Be careful torrenters. You can get sued. Like these 5k ppl.

[kornmanz]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20006314-261.html

This company has sued over 14,000 people this year alone. Last year there were only 2,000 p2p lawsuits TOTAL. They offer people to settle for 2,500 dollars and apparently people have been paying because they are continuing to sue.

Damn rich greedy bastards.

[Alfador]

I feel obligated to ask. Did you torrent copyrighted material as they claim? If you did, then I have this funny lack of sympathy for you.

People put out all sorts of justifications and rationalizations for pirating, but the bottom line is, you availed yourself to something you were not legally entitled to, and you got caught. Contrary to what people may argue, it really is that simple indeed.

[Encryptshun]

Did any of them torrent a copy of "The Social Network"?

[AppleBonker]

I wonder if anyone on that list had left their wireless network unencrypted? If so, are they going to try tracking down MAC addresses?

The president (I believe) of Voltage films was a pretty huge douche about the whole thing too. See below:

Dear Mr. Chartier,

I have recently become aware of Voltage Pictures' intention to sue thousands of people who are suspected of having used BitTorrent to download films produced by your company.

I wish to register my disagreement with these tactics, and would like you to know that as a result of these actions I am boycotting your films. The majority of the people you are suing were not seeking to make money from their downloads, and will be financially devastated by a lawsuit or settlement. While it is completely understandable that Voltage Pictures wishes to defend its intellectual property, this is an inhumane way of doing so.

Until Voltage Pictures publicly states that it will not pursue lawsuits for downloading its films, I will not view, rent or buy any films produced wholly or in part by your company. I will urge my friends and family to take the same actions. I do not wish for the money I spend on entertainment to be used against otherwise good people.

Thank you for your time.

Hi Nicholas, please feel free to leave your house open every time you go out and please tell your family to do so, please invite people in the streets to come in and take things from you, not to make money out of it by reselling it but just to use it for themselves and help themselves. If you think it's normal they take my work for free, I'm sure you will give away all your furniture and possessions and your family will do the same. I can also send you my bank account information since apparently you work for free and your family too so since you have so much money you should give it away... I actually like to pay my employees, my family, my bank for their work and like to get paid for my work. I'm glad you're a moron who believes stealing is right. I hope your family and your kids end up in jail one day for stealing so maybe they can be taught the difference. Until then, keep being stupid, you're doing that very well. And please do not download, rent, or pay for my movies, I actually like smart and more important HONEST people to watch my films.

best regards,

Nicolas Chartier
Voltage Pictures, LLC

[Razi]

It looks like he's butthurt that he didn't make a ton of money off of it and is taking his rage out on the torrenters.

[kornmanz]

Yeah he's a major douche. The dude made millions off this film and is going after more.

I have netflix. I get my movie fix.

[AppleBonker]

Which then begs the question, how hard will they fight? Are they going to try to get warrants to search your home? Your computers? I honestly don't know where the line is drawn, or how far the reach of the law is. There will always be a percentage of people who will pirate. Going after some of them wont change anything. I guess the only way to work that out is to offer a product people feel is worthy of spending money on? Or maybe offer features that cannot be pirated so easily? Blu-rays are generally 25-50 gigs. That would take me a long time to download, and would cripple me with the ISP-imposed cap on data.

[kornmanz]

Check this out too. The company made the story based from a real US Military soldier and failed to keep him in the payroll. So he decided to sue them. Since they were so gun-ho about suing others I'm glad they got sued for something big.

