Portuguese Man Convicted On Criminal Charges For Sharing Three Songs
from the and-here's-a-playlist dept
Nelson Cruz points us to the latest news of totally ridiculous and disproportionate punishments for file sharing. A young man in Portugal has been convicted on criminal charges for sharing 3 songs. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail, but the jail sentence was suspended, and instead he has to pay €880. While the report notes he was apparently sharing more songs, the charges only covered 3 songs. To make it clear just how ridiculous this is, Nelson also put together a YouTube playlist with all three songs -- showing that they're all available to share in this manner legally. Today. Back in 2006, because of the industry's own stupidity, such services were not readily available. If they were, the kid likely would have used such a legal service. So how is it that what this kid did was so horrible that it deserves a criminal conviction? It seems like all he really did was help show the industry what the public was looking for.Of course, the ridiculousness doesn't stop there. The local Portuguese version of the RIAA, called the AFP, appears to be using this case as an example of why they need a Hadopi-style three strikes law in Portugal. The problem? It took nearly six years to convict this kid for daring to share 3 songs. Of course, it took nearly as long for the industry to get its act together and offer legal services. Perhaps we should give that a go for a while before we start passing new laws that kick people off the internet, yes?
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Filed Under: afp, file sharing, portugal
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Of course if you killed my home internet I COULD STILL PIRATE movies and music by going to McDonnalds and downloading them while getting lunch. So instead of stopping the problem you will have made it so I would pirate everything instead of just a few things.
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Re: Patterns
There will be very few 'guiltless' (only those in the MAFIAA and those who have more money than God) so the expense of travelling off-world will be much more reasonable.
Plus, if we assume the entire planet is a prison save for a few 'freedom zones' in which only the guiltless are allowed, it saves a ton on fence building & such.
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Re: Re: Patterns
If you drive then I am willing to bet at some time you have exceeded the speed limit, or failed to fully stop at stop sign, maybe forgot your blinkers when turning, or how about your headlights last time it was foggy?
That is just examples from one area of life. It has become so easy to break the law that most of us do so all the time without thinking about it.
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Who's The Boss ?
He really holds the power, but we have a bargain that allows me to 'control' him. I feed him and walk him and I don't irritate him too much, so he stays mostly very docile and compliant.
I can shove him around a few times a day and he'll take it. He doesn't like it, but even in his miniscule brain, its just not worth the effort for him to retaliate.
But, if I shoved my dog around enough, he'd try to escape.
And if I stopped him from escaping and kept shoving him around, he'd wait for just the right moment for me to drop my guard (perhaps as I fall asleep). Then he'd maul me (and likely kill me) and escape and disappear forever.
Or he might just escape and disappear forever.
Either way, my dog would be gone forever and I would have become forever irrelevant to the very creature I tried to enslave.
If I was a member The Copyright Cartel these days, I'd be very afraid to fall asleep.
Woof.
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Another fun fact: Spotify, among many other legal music services, is not available in Portugal despite being available in Spain, France and most other Western European countries. In other words, it's another overreaction putting draconian legal measures above actually selling a product...
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Sharing Is Caring
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Not exactly:
"Unfortunately, this SME-music-content is not available in Germany because GEMA has not granted the respective music publishing rights.
Sorry about that."
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Not So Bad
As long as the rights holder has to pay for prosecution, the market should work itself out.
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Re: Forty Years?
40 years. (torrents = 5,867 Euros from 7 guys.)
Please explain your math, or your critical thinking...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/nyregion/at-92-movie-bootlegger-is-soldiers-hero.html?hp
"Howard Gantman, a spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America, said he did not believe its member studios were aware of Mr. Strachman’s operation. His sole comment dripped with the difficulty of going after a 92-year-old widower supporting the troops.
“We are grateful that the entertainment we produce can bring some enjoyment to them while they are away from home,” Mr. Gantman said. "
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Ummm aren't you THE New York Times? Have you heard of this thing called research and fact checking?
They have sued dead people for infringement, I think the real fear comes from the idea of a buncha vets coming home to find out the guy who did for them is getting screwed. It is nice they talk about sending films on reels and projectors to the troops... are they sending them old newsreels? Or do they fear that they will drop the rifles and race to get early copies onto TPB if they sent them something the troops could actually use.
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Re: Who's The Boss ?
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The presumption of innocence and due process have not at all been "forgotten", and to suggest our judicial system has cast them aside is absurd.
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Due process has been "forgotten". (But I'm sure it's just an oversight.) The RIAA/MPAA do believe in guilty until proven innocent.
Example:
A website can get taken down, or even an entire domain name affecting hundreds or even thousands of innocent users, on the mere accusation (no proof required) of copyright infringement. No advance notice. No chance to contest that it is not infringing or raise other defenses. (Maybe the MPAA/RIAA uploaded it themselves!)
Witness what a farce the government's case against foreign Megaupload has turned into. I'm sure it was pure coincidence that this foreign site, and thousands of users data, was made unavailable, possibly to be destroyed, with the hosting provider continuing to retain the data at great expense, all on the mere accusation of someone from the US -- the day after SOPA failed.
Yeah. No due process there. No innocent until proven guilty there. Other examples exist.
It is increasingly difficult to take anything the RIAA/MPAA mouthpieces say in good faith.
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I hung up.
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You can read these rules for yourself at:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/
Of course, you should feel free to send any suggested amendments you may have to the court.
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But you are right we have never passed any unconstitutional laws in the US, that just doesn't happen right?
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Google+ post not public
https://plus.google.com/u/0/111097426968446299927/posts/Ecca7k5F2E4
I also since discovered some more tidbits in other news stories about this case. Two other people where acquitted by the court because it couldn't be proven they personally did the sharing. And this kid only got convicted for three songs because the prosecution had to present evidence he actually infringed (or "usurped" as our law says) the rights of every single song. Whatever was required to do that, apparently it was to hard or to much of a hassle to do. Even in six years.
This brings a new perspective to the desire of AFP for an Hadopi-style three strikes law. It's not just that it takes years to convict someone, but those pesky criminal courts demand serious evidence! It's *so* much easier to just accuse someone three times, and have the state automatically fine them or cut their internet access. Afterwards they can appeal and prove their innocence if they want to. Much simpler.
I don't even know why we bother to have traffic police and speed radars on the roads. We could all just report each others license plates and have the police issue fines. That would work, right?
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from Portugal
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Re: Re: Forty Years?
/facetrout
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Re: from Portugal
The gov't: that's the main Portuguese problem...
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Re: Who's The Boss ?
And your dog comes to accept this enslavement as completely normal.
And if your dog never learns how to live on its own without your handouts....
Well, he just might come to love Big Brother.
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