LucasFilms suing 'net Pirates 211
Tony Garcia writes "Apparently, LucasFilms was not happy to find out that PM videos were being distributed over the 'net; they hired a mean team of badass lawyers to take care. The story at SiliconValley News. "
Re:not too happy... (Score:1)
Still, you are free to create any art you wish, and give it away if you choose, or sell it for what you choose (if someone else is willing to pay).
It's fine to think of the ego gratification that one would get from creating a work of art, but it may be expensive to create, and in that case, somebody ends up paying for it.
ASF files (Score:1)
I have an 800meg copy of american pie, it's "ok" but the screen is full of artifacts the whole way though.
the copy of "the blair witch project" is about 300 megs or so, it fit on 3 zip disks. it looks *terrible* infact I couldn't even watch the damn thing! Instaid I went up to my room while my sister saw it, I didn't want to "ruin" it with the crapy 15 fps, turn to mud whenever there was any full screen movement "version"
damn, when are we gona get wavelet compression!!!
"Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"
Re:not too happy... (Score:1)
Yeah, I came out of the theatre feeling as if I'd just watched an SGI showreel, or a demo from one of the NGPS houses!
The whole film should be a free download from apple.com, just to show off their quicktime stuff, or maybe the effects houses could give it away for free in their marketing literature.
But then again, I've never been much of a capitalist.
Capitalism states you can only charge as much for a product as the market will stand. Certainly repeat viewings will form a major part the revenue; I wouldn't waste my $ on going again tho'.
Re:Realistically (Score:1)
althoug it does sound nice : )
"Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"
SW:TPM Piracy is Illegal (Score:1)
Never mind that it wasn't as good as the hype.Unfortunately they won't give us back our money for that either.
The blair witch project (Score:1)
"Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"
Re:Lucas Arts and Everyone else, good luck. (Score:1)
Re:Get in the game, people... (Score:1)
they'd find some way to force the wall owners to put there names up for them
Attack people with brief cases insead of guns?
Lawyers woudln't need weapons, they'd make you so afraid of going out of bussness, or to jail that to other gangs would ether do what they say, or pay another lawyer to talk the first one down...
by the way, did you not see the (TM) next to my orgional sig? "Chad Okere the self apointed, unquestioned lord and master of the internet(TM)" I think that's how it went, I don't have enough room to pu tthe TM back, but clearly you are in violation of my copyright. remove the offending sig now, or I'll be forced to press charges........ (nevermind that its a parody...)
"Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"
phone call........ (Score:1)
I suppose I could a search online, but I don't know how likely it would be that I would even find you... I don't think I would want to depend on *you* to find this stuff...
"Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"
Re:Here's the real problem (Score:1)
most of the stuff is being served of cable/xDSL and dorm room ethernets (like I'll have in just a few weeks woohoo)
"Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"
9 out of 10 Lucasfilms Lawyers agree! (Score:1)
Jar Jar still sucks!
~GoRK
lack of reality here. (Score:1)
LUCAS MADE THE FILM, HE DESERVES THE MONEY FOR IT!
It is just like what should be happening. People who bootleg and distribute it should get busted... I am not being hypocrytical here, I never have dl'd a movie, nor will I. If I really want to waste time, I will go see it for $7. I look at it as saving me $7 on my DSL charges... I can waste my time dl'ing something worthwhile.
Get over it guys. He is doing what is right, and stop getting all annoyed over it.
Re:Hypocritical Lucas (Score:1)
and yes that movie really did suck......
"Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"
Re:Realistically (Score:1)
What if someone just posts parts of the movie on usenet ? drops it on their (unpublished) ftp server ? copies it onto cd, gives it to his friend, and their friends who then copy it on to their http server ?
It's all over the place already, I've been offered the movie [on|off]line in a variety of different medias from at least 6 people.
As far as money losses go, I went to see TPM 11 times before I found the movie in mpeg on two CDs. I think Lucas made his fair share from my hard earned COBOL hackin' butt.
Re:Hypocritical Lucas (Score:1)
Oh, maybe he made that on THX 1138.
Um, you're thinking trademarks. (Score:1)
If you don't defend a copyright, you don't lose anything, except perhaps money.
- A.P.
--
"One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad
Re:Lucas shouldn't care (Score:1)
Re:The article was a bit unrealistically placating (Score:1)
Normal vcd movies take about 1.3GB - so no need for your 25GB HDD.. but basically you're right, you can't get such a space from most ISP's easily.
--
Stopping the Flow of Information (Score:2)
A long time ago, on a Web far away... (Score:5)
Episode I (part b)
THE NET MENACETurmoil has engulfed the Internet. The wholesale pirating of MP3s and lousy movies on outlying websites is in dispute.
Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly lawsuits, the greedy LucasFilm Federation has stopped all Internet traffic to the small ISPs....
