What's really surprising about all this, besides the very strange and bogus charges, is how they are handling this. They are going after "copyright infringers" like they are some kind of drug cartel leaders.
It's really amazing how things have changed at the top regarding copyright infringement, that they treat copyright infringers as some of the most wanted criminals. What's next? Sending the drones after them? Giving the chair to the Megaupload or ThePirateBay's founders? It's becoming really ridiculous.
>They are going after "copyright infringers" like they are some kind of drug cartel leaders.
And thus far they're about as effective at impeding my access to copyrighted content as they are impeding my access to illegal drugs. Fortunately trying to limit access to copyrighted material doesn't drive people's money to possibly terrorist organizations, but that's another issue.
And thus far they're about as effective at impeding my access to copyrighted content as they are impeding my access to illegal drugs.
Seriously:
1) Google "watch 30 rock online"
2) Click first link
3) Click "Search links" for newest episode of 30 rock
4) Go to second to last page of results (just because the first and last page of results are always fake, as a rule - you always shoot for the middle)
5) Click random link
6) Watch Dove Soap ad
7) Watch tonight's episode of 30 Rock
Replace "30 rock" with pretty much any other TV show (at least one that's been over for more than 30 minutes) or movie, and the same approach will get you to a working video, though you may have to click a few fake links before finding a real one.
Is there a solution to this? Idunno. I do know that the "overseas" thing is a total red herring - in this particular example, that "first link" that I clicked was sidereel.com, registered to the Rovi Corporation in Santa Clara, CA. Completely and utterly within the jurisdiction of the US government, and clearly linking to pirated versions of almost every TV show that's on the air right now, and pretty much nothing else. If linking to content was such a clear and easily prosecutable crime, I'd think they'd be taking down sites like that, too, rather than leaving them active.
I can't help but wonder if perhaps there's not such a legal consensus on how criminal sites like Sidereel are, and that's why they're trying to go after the endpoints that sites like this point to instead, as well as passing laws that would specifically make linking to them illegal.
The British admin of TVShack (which was shut down a while ago) is currently going through the UK courts facing extradition to the US[1]. The founder of NinjaVideo was sentenced to 22 months in jail[2].
However, none of these people were actually found guilty. Ninjavideo was a plea deal, and the TVShack guy hasn't faced trial yet.
Interestingly for the TVShack case, a similar website was found to not be distributing TV shows in the UK in 2010[3]. Despite this, the first ruling was for the extradition of the TVShack admin.
It's even worse than that. If you know the right string to use, you can get to tonight's episode of 30 rock, in 720p, at a site that will let you download at 6MB/s happily with no wait.
That's how bad it is, and I assume it's because of how easy it is to throw up megaupload clones and a blog with links.
Fortunately trying to limit access to copyrighted material doesn't drive people's money to possibly terrorist organizations, but that's another issue.
Well, not yet at least. But if they continue making the penalties more and more draconian then only the hardened criminals will get into that lucrative space and the money will be going to violent groups.
I know what you are saying, but I think this is the line of thought content owners realize too.
I think it's because of that facility that they are seeking more effective methods of mitigating the proliferation non-authorized distribution of copyrighted material.
Many people are arguing the same thing. Access to unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material is trivial. Their methods at controlling the floodgates are ineffective. They quite realize that and that's why they're attempting to have congress pass a blunt tool. They want to have a control mechanism which is as easy for them to use as it is for people to find illegal content. I don't thin they're going to get it, but I believe that's the motivation behind their efforts.
It's really amazing how things have changed at the top regarding copyright infringement, that they treat copyright infringers as some of the most wanted criminals. What's next? Sending the drones after them? Giving the chair to the Megaupload or ThePirateBay's founders? It's becoming really ridiculous.