On top of that the article reads that the lead producer of Voltage Films (the ones doing the suing for hurt locker) was banned from the Oscars. Who knows. Maybe he's crying like a b**** about his money and now being banned and figured lets sue some people.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abr ... y_id=58326

[Alfador]

The companies are acting like douches but that doesn't really give you a right to steal their product. And yes, while you aren't materially depriving them of the product when you pirate a game or movie, it's still basically stealing. You took something that was not yours to take without compensation. And yes they are just being d!ck and blaming the wrong people for their failure because they were too stupid to realize that people don't want Iraq war movies. Good or bad, consumers just don't bother with them, but again regardless of their reasons I have no problem with this. It's a rough analogy, but if someone assaults you, tresspasses on your property knowingly or commits any other illegal act against you, you have the right to persue that, regardless of their intent or your reason for following up. Are you going after them because you were really bothered by it or be cause they looked at you wrong another time? At its core, it does not matter. They did it.

Oh and keep in mind, this all started going down at the beginning of the year.

I love how people think they automatically have a pass to violate someone else's work and property just because that person is already rich. It's such a self aggragandizing, rationalizing, robin-hood approach to breaking the law. It's no different than jumping the turnstile at a bus station or sneaking into a concert because you're mad about what a ticket costs.

Check this out too. The company made the story based from a real US Military soldier and failed to keep him in the payroll. So he decided to sue them. Since they were so gun-ho about suing others I'm glad they got sued for something big.

On top of that the article reads that the lead producer of Voltage Films (the ones doing the suing for hurt locker) was banned from the Oscars. Who knows. Maybe he's crying like a b**** about his money and now being banned and figured lets sue some people.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abr ... y_id=58326

So they were jerks to someone else. That lawsuit is to decide that. You can post as many things as you want making them look like d!ck and it doesn't any more justify stealing the content in the first place.

[breadbox]

Meh, Still haven't seen it. But DLing any torrent is taking on the risk of getting sued. Remember in the days of Kazaa 80 year old women getting court summons over Happy Birthday.

[AppleBonker]

A bunch of good points...

Two things:

First, the OP never stated that he pirated the movie, did he? Maybe I missed it. I can almost always find unprotected wireless networks if I want to. Many people are less considerate of others when they stumble onto these and may decide to use them for illegal purposes. The worst I've ever done is change the encryption key and then alter the default admin password on the router (most people with open wifi networks don't change either). Then they can no longer get on their network. After that, they usually reset everything and add a password. While I'm sure they're swearing at me for it, they end up safer in the end so I don't care.

Second, the bigger problem is the disparity between crime and punishment. Sure, you might prosecute someone for trespassing, but if the punishment was 10 years in jail wouldn't you feel a bit bad for it? In this case, attempting to get people to settle for $200 should be sufficient. I know if someone slapped a $200 penalty on me for something I would think twice about doing it again. I don't consider myself poor at all (in fact, I'm probably closer to well-off), but a $200 fine would hurt. A $2,500 fine would go well past hurting me and would cripple me for a little while financially. So people shouldn't be stealing the product, on this we agree. But this penalty is a bit on the extreme end, don't you think? People get off easier for a DUI (which seems to be a crime that is more likely to end catastrophically).

[kornmanz]

They should hire Alfador to help them argue their points. Those millionaires could afford his help!

[kornmanz]

I did not pirate the film. I stated earlier that my old IP (from Qwest) was on the list but then deleted that out of the original posting. I did not want to get some BS from people like Alfador who go on about how pirating is bad mmkay? I know its bad. Don't try to give me a little kids lecture about it.

I was a victim of having an open router. The whole neighborhood was using my internet.

I changed my ISP to Comcast literally the month this all started. Comcast hooked me up with a configured router and made sure it worked.

[Dattebayo]

You're welcome?

[Jesda]

This is why theyre suing:

The movie was a disappointment at the box office, however

[dusred]

Lets assume that I illegally download movies. Okay. It's just like speeding. You can do it and get away with it and it will make you feel good but when you get caught STFU and pay up. When you speed you take the risk of getting caught. The same applies to pirated movies and software.

[AppleBonker]

Lets assume that I illegally download movies

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

It's just like speeding. You can do it and get away with it and it will make you feel good but when you get caught STFU and pay up. When you speed you take the risk of getting caught. The same applies to pirated movies and software.