- Richie
I agree (Score:1)
Re:RIGHT On! (Score:1)
Re:not too happy... (Score:1)
Hey at least you came out and said it, and you do have a good point about people liking the movie so much they downloaded it. However, the beauty of capitalism is that it rewards those who give what society wants. I don't think Star Wars would exist as it is today if there wasn't any money in it. If George Lucas makes a heap from Star Wars good for him. I think he deserves it.
No capitalism isn't fair (its more laize faire.. hehe), but it works and the US proves it.
JOhn
Breathless chase scene (Score:3)
"But these were no ordinary lawyers. They had a second whole computer system ready to press their case. The bootlegger ran to another Web site, and the lawyers followed. Then the Internet Service Provider stepped in and shut the bootlegger down."
Gives me an oddly unsettling picture of caped-crusader 'net-savvy, cyber-clued geeky lawyers out to save the world (wide web) from the bad ol' Internet pirates in thier skull&crossbones black matte t-shirts. Jezzum. Makes me want to retch.
The movie isn't even released yet (Score:1)
Re:The article was a bit unrealistically placating (Score:2)
Re:Why bother? (Score:2)
Re:Hypocritical Lucas (Score:1)
Lost respect (Score:1)
not too happy... (Score:1)
Well, I was "not too happy" with the general suck of the new movie... can I sue for that?
Seriously, though... I've always felt than art should be done for arts' sake. Art as expression, not as market campaigns, will still surely capture our imaginations. Given the same state of integrity, it will surely serve us well. (neil peart) I'm opposed to the idea of a movie which can make the gratutious sums that this one did... however, given the society we live in, the laws must be obeyed.
All I can say is that if I ever made a movie, I'd be happy that people were taking the time to download it on modems... that's a sign that I made a good piece of art.
But then again, I've never been much of a capitalist.
Good for him! (Score:1)
Andrew G. Feinberg
The article was a bit unrealistically placating (Score:3)
From what I read, said lawyers were not monitoring DCC bots on IRC nor FTP sites that act as online dumping grounds for such files (should I say FiLeZ
You're comparing the wonder of TPM to WHAT???? (Score:1)
The collected works of Shakespeare and all the religious books you want could not compete with the coolness of TPM.
But then . . . my opinion of Religious books and the works of Shakespere is pretty fragging low so . . .
Was it just me, or... (Score:1)
People rip off ST:TPM.
George Lucas gets pissed, hires a bunch of lawyers, and threatens lawsuits.
You can do it too!
One more thing. The last part of the blurb pointed out that anyone can stop privacy violations and infringements on the Net.
As long as you can afford a team of top lawyers, that is...
Realistically (Score:2)
If you want a copy of TPM you will be able to find it on the net or on irc and there ain't a damn thing that Lucas can do about it.
To quote Gunn "So, the next time someone tells you -- `You just can't stop information from being passed around the Internet!` -- think twice. We can stop most of it with a little determination."
Ms. Gunn you obviously have no clue exactly how the internet works so don't try to spout off some Lucasian propoganda which has no basis in reality.
Re:RIGHT On! (Score:1)
Why bother? (Score:2)
So why would he bother? Why would he bother with such court costs? He is doing nobody a favor, especially not his image in the public.
The only thing I can see hurt is the VHS and DVD sales but since Lucas wont have them released for a long time from now its his own fault...
Re:not too happy... (Score:1)
There seems to be some confusion (Score:1)
Ability and authority may be, and often times are, two different things.
gotta love the *cyberpatrol* angle (Score:1)
the only thing that frightens me about that entire article is the arrogant and overconfident tone that the whole thing takes on.
sorta off the point, i don't think that lucas will ever make a movie worth seeing. the whole savant genius thing got buried under a pile of money and a busload of fratboys with boba fett tattoos.
Re:Um, no.. (Score:1)
Re:Get in the game, people... (Score:1)
Re:The article was a bit unrealistically placating (Score:2)
The VCD of a movie (MPEG compression) is usually around 1.2 gigabytes or so. An ASF version (which is lower quality) is usually around 300 or 400 megabytes.
I agree, it is not easy to find space on an ISP for these files to be hosted. However, there are millions of people with T1 connections provided by their universities, and millions more with cablemodems or ADSL lines, so while there is no central place for obtaining pirated movies, there are thousands of 10-20 user FTPs and DCC bots that provide them.
flame-bait (Score:1)
Companies that react with the legal department first, well. Shows that they have a limited comprehension of things besides torts, and suits.
Re:But is this "News for Nerds"? (Score:2)
Re:What does Lucas have to lose here? (Score:1)
Well I haven't seen any of the early versions that were released but the latest screener version (with foreign subtitles) is very high quality. At least that's what I hear 'cause I certainly wouldn't violate any copyright laws.
