Attempt To Trigger Six Strikes Comes Up Empty
from the this-time... dept
Right after the "six strikes" Copyright Alert System (CAS) launched, I heard from a few people saying that it was actually likely to increase their file sharing activities, in part because it clearly laid out the "risks" of doing so. In other words, rather than educating people that file sharing was "wrong," the CAS seemed to clarify the actual risks involved. Of course, some of the CAS punishments can be somewhat severe, so I do wonder how accurate those predictions were. However, apparently some folks have tried and failed to get themselves a strike under the CAS system, according to a report in DailyDot (which, bizarrely, never seems to name who conducted the actual study). They chose some popular content -- including some Rihanna songs, since Rihanna songs have been targeted under both France's and New Zealand's three strikes systems. They found torrents via The Pirate Bay, downloaded the works and then left the files available for weeks... and nothing.Obviously, this is just one test on one ISP (Verizon) with just a few files. That's hardly indicative of what's actually happening with the overall CAS. However, it does make me wonder, if we start seeing more, similar reports, if it will lead more people to actually look at the whole system as making it more enticing to share files than before. Obviously, that would be the exact opposite of what the program's supporters would like.
At the very least, however, it makes me wonder (yet again) why the industry is putting so much effort towards punishment and enforcement, and so little towards actually adding value and giving people good reasons to buy.
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Filed Under: cas, six strikes
Companies: verizon
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More Markets and Moar $$
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Re: More Markets and Moar $$
Except the poor schlub getting fined 1000s for downloading a few songs, that is.
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Re: More Markets and Moar $$
There is a cost to this. Creating an industry around suing everyone in sight harms the company's reputation, and drives people towards boycotting that company's products. Look how many people have already decided to boycott anything by the major record labels, and spend their money with the independent record labels instead.
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Re: Re: More Markets and Moar $$
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Not that surprising
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The problem is, decades ago, it was mostly true. Consolidations put entire markets in the hands of a few publishers. Basically, all roads led through Rome; neither creators or customers could get much without dealing with these self-anointed emperors. But, just like the real historical dictators, they were blind to competing empires raising up around them--some outside their walls, some even from within. First, they ignored the threats these upstarts posed. Then they shunned their new rivals to downplay the threat and dissuade their supporters from switching sides. Then they tried "bargaining" with completely one-sided agreements designed to ultimately dominate, subjugate or destroy these opponents. And if that failed, their pursuit of power eventually rose to all out war.
These conflicts of media empires have been raising up for over a century. What these self-anointed emperors of olde don't realize is that the world has changed. The old ways of maintaining control can no longer work when everyone can become a creator, a merchant or a distributor without their approval. Now, there are just too many competitors from outside markets, and within their own. Dominance is no longer assured by rote or decree, their worth must be proven year after year. Sadly, they used to do just that when they were the upstarts foraging new territories and vying for supporters. Do they remember remember how to compete, or will they merely cling to their old allegiances as their ramparts crumble around them?
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Why innovate if you can litigate?
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Re: Why innovate if you can litigate?
As far as any MAFIAA Stuff I will buy you used and physical and that is only if I really feel like it.
The Dinosaurs must go extinct !
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I've seen this system at work before. Let's see, where was it.
Right! Politicians and copyright grandstanders push for all these laws, and most of us let them hem and haw, then ignore the final result!
Yeah, that's it!
At least this system works better than CAS.
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Music is pretty much ignored by 6 Strikes, the RIAA is shell shocked after their litigation campagin went so well for them.
The real focus is on TV and Movies, remember using a DVR is STEALING from their mouths.
Did you have a real point to make about a corporate legal system being forced upon consumers or were you just flailing wildly hoping to score points this morning?
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In a word: No.
$1.29, $.99, or even $.79 is not compelling. The price is astronomically high. The only reason it's stuck so far is that for decades, people got used to paying $15-$20 (still greatly inflated, a.k.a. price fixing) for shiny plastic discs. But a copy of a bitpattern, transported over the internet, costs as close to zero as you can reasonably imagine, compared to a physical disc that had to be manufactured/pressed/packaged/shipped/distributed/retailed. The price of an mp3 is also astronomically high when you consider that to fill the capacity of a modern mp3 player or phone at those prices would cost around $16,000 (64GB, 4MB per song, $1 each).
So no, selling a non-scarce bitpattern at a price equivalent to physical items is not compelling. When the entire world could carry around in their pockets the sum total of human knowledge and culture, doing things like they were done in Pony Express days is insane.
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Checkmate. Now go get a life.
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Go outside. I hear it's sunny.
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"If the bitpattern of a song and a random bitpattern cost effectively zero, then they are interchangeable."
