knives, guns, sharp objects, or toxic cleaning supplies; someone may use them to hurt someone!
Be careful not to speak, your stupidity may be used to make our brains hurt.
And then you would be arrested and thrown in jail. Enjoy.
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Babe escaped!
Sorry I could resist making a pork joke oops! there I go again.
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Next News.
:)
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