American ISPs to launch massive copyright spying scheme on July 12

I'm assuming it's a similar situation with manga scanlations, that uploaders are targeted but they don't bother with readers. Is that right?

edited 15th Mar '13 7:42:23 AM by YamiiDenryuu

Typically.

In actuality, I don't even know what the legal precedent is for going after someone for browsing a website. It's not a download, so I don't even know if it's legally distribution (which is fundamentally what's illegal).

Note that a big issue is that it's just very very hard to track downloaders. Torrents are the exception, because downloaders are also uploaders.

edited 15th Mar '13 9:31:03 AM by TheyCallMeTomu

If they allow to upload, that is (if I recall correctly, you can disable the ability to upload, and that results in... leeching?)

Yes, but it's discouraged.

In the technical sense it is a download, even if users don't usually refer to it that way. I expect that anyone wanting to sue you over it could easily ensure that the technical definition be used in court. For instance, haven't people been convicted on the basis of child porn images in their browser cache?

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Ahh true true. So the legal precedent is that browsing a site constitutes infringement. So if you click a link a friend sends you to an illegal stream of, say, Back to the Future, BOOM! you're going to jail, buddy!

Related, and rather funny.

I suppose this can be counted as an unpleasant side effect of the scheme. :P

Will people seriously go to jail just for browsing a website?

Unlikely, but that's more because of enforcement issues than that not being the law.

That, and if something like that ever got before a jury, it'd be laughed out of court.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

@ That story: Man, that must've been an awkward confrontation for everyone involved.

I wonder if the father was more pissed off about the illegal downloads or the porn.

If it's a child porn website and the images are still in the browser cache when the cops look through the hard drive? Yes.

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The FBI sent a laptop that was tossed into the Mississippi river to Drive Savers. Not only did the dude ruin his laptop, he still went to jail when the pics were recovered.

All night at the computer, cuz people ain't that great. I keep to myself so I won't be on The First 48

I'm starting to think people should strap small explosive/thermite charges to their hard drives, just in case.

I remember a quote on bash.org where someone yelled about Jehova's witnesses, because he mistook a pair for FBI agents and microwaved his HDD.

edited 22nd Mar '13 2:11:10 AM by Medinoc

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."

Well, that's different.

I thought this thread was about copyright infringement, not child porn. I assume we can all tell the difference between a guy who torrents a newly released movie before buying it and...that. Unless you're the folks behind those anti-piracy PSAs, I suppose.

True. The anti-piracy PSA people think piracy is 1000x worse.

Of course. Piracy affects their cashflows.

Piracy doesn't affect their cash flows. People not purchasing their products affects their cash flows. Part of the reason why they're willing to create stupid legislation and DRM that doesn't actually target the "real" pirates is because they're going after casual pirates, which are the pirates most likely to actually change their purchasing decision on the basis of whether there's piracy or not.

Wouldn't that just encourage piracy, because it makes things difficult for their consumers, gives the casuals the idea to step up their game and take advice from the more experienced, and the experienced getting nothing bad happen to them?

In the long run? Very possible. But few of the involved media providers have distinguished themselves by their gifts for long-term strategizing. And the combination of quarterly shareholder feedback + executive transience can make short-term benefits and grandstanding ploys into overwhelming necessities for a company.

edited 22nd Mar '13 11:39:52 AM by Jhimmibhob

The thing with casuals is that they aren't a part of the geek culture. I mean, there's that xkcd strip on "Computer Experts" that shows how little it takes for people like us to amaze the hell out of our families. So how are these casual pirates going to suddenly learn to navigate the dark depths of the warez sites without bricking their computer?

Not most people. But if someone happens to be a political opponent of yours, for example, or someone else who you happen to want to intimidate, it would sure be handy to have a way to draw them (or their children, or someone else close to them) into a long-drawn, ludicrously expensive trial with wildly out-of-proportion possible penalties.

They are already using DMCA takedowns to pull this sort of shenanigan, albeit on a smaller scale (for now) — for a recent example, see the GoPro issue.

All of this is not about piracy, not really. It is about control and intimidation.

edited 22nd Mar '13 11:52:41 AM by Carciofus

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

More to the point, it may be that they recognize that the extinction of their business model is on the horizon, and they want to cash in while they can.

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Also highly possible ... though I don't see that model's collapse as this-time-next-year imminent.