As far as wasting time... I don't see how it wastes time any more than distributed.net or seti@home. With a cable modem and forte agent it's pretty painless to d/l huge files from usenet. Just point and click then minimize it and go about your business.
conventional morality (Score:2)
Compare these:
1. A starving man procecutes a man who stole a loaf of bread from him (say, a full day's meal).
2. A rich man who has more bread than he can reasonably want procecutes a man who stole a load of bread from him (one that was just going to go stale and be thrown away anyhow).
Which one are people normally going to approve of? Both are acting within their legal and moral rights.
The reason that people hold his army of lawyers against him is that he has no demonstrated need for the money that he is protecting. Also, consider the wrongs being done here. On the one case, he loses some portion of $8. On the other, the bootlegger gets a $50,000 fine and years of imprisonment. He's now doing that to people when he has no demonstrated need to. Yes, he's within his rights, but come on. Doesn't he have anything better to do than get people who did him very little harm very large punishments?
That's why people hold it against him. Because he can easily afford not to go after these people and the net suffering of humanity will be less then when he goes after them.
So is he in the right, in a sense, yes. He may be completely in the right. I don't really know. His soul is his own business. But this is basically the case of the big man bullying the smaller ones. Remember something about rights - Shylock was within his rights in demanding his pound of flesh from the merchant of venice.
Re:Lucas shouldn't care (Score:1)
A treatise on why we (the US) must accept piracy. (Score:3)
Because the internet is not a US only entity, fool! I'm sure it's just totally shocking to imagine, but US laws are not applicable outside the US, and what's more is that the US concept of legal and illegal on certain issues may be totally the reverse in other soverign nations. An example:Son May Records. This is a company in Taiwan that sells CDs, DVDs, VCDs (MPEG1 movies on CD), etc. They sell 'The Matrix' and probably PM by now too. All of their merchandise is copied from elsewhere. No money is paid to the copyright holders. No 'rights' were obtained in any way. And... hold on to your enchiladas...THIS IS 100% LEGAL in Taiwan. Son May is not an underground company. They are locally licensed, pay taxes, and follow all local rules and regulations. They are following the law! IP law is simply non-existant in Taiwan. It's a different philosophy in the East. It's not "backward" or "wrong", it's just different and as equally valid as we hold out own perceptions of copyrights/patents to be (gasp!). Deal with it. The 'net, however, brings radically different cultures and ideas together in a way that's never been done before. There's no "right side" and "wrong side" here. Some people just happened to believe that knowledge or art can't be "owned". This just freaks some people out. Accept it. And cutting off chunks of the world that don't play ball your way won't work either. Isolationism ultimately hurts more than it helps. One must look at the big picture. Cutting off Taiwan for piracy would do far more economic harm to US businesses than the piracy it sought to stop. Recognizing and accepting each other's differences will lead to a better world and a more propserous society.And before anyone laughs saying I'm just taking advantage of Taiwan's "errant lawlessness" let's look at a quick counter example: PORNOGRAPHY is illegal in many nations (not just "backward and oppressive" ones). Many hardcore sex videos are illegal in the UK. This porn is LEGAL in the US and there are countless porn sites on the web up and running in the US. They are legal, the owners are taxed. They follow local laws and regulations. Should they be shut down by the UK because guys in London are downloading porn MPEGs? Should their laws apply here? Should the US shut down these legal businesses for violating forwign laws? How would Americans react if MI6 agents from the British Isles raided local porn web sites operating on US soil? We'd be outraged!Now tell me again that "pirates" worldwide must be stopped because it is "the right thing to do" or "the law". We may not agree with it. I don't agree with Taiwan's stance on IP law, but we must tolerate the world so long as we expect the world to tolerate us.
Re:Omigod, it's a commie! (Score:1)
I agree with you that much of our modern economy is based on these laws, and much of what happens would not happen without these laws. Without greed law to allow license agreements, Bill Gates would probably be on the streets begging for change.
The thing I don't agree with is throwing people in prison for sharing intellectual property. The reason I call it greed law is because laws are used to scare people in to spending money on things. If you spend money on something, it should be because it is a superior product, not because we are forced to buy it.
I think we should make it illegal to copy Linux, becuase otherwise, groovy software wouldn't get made. Yeah right. OK.
With a Vicotry like this.... (Score:1)
With a victory like this Episode II should be out on usenet and IRC feeds sometime in the next year:)-
THe person who wrote this article evidently has a problem with the Big BAd INternet. Look at the opening paragraph..
Another clueless reporter making a living on bad ink.
Sad to say she has an audience.
The Good The Bad and the Stupid (Score:1)
One thing to remeber..dealing with bootlegs is a crime. You may not like the fact, but unless you get your ass out of your computer chair and change the legislative branches of the
So if you are going to deal in an act of less than legal standing..SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT IT!