My response would be that you are confusing price and value. The value of a random bitpattern is different from the bitpattern of a song. The value is also different to different people. That's pretty much the basis of economics.
If that's not what you're arguing, please correct me and be clear in what you are conveying.
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Not if it includes DRM, it isn't. Even DRM-free, $1.29 for one song is pretty expensive.
I can't ignore your pirate dig, though. If its' not a compelling offer for me, I'm not going to pirate it. I'm just not going to buy it. (Why bother pirating when there's more compelling and legal music available than I have minutes left in my life to listen to anyway?)
Of course, whether or not I pirate it, the end result to the labels is identical: they don't get my money.
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The problem
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Re: The problem
This opens an interesting question about how useful the data is in a court of law. They want to pretend the strikes system is perfect, but it won't hold up.
But in the meantime Verizon has had at least 2 demands for 6 Strikes data on customers, not sure if they bothered to fight it or not.
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Some people think the DMCA notice that was being sent by an industrious troll is a strike.
The system is so flipping weird and results in different responses from each ISP its hard to know where anything is coming from anymore.
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Several years and millions of dollars of funding and the best that New Zealand's system can come up with is one, maybe two people, and they've only downloaded one out of the three songs charged for - for which, they're paying $600 which is never going to Rihanna.
Why are we expecting the American system to be any less inefficient, incompetent and downright fail?
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The copyright business model
So the proper solution to this is, make contact with the prospective client(s), settle on a price, do the work, collect payment. It's a solid basic framework to build on.
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The reality of the six strikes is that people actually willing to put effort into this aren't deterred or going to get caught 6 times.
People who will get caught six times are people who aren't try to not be caught, or people who can't figure out how to stop someone else from using their connection.
The dedicated downloaders want this feedback and 5 freebie chances, 20 people can get 100 iterations of figuring out how to avoid strikes for illegal torrent downloads.
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Home Networks
A company website contains a copyright notice with a product support link to a User's Guide in PDF format. You download a copy of the User's Guide on your workstation. The company packages a CD with a copy of the User's Guide in PDF format. You contact the company to get written permission from the company so that you can print a copy of the document. You find no employee at the company has the authority to allow you to make a printed copy for use with the product that you purchased. When you print a copy of the User's Guide on your home computer's printer did you just become a criminal?
On Google website you obtain driving directions to some destination from your present location. When you print a copy of the driving directions did you just become a criminal?
In United States you are not permitted to make a backup copy of DVD movie you purchased. In Canada you are permitted to make a backup copy of DVD movie you purchased. You travel to Canada with your DVD movie and make a legal backup copy of DVD movie you purchased. No laws were broken until you cross the boarder from Canada to United States.
A federal judge rules on the merit of copyright infringement case based upon the content of one or two sentences of a 1,200 page bill that becomes law. Judges and lawyers will argue for decades without resolution.
Confused?
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Re: Home Networks
Actually, you are. You are not allowed to decrypt the DVD, but you can certainly make a bitwise copy of it and back up the minority of DVDs that are not encrypted.
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Why should it matter how much effort the industry puts into these things. It is not the job of industry to punish and enforce and to get legislation passed. So why are laws so greatly influenced by industry such that the industry would even bother making such attempts knowing that they could get results.
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So... Sampling the ocean with a teaspoon proves whales a myth?
"Obviously, this is just one test on one ISP (Verizon) with just a few files." -- OBVIOUSLY, MIKE? Do you actually understand that this "study" in no degree or manner supports ANY conclusion at all? What's OBVIOUS is that you take this NON-DATA to attack copyright, and are HOPING for more illegal downloading!
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Re: So... Sampling the ocean with a teaspoon proves whales a myth?
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Re: So... Sampling the ocean with a teaspoon proves whales a myth?
It is not statistically significant however as it's just one test on one ISP.
As stated in the article.
Not sure why you'd yell at him for stating the honest truth regarding the findings and then make an assumption on his personal state of mind.
But oh well, this is why you be crazy.
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CD Sales Are Down Because Technology Changed
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I cant imagine the arm twisting they had to do at an ISP level to get them to agree to selling out their own customers. Talk about a terrible way to run a business. The industry has to evolve because the next innovation in file sharing will not be traceable and you will truly be f'd.
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FTFY
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Subscriber of Internet Service is Suspect
When your children, now adults, download movie the parent becomes the criminal. What is wrong with this picture?
Husband and Wife should not have children because your children could grow up to be criminals as adults.
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Adding value
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Re: Adding value
That being said i hope that the big studios do not get into this and use it as another way to steal money generated by artists content.
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On the other hand, Netflix has been utterly successful in slashing movie piracy by a decent notch in the US. And it has nothing to do with punishment.
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