Though in this analogy, we'd have to assume that there are 1% of the cops on the road as there currently are. And then that you didn't see these cops out pulling people over one day, but they were actually using photos of the times at which you passed through toll booths and calculating your speed off that. Then, instead of a couple hundred dollar fine, they made it $10,000. Then I'd say you're pretty close to this situation.

[IBCoupe]

Just like speeding, in that you're enjoying someone else's service that you did not pay for. Oh, wait.

There's thumbing your nose at the government, and then there's thumbing your nose at a person.

[AppleBonker]

Hey, IBC, since you're in here maybe you can help with a question this raised for me. If someone was using your internet because you didn't have it encrypted, how liable are you? I would figure it would have to be similar to parking your car and leaving it running and unlocked and then someone stealing it and crashing it. Not sure how the laws apply. I dunno that you've gotten to any of this yet (or if it may be too specific for standard law school), but I'd still be interested in your take...

[dusred]

There's thumbing your nose at the government, and then there's thumbing your nose at a person.

When I speed I'm not thumbing my nose up at the government.

[IBCoupe]

Hey, IBC, since you're in here maybe you can help with a question this raised for me. If someone was using your internet because you didn't have it encrypted, how liable are you? I would figure it would have to be similar to parking your car and leaving it running and unlocked and then someone stealing it and crashing it. Not sure how the laws apply. I dunno that you've gotten to any of this yet (or if it may be too specific for standard law school), but I'd still be interested in your take...

Not sure yet; I'll take a whack at it. My intuition isn't very helpful; it would depend on the nature of the tort that's levied against you, I guess. I'll do some research while we prepare to discuss the Clean Water Act in class...

[AppleBonker]

No worries man. Don't feel the need to waste your time (which I'm guessing is already stretched a bit thin). I was just curious.

[IBCoupe]

In looking at the American Jurist indexes, I don't think this is something that the law has yet addressed... Closest thing I see is that an ISP can't be subpoena'd for being a "conduit" for P2P transfers.

[hitbychance]

peerblocker ftw

[IBCoupe]

I'm still investigating, but class just ended, so I need to drive home now.

[Jesda]

When I speed or download Lady Gaga albums I'm calling everyone within 10 feet of me a smelly c*nt.

I'm also hurting cute furry creatures.

[Loki]

Piracy isn't theft. I don't take anything when I torrent a movie. It's not as though if torrenting were not available to me that I would have gone out and bought that movie, so I don't see how I am depriving the company of anything. If anything it may be a positive towards the company if the movie is actually GOOD, as I will most likely spread good reviews of the movie. I think rich execs need some butt cream for their sore behinds.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

Piracy isn't theft. I don't take anything when I torrent a movie. It's not as though if torrenting were not available to me that I would have gone out and bought that movie, so I don't see how I am depriving the company of anything. If anything it may be a positive towards the company if the movie is actually GOOD, as I will most likely spread good reviews of the movie. I think rich execs need some butt cream for their sore behinds.

You are stealing their potential profit. Before p2p networks if you wanted a movie you either A) rented it or B) bought it. Both options earned the studios money. Now...you are essentially stealing what they could earn from you.
Having said that...I am a thieving bastard of upwards of 8 gigs per day.

[IBCoupe]

^This.

And you're doing it without their permission. That's stealing.

[Encryptshun]

^This.

And you're doing it without their permission. That's stealing.

This is where "use" versus "ownership" gets sticky. I can check out a book from the library, read it, and give it back. Perfectly legal. But I can't check out a book from the library, photocopy and bind all the pages and keep that copy when I return the original to the library. Even though I'm not selling the copy I made. Even though in NEITHER instance is the publisher making any money off me reading that book -- the former is legal and the latter is illegal.

That same juxtaposition of temporary posession versus personal duplication for purposes of retained posession is the heart of all the RIAA and MPAA lawyer-army blitzkrieg.