Can you image the stupidity of a criminal who offs someone and then jumps on line with a web page full of gifs and mpegs of the act....
Its like those idiots who videotaped themselves robbing houses. Darwin will out and hopefully this level of genetic damage will filter out of the gene pool.
Get smart and stay smart. An undergound activity that is raised to the light of the mass market is worthless.
Re:But is this "News for Nerds"? (Score:1)
Every time I read an article, I see someone who has written in there "Is this REALLY news for nerds?" The answer, in short is, yes. No matter what you pick, you can find a group of nerds/geeks/hackers who are interested in it. This is probably true for everything up to Disco, and then we'll go with a "maybe".
So let up on the posters, get a life, and don't worry about what type of TTL is in your machine.
As far as the _topic_: I think that the people who produce a work, be it a painting, a piece of music, or a movie, these people should be able to have control over their own works. On the other hand, these (heh) lawyers (rotfl) have about a snowballs chance in hades of stopping anyone from downloading anything.
>>>>>>>>> Kvort
Re:But is this "News for Nerds"? (Score:1)
heh
Sorry to tell ya (Score:1)
Re:A long time ago, on a Web far away... (Score:1)
Re:Why bother? (Score:2)
Re:The article was a bit unrealistically placating (Score:1)
Addendum (Score:1)
And not even then, apparently.
First drink coffee, then read
Re:Get in the game, people... (Score:1)
If these lawyers are serious about cracking down on VCD trading, they should hire some 14-year old kids for minimum wage to spend 8 hours a day on IRC and write down the domains of the FTP servers...and knowing lawyers, they probably realize this but opt to get paid the big bucks for doing relatively nothing.
Re:not too happy... (Score:1)
You are 100% correct. We know how poor lucas arts is and how little money they made from SW:TPM. I mean, if they had commercialized it a little more and put out more official SW:TPM products then maybe they could afford to let people distribute poorly recorded copies over the internet.
I mean, seriously, I'm sure all of us, with our T1s, have been spending the 12 days to download the hacked up movie and I'm sure most of us have sold it rather than freely distribute it once downloaded, cutting into Lucas Arts profits.
We really should respect the wishes of a company
so wonderful as to give the world Jar Jar Binks.
-Z
(a bit of sarcasm)
Why does this remind me of Scientology? (Score:1)
I'm not to happy about the message that the people with the most money and hence the most 'determined' lawyers can control the flow of information, but i'm also not too surprised about it.
R.
This article is funny. (Score:1)
But these were no ordinary lawyers. They had a second whole computer system ready to press their case.
Is she kidding me. Thad had another computer with a different ip address. How clever of them. I bet some one got a raise with that idea. And here are some more great treats:
For the `Phantom Menace`, it was a success to have simply stopped the great bulk of the bootleggers.
So, the next time someone tells you -- `You just can't stop information from being passed around the Internet!` -- think twice.We can stop most of it with a little determination.
Wow, those are some bold statements. The funny thing is that I know a ton of places to get the VCD. In fact, all of the places I know of have not been shut down or aproached by lawyers. And just wait until the new semester starts. This VCD stuff is going to be huge. And I was the industy I'd be really worried. Sure the quality isn't great but it is good enough.
Re:conventional morality (Score:2)
There is no moral imperative that insists that he essentially donate his works to freeloaders who can afford 600 megabytes or more of storage space, a net connection to download it and a machine studly enough to view the file. There isn't even any moral imperative that he say insist that a certain number of seats are set aside as freebies for the poor.
People shouldn't shed any tears at all for smaller men who get bullied by bigger ones because they choose to start the fight.
hmmm... (Score:1)
George Lucas: a guy that got rich because he made a movie basically about rebels fighting an evil empire.
How ironic.Supply and International Demand (Score:1)
Please stop saying the GPL NEEDS copyrights. (Score:1)
Re:not too happy... (Score:2)
No capitalism isn't fair (its more laize faire.. hehe), but it works and the US proves it.
Oh you are so so so wrong. Lets look at your definition of the word "works." Who does it work for? The gigantic corporations which can give huge contributions to campaign funds to control politics, which can hire high-caliber lawyers to control the law.Sure yeah, it "works" for them, but what about the other guy -- the individual who gets taxed on gross income, verses the business who gets taxed only on profit. The small business which has none of the legal benifits and incentives that large businesses do. Nothing that is "not fair" can work. It may *seem* to work, but that is all dependant on your perspective.
In the Middle ages, feudalism "seemed" to work for kings, queens and propertied gentry. In all less than 5% of the population. It "worked" for many hundreds of years. But for the majority of the population it did not even close to work.
I think if you asked "everyone", the majority would say "yes, capitalism is working." The thing is that unlike the medieval peasants, they _don't even know_ that they are getting screwed by the system. That as a wage earner a person barely makes enough to stay even and in an industrialized society which has capacity to produce far more food and goods than are needed, the average wage earner still has to take out a *huge* loan to buy a house, and even a vehicle and get raped for years by interest.
