Megaupload down, 7 charged with online piracy

[Streps]

They make the assumption that one illegal download equals one lost sale.

They fail to realise people 'try before they buy'. Nobody can argue some revenue is lost
But i think the numbers quoted are simply plucked out of the air.
Also when people buy a DVD
I'm guessing it's to watch a film.. not be barraged by adverts and anti-piracy warnings.

If i buy content i'll share it with who i like.

[rpguk]

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[Haggleburyfinius]

To me the most frustrating thing about the whole downloadable media is the cost.

I have recently bought a few series of tv shows from iTunes that have cost more to download than to purchase the physical DVD and have it delivered to my house.

I buy them this way because I am incredibly lazy but I can understand why others get angry with such arrangements.

How can it cost more to download a show than it costs to buy a physical disc? There are only two links in the download chain; the owner of the media and Apple. With a DVD we have the owner of the media, the supplier and then the retailer; an extra middleman plus the cost of manufacture, transport, delivery etc.


People will always buy something when the perceived value and actual cost marry up at about the same level. I just don't believe that most media is actually that great value for money.


Funny thing is, I reckon if all the illegal download sites were killed forthwith, the majority of those watching would most definitely not be buying media or switching back on their tvs...they'd find something else to do.

[funkyrobot]

Haggleburyfinius said:

To me the most frustrating thing about the whole downloadable media is the cost.

I have recently bought a few series of tv shows from iTunes that have cost more to download than to purchase the physical DVD and have it delivered to my house.

This is my concern with legit downloadable stuff. For example, I was looking for a book on Amazon last night. The physical copy was £9.35 with free delivery and the Kindle version was £8.59. Yes, the Kindle version is cheaper, but not that much cheaper when you consider the fact that it is a download.

I've also noticed things like this when booking tickets for some events. The ticket price had a charge of £2.00 or something for postage (if you wanted paper tickets), but also had a charge of £2.00 for an electronic copy that was emailed over (you then had to print the tickets off yourself).

Things like this really do make me wonder.

[Tallbut Buxomly]

Kermit power said:

So basically what you're saying is "they shouldn't try and stop crime, because the criminals might be nasty to them". Interesting approach there!

Does that mean the authorities shouldn't prosecute murderers in case the murderer tries to off the judge in court?

There's plenty of legal sources for streamed and downloaded media, and no excuse for illegal downloading any more than there is for any other crime.

Sorry but no government should ever have legal control of any kind over internet content. This move is one small step in a much bigger plan. The US gets the law passed then the UK will pass similar. You then end up with a situation where lawyers get rich.

Then someone comes along and publishes an article exposing a politician. They get prosecuted and the article is immediately removed allowing the politician to carry on regardless etc etc.

Nor do I believe that isp,s and content providers should have overall control. There needs to be a middle ground.

I have absolutely zero sympathy for the movie or music industry who are the primary backers of this move. They have created their own problem through their stubborn greedy attitude and now need to either adapt or die.

This is a case of shutting the door after the horse has bolted for them.

People have a right to ownership and theft is theft but bear in mind the majority of theft is due to those making their material either unprotected or vastly too expensive.

[Oakey]

Kermit power said:

snip

So when will the FBI be going after their own US based companies?

https://www.giganews.com/signup/

$25 a month ($35 a month after the first three) gets you;

• unlimited monthly transfer
• 100% completion
• 1263 days retention
• 50 connections
• 256bit SSL
• 30Gb cloud storage
• VPN

It's safe to say that nobody requires any of that for text articles, do they? How is their business any different to MU's?

[Haggleburyfinius]

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[funkyrobot]

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[Oakey]

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[maxxy5]

For me it's not the copyright issue that is important, but American 'ownership' of the internet and international abuse of that. Plus ca change...

[HundredthIdiot]

The copyright infringement debate is so depressing, and few come out of it looking good.

People being hit with $200k fines for a bit of filesharing.
Unskippable DVD anti-piracy intros on kids movies.
Legal download services with outdated crap on them.
Complete inability of the industry to offer convenience or value for money.
Freeloaders moaning about the quality of the crap they consume without compensating rights holders.

Technology has created a huge elasticity of demand and massively reduced distribution overheads. All I want is the convenience of torrenting at a reasonable cost, like $2 a movie, and no DRM. 100 million people downloading a $2 movie is $200m per movie. Surely it can't be that hard to make a movie for $200m?

Whilst the idiots rearrange the deckchairs on the titanic I'll stick to the middle ground of paying for content several times over (licence fee and Sky subscription) whilst downloading for convenience.

[roachcoach]

Well...there was the 500 servers in Virginia

and its not just copyright violations - its money laundering and racketeering - those are seriously heavyweight charges that I would doubt anyone would be surprised to see extradition for.

[Oakey]

roachcoach said:

Well...there was the 500 servers in Virginia

and its not just copyright violations - its money laundering and racketeering - those are seriously heavyweight charges that I would doubt anyone would be surprised to see extradition for.

Those are in relation to the revenue made from the subscriptions on MU as far as I'm aware. The US Gov see MU as an illegal site, because they made money from said site then it falls under 'money laundering' and 'racketeering'. They weren't running a protection racket and drugs empire on the side. At least I hope not.

[crofty1984]

JagLover said:

So they should ignore copyright theft because some hackers might get mad at them?

What was that phrase about not giving in to terrorism again.

Much as it might pain people to hear it is not a basic human right to steal films & music.

I have nothing against them trying to stop online piracy. That's totally fine by me.
It's the tools they have (even before SOPA) having too much collateral damage that I don't like.
Megaupload, etc have plenty of legitimate uses, they can't control everything that goes through it.
It's like using a 100lb bomb to swat a fly. Sure, you'll get it, but at what cost?

[roachcoach]

Oakey said:

roachcoach said:

Well...there was the 500 servers in Virginia

and its not just copyright violations - its money laundering and racketeering - those are seriously heavyweight charges that I would doubt anyone would be surprised to see extradition for.

Those are in relation to the revenue made from the subscriptions on MU as far as I'm aware. The US Gov see MU as an illegal site, because they made money from said site then it falls under 'money laundering' and 'racketeering'. They weren't running a protection racket and drugs empire on the side. At least I hope not.

I assumed the same - but they're still big sticks to swing, especially where extradition is concerned.

On the up side, at least it appears due process has been followed.

[johnfm]

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[Sonic]

Finlandia said:

I buy a DVD/Blu Ray and I want that film on my phone as well, but the disc is copy protected which prevents me from ripping it to my phone, then what?
I buy a CD and want to play it on my computer, but the CD has computer scrambling protection, and cannot be played on a computer, then what?

It's easier to just download and do what you want with the music and film.

The problem is that the legitimate user always gets punished.

I'm feel like turning to pirating movies - being forced to watch trailers and anti "theft" messages is bad enough after purchasing the damn film, but at christmas i bought a film (avatar bluray) that won't even bloody play due to the DRM technology used, so I can't even watch the film that i've legitimately bought!

I doubt I'd have these problems if I illegally downloaded the film. When are these fkwits at these film/music companies going to get the frigging message?

[anonymous-user]

crofty1984 said:

It's like using a 100lb bomb to swat a fly. Sure, you'll get it, but at what cost?

This is the US!

Its been proved that when these companies offer a decent medium to obtain things at a decent price people don't need to pirate

What concerns me more is we may not get threads like the Lewis Hamilton one or sites like B3TA will cease to exist

[roachcoach]

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[freecar]

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