Capitalism does not work.
Barney... (Score:2)
That might have been *preferable* to Jar Jar.
- A.P.
--
"One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad
Re:not too happy... (Score:1)
This capitalism meme has mutated, as do all good memes, as it has propogated throughout the meme-pool of economic systems. This is why the US variant is different from Germany's, etc.
If some new economic meme (let's call it 'foobarism') were to be created, it would spread/replicate to the extent that it was more adaptable and virulent than the other existing memes. The upshot is that if foobarism were 'better' (in the memetic sense), it would spread and overtake capitalism in due time.
So if you're so sure that Capitalism does not work, you just need to invent a new economic meme, call is foobarism, and then hope that it is more virulent than capitalism. If your meme is better, it will become the dominant meme, and all of us poor capitalist bastards will have to deal with it.
-jason
P.S. You would appear to be attending a University that is (1) private, and (2) founded by two entreprenurial capitalist pigs named John Boynton and Ichabod Washburn. I suggest you transfer to a state-funded, publicly managed university as soon as possible.
ISPs Can't Handle the Traffic Re:Usenet (Score:1)
That still hasn't stopped me from downloaded a couple of hundred MBs of the stuff.
Re:Hypocritical Lucas (Score:2)
Are you kidding? TPM is one of the most-seen films in the history of the world! Indeed, probably among the most-seen works of authorship of all-time. Still further, I doubt you can get to more than a few digits by counting the number of people who would be capable of obtaining an internet copy who have not already seen it at least once in a theatre.
Exposure to his art is not George Lucas' problem. He has that problem licked, and it is not at all apparent to me that any free distribution would accomplish as much or more widespread interest than his proprietary closed model. It would appear that the IP/market regime is doing just fine in terms of satisfying his concerns for his art so far as distribution is concerned.
Make no mistake, this art costs money to make. But for the astronomical revenues the work can produce, it would not have been produced.
I think everyone that went to see the movie... (Score:1)
Re:not too happy... (Score:1)
Sure, capitalism isn't perfect. And depending on your definition of "works" it may or may not work. (However, even those who are "just scraping by" in the United States do better than about 90% of the rest of the world.) But as long as most people are mostly honest and until everyone in the world can be depended on to be completely honest, nothing else is going to work nearly as well.
When society is perfect and everyone is honest, some "shared wealth" program would probably be the best way to go. Unfortunately, this probably won't happen anytime soon. And when it has been attempted in the past, generally a few dishonest people run off with the spoils.
When most people are fairly honest, capitalism generally works pretty well, and I haven't seen anything that works better.
When society is completely corrupt and dishonest, some domineering economic strategy is necessary to protect people from each other. That is when things get bad. I would venture to say that we are headed in this direction with more and more lawsuits, antitrust actions, etc.
Anyway, just my 2c. I don't claim to be an expert, but I'm thankful for what I have, and my discussions with people from foreign countries have reinforced this opinion.
Re:Downloading... (Score:1)
Downloading movies now a days is a lot quicker and easier than ever before. As much as people don't want to admit it, I think its here to stay.
Re:senile man sitting in a chair swearing (Score:1)
However, it isn't totally about throwing money at advertising. Lucas is a marketing genius, far better than he is a film maker. It's unfortunate that a lot of people confuse the two.
Using Microsoft software is like having unprotect sex.
Huh. (Score:2)
Choice quotes from the article:
"The lawyers actually got organized back in April. They started out by warning some 700 Internet Service Providers they would be held responsible for anyone offering bootleg copies on their services."
In other words, in a typical corporate lawyer maneuver, they threatened and hassled a good number of people/ISPs who probably never engaged in piracy of SW:TPM or presented resistance to Lucasarts, now or later.
"But these were no ordinary lawyers. They had a second whole computer system ready to press their case."
This doesn't make a shred of sense. Perhaps she meant they had another IP to come in from? (Probably just something caught up in techie-jargon-to-journalist translation.)
"In the end, some 300 Internet Web sites were shut down and hundreds more individuals withdrew their offers to sell stolen copies. All in all, it was a great success."
Until site #301 opened up somewhere in a former Eastern Bloc nation for free (this is a possible EXAMPLE). Of course it was a great success - one doesn't tell one's clients otherwise, epsecially if they happend to be a one Mr. Lucas. This is just a publicity statement.
"Why not have a `Cyber Patrol` which is constantly vigilant, watching the World Wide Web?"
Of course. Those of us who are law-abiding citizens have nothing to hide, right? *shudder*
"So, the next time someone tells you -- `You just can't stop information from being passed around the Internet!` -- think twice. We can stop most of it with a little determination."
Pirates get what they deserve, especially if they sell their stolen wares, but that line gives me the creeps. How would we like it if that quote came from Louis Freeh, let alone some corporate lawyer?
Again, it appears mainstream press and corporate lawyers do not understand the concept of information: once it's out, it's out, regardless of legality or origin. (Or regardless of accuracy for that matter...)
the final scene (Score:1)
Re:A treatise on why we (the US) must accept pirac (Score:1)
spot on!
-
this is the only way we can fight jar-jar. on his own turf...
which brings me to the next point, cgi (therefore jar-jar) is taken from the internet. he is happy to take the use of internet for his advantage, but is not willing for the internet to work the other way...
besides i'm sure every pirate is 'geeky' enuff to watch it at the movies and buy many of the products
Re:Bunch of Whining Warez Puppies (Score:1)
Technically, yes, it is Lucasfilm's decision to do it, and legally they are in the right on this. But a lot of people will do it, never get caught, and honestly will never care.
This is similar to what I see on the freeway on the way into work every day. The posted speed limit is 55 MPH, and you're supposed to obey the speed limit...but almost no one does. Usual cruising speed is 65-75 MPH, and not even the traffic cops care anymore unless you're doing around 90 or doing something truly reckless (like weaving across the road aimlessly). The thing is, while it may be illegal for everyone to do what they're doing (speeding 20 MPH over the limit is considered reckless driving in VA, I understand), the fact that everyone does it makes the rule nearly impossible to enforce in this case.
The same is true of warez/MP3/VCDs. It's illegal to make and pass them around, and the IP owners all wish that they could stop it (and lord knows they try), but the fact is, it's not going to go away. People, as a whole, like freedom and will pass these things around no matter what anyone else says.
I really hope that, in the rush to "protect our rights," that the IP police don't go too far and turn this into another War on Drugs. Again, it's not something you're supposed to condone, but maybe if the offended parties would just pay attention to the REAL cause (inflated, unfair prices being one of them, especially in the music area) instead of going around sniping at anyone who copies a CD or downloads MP3s, and perhaps lighten up about things like lyrics databases, then they'd get some cooperation.
-lee
Re:RIGHT On! (Score:1)
I think bootlegging of TPM was successfull in other countries because Lucas for some fubar reason decided to wait 3-4 months releasing the movie to other countries (god knows why) and a lot of people was very eager to see it.
I agree that the movie definately belongs to the big-screen, but waiting for 3 months is hard when you can just see it today.
What's the price of free bandwidth and `screen`, anyways ?
Re:The article was a bit unrealistically placating (Score:1)
Its about Average Joe! (Score:1)
The other point I would like to make is that ISPs are probably the next ones to feel the heat. If they are notified there is a violation, they are supposed to "monitor" that user to ensure that they don't put up the infringing material.
Also I bet after a few ISPs spend a couple of thousands or tens of thousands losing a court case, they will quickly shut down any infringing material (and unfortunately they will probably start shutting down people for the weakest reasons, look at whats happened to anonymous postings)
Good for George (Score:4)
If I tomorrow grab the source tree for Linux, strip out all that nasty copyright information and redistribute it sans license (or maybe under my own license) hoards of screaming Free Software zealots would beat down my door bearing torches and rightfully so.
The success or lack of success of the object who's copyright is being violated doesn't make a difference except in the minds of the deadbeats who think everything everywhere should be free regardless of the authors intent.
Is violating the GPL on Linux any more ethical now than it was say 4 years ago when it was less successful?
I got a copy of the Phantom Menace vcd and... (Score:1)
art for sale (Score:2)
At any rate, art shouldn't be so expensive. Not even bad art at that. Eventually, will people have their memories erased after seeing a movie? Because once you watch something, you remember it, which means you have an illegal offsite copy of something that's copyrighted! I can hear the thought police lawyers now...
Re:The article was a bit unrealistically placating (Score:2)
That may be in our best interests. If the masses knew how slippery information really is in the net, they might have the politicos step in and actually do something about it.
.sig (OffTopic) (Score:2)
I just saw a bumper sticker on a pickup truck last week that said:
One Country, One flag, One Language
next to a picture of an american flag. Really makes you wonder what kind of people worry about a symbol being burned as well as other people in the country only knowing a non-english language. And worrying enough to put a bumber sticker on their truck over it!
Re:Why bother? (Score:2)
If you want to hit the theaters where it hurts, ignore the concession stand.
Usenet (Score:2)
OTOH there are tons (er, I mean gigs) of this material available on usenet. I know that a very high quality MPEG of TPM was just posted last week (in addition to the lower-grade copies that have been around for some time). Not that I would download it of course. I just happened to notice that it was there. Really.
On a completely unrelated topic. Does anyone know how to "overburn" a CD 'cause I've got a 750MB file that I'd like to move off of my HD.
Let me add... (Score:2)
Creativity and inspiration should be (and can be (and is, if you are childish enough :))) free.
Get in the game, people... (Score:2)
These guys are really out of the scene if they think that these were the only movies being moved around two weeks ago. Shakespeare? Um, didn't that come out almost a year ago???
``This was cutting-edge stuff,'' McMahon said, noting that the law firm staff worked around the clock, seven days a week for much of May and June scouting for pirates.
Achieving that required some serious cybersleuthing, McMahon said, though he declined to provide any technical details. Those are trade secrets, the lawyer said.
Gosh, wish we were all privy to those 'trade secrets.' He sure is smart.
There were certain spots that they would regularly patrol. ``You have to know the dark street corners of the Internet -- the bad neighborhoods,'' said Neel Chatterjee, another Orrick, Herrington lawyer who worked on the case.
Oooh...the 'dark street corners' of The Internet. Thank god those lawyers are patrolling the bad places for us, and making The Internet safe for everyone...
Hypocritical Lucas (Score:3)
Re:Why bother? (Score:3)
I do agree with you though, the people who are willing to find and download the entire movie are probably the ones who saw it on day 1.
I don't agree that everone who downloaded it was disappointed with the poor quality/emotional feel of the video and then went to see it on the big screen. It seems more likely to me that they were disappointed in the movie itself and didn't go to see it on the big screen.
You're misinterpreting (Score:2)
My point wasn't that people should pirate Lucas's work, they're not justified in doing it. Just when you compare relative evils (stealing Lucas's work (less than $8 dollar value to lucas) versus $50,000 + five years imprisonment), which do you think is worse? That's why people are against Lucas. Not because he's fighting innocent people, but that he's breaking ribs in return for insults. The retribution is many fold more than the crime.
This actually is due to the fact that if you made the punishment fit the crime, noone would care about the penalty. Still, does it make sense to make the punishmet 1000 times more significant than the crime just so that the punishment acts as a deterrent? I guess the argument is that the damage is done to the fabric of society, and that's what the punishment is about. Maybe. I don't really buy it, though. Society did just fine without copyright for too long to believe that we're that dependent on copyright now.
Besides that, there's just too much piracy going on right no for me to believe that piracy really is going to rip apart the fabric of our society.
Oh, and I saw the movie in theaters twice, and I never saw it in bootleg copy on the net. If Lucas keeps up this money-grubbing unforgiving greed that he seems to be displaying ("I wish that the toys were cheaper but it's the manufacturers who are driving the prices up, my licensing fees don't have anything to do with it... really."), I may not see his next movie on the principle of the thing. Given how much money the guy is making, it really doesn't make sense that he cares about the piracy going on. It's got to be a drop in the bucket, when you get down to it. As you pointed out - how many people actually have the systems and bandwidth to get a bootleg copy and didn't go see the movie?
Generally ridiculous (Score:2)
Wow, they caught 300 people selling TPM? That's barely scratching the surface. They only trolled the WWW for pirated copies, nothing else.
The lawyers actually got organized back in April. They started out by warning some 700 Internet Service Providers they would be held responsible for anyone offering bootleg copies on their services.
How can they hold an ISP liable for stolen information? That's like the FBI holding the owner of a parking lot liable for any stolen cars found in the lot.
Then they switched their focus to the bootleggers themselves. With Electronic Cease and Desist Orders at the ready, the lawyers lie in wait, constantly patrolling the Internet. When a bootlegger would pop up, they'd email the order, threatening the possibility of a $2 Million fine and 10 years in jail.
Most complied immediately, but some cyber-pirates didn't take kindly to these digital equivalents of bad news on legal letterhead. One indignantly replied, `Who do you think you are?` and promptly cut the lawyers off their Web site.
Can someone explain this last bit of drivel to me?
Why not have a `Cyber Patrol` which is constantly vigilant, watching the World Wide Web?
Who would control such an orginization? The government? A private company? Who decides what is acceptable and what is not?
For example, what about those Web sites that offer personal information about citizens like you and me? Does the world really have a right to our home address and telephone number?
Sure does. Ever heard of a phone book? (BTW, how did this article shift from "bootlegging" to "loss of privacy"?)
Here, I think we can take a page from George Lucas' book. For the `Phantom Menace`, it was a success to have simply stopped the great bulk of the bootleggers.
So, the next time someone tells you -- `You just can't stop information from being passed around the Internet!` -- think twice. We can stop most of it with a little determination.
"Great bulk"? "most of it"? Yeah, sure.
What a load of crap. With the insane amount of money Lucas has made off of TPM and its marketing blitzkreig (please stop playing those damn Pepsi can commercials with that rapping idiot; I couldn't care less about finding the Golden Yoda) I don't think he needs to worry about loss of revenue from bootleggers. Anyone who wasted enough time to download a copy of the movie almost certainly saw it in the theater first.
paranoid.android
Um, no.. (Score:5)
And the ISP community at large laughed them back into the shadows. Some even sent back forms to the lawyers describing their hourly consulting rates for finding and deleting said content, and included an application to start consulting service.
Why not have a `Cyber Patrol` which is constantly vigilant, watching the World Wide Web?
Because you're on crack? A good portion of trading happens independent of the public, and independent of the World Wide Web. Policing those means would be a breach of privacy for the traders, and therefore would be unacceptable.
Does the world really have a right to our home address and telephone number?
Of course they do.
So, the next time someone tells you -- `You just can't stop information from being passed around the Internet!` -- think twice. We can stop most of it with a little determination.
No you can't. 99.99995% of the time, it'll be mirrored somewhere. That's the good thing about digital media. Providing you have the space to store it, there's really no cost for materials to reproduce it, aside from possible bandwidth costs.
And you can't track it. Most of the best stuff is being traded on the inside, you are only privy to the stuff that bubbles to the surface.
Truthfully, most of the crap that comes out of the big studios isn't even worth the disk space it occupies. Especially the Phantom Menace.
Re:Lucas Arts and Everyone else, good luck. (Score:2)
What the studios, Lucas, RIAA, etc, are worried about are easy to find pirate sites. If somebody has a high speed FTP site, and gets a link up on Yahoo so that anybody who searches for "Phantom Menace" gets back a working link that says "download your own copy here", Lucas is going to have a problem. So, he hires a few lawyers whose job is to make all the pirates keep their heads down so that 99% of the population can't find the goods. Trying to catch that last hard-core 1% just isn't worth the effort on their part (especially considering the fact that they aren't likely to be successful anyway.)
If the pirate underground was really home to millions of people trading goods, the entire commercial software industry would have collapsed years ago. The reality is it is not easy to find out exactly where to go to find reliable sources of warez. And once you do find out, it's still a pain in the ass to actually find what you want and get a copy. And then it's often of dubious quality. All the studios have to do is make sure it stays this way. As long as the underground is actually underground, they don't have anything to worry about. If it manages to become highly-visible and reliable, then they are screwed.
They wouldn't spend the $$ if it didn't work (Score:2)
Certain Slashdotters characterize how "easy" it is for them (and thus, their friends) to obtain bootlegs, inferring from this how ineffectual it is to undertake enforcement activities with respect to these works. Taken in the broader context, this misses the point, and all evidence is to the contrary except in the narrow context of those statements.
I am here to tell you that media clients do not casually call a lawyer to chase flies -- in exchange for the sizeable fees they pay, they want measurable accountability. They wouldn't do what they are doing and pay what they are paying if it didn't accomplish what they wanted. Arguing that LA is not getting what LA wants because they didn't eradicate piracy is merely pounding upon a straw man.
The bottom line of LA's activities to date is that it is no longer trivial and cost-free for average joe to obtain his bootleg, or to manage and distribute a bootleg haven. Despite allegations made here to the contrary, I think Lucas has the better of this argument.
While it is easy to find TPM bootlegs when you know where to look, only a small percentage of the population (and our immediate friends) know where that is. Yes, yes, with sufficient perseverence, it is possible to find whatever you want on the net, but Average Joe doesn't have that attention span, and AJ's parents won't let him risk the family abode to watch a movie. AJ's ISP will auto-punt on receipt of a DMCA letter, and by and large, the deed was done precisely as LA wanted it.
The goal is simply to assure that the vast percentage of AJ's out there won't have a bootleg, and won't harbor bootleg sources.
Lucas isn't trying to STOP piracy (he would like that, but it isn't close to important to do so), he's trying to preclude a piracy so rampant as to have a financial impact on his revenues exceeding his cost of enforcement.
And with all respect to my colleagues here, I think it is hubris for us to presume that our estimates of the financial costs of piracy are better than those of Lucasarts and media players. Unlike us, LA actually measures the cost of piracy and demonstrates faith in their beliefs by paying Yankee dollars for enforcement. They budget these costs based upon actual research and agressive bean-counting. If they didn't think the expenditures were justified, they wouldn't do it.
In short, they are never going to have the straw man absolute non-piracy, but who cares? They are getting enough protection to suit their purposes and satisfy the market infrastructure whose purchases are their primary source of revenue -- good enough for Jazz, so to speak. And they are getting protection whose value exceeds the costs of enforcement (or the cost of non-enforcement) -- or else they wouldn't be paying those costs.
Re:.sig (OffTopic) (Score:2)
One Country, One flag, One Language"
I woulda taken a black marker to it if I'd seen it in a parking lot, and written "one bigot" under that line. It would have made me feel good.
Some people really do suck.
- A.P.
--
"One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad