Friend just got slapped with a lawsuit from Time Warner

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EyeMWing

Banned
Jun 13, 2003
15,670
1
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Well, it's the MPAA. They aren't as underhanded and stupid as the RIAA, so my usual suggestion of "Offer them a dollar" won't work.
 

dragonballgtz

Banned
Mar 9, 2001
2,334
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Originally posted by: StormRider
I hope the pron industry never goes after pron downloaders....

Good God don't even say that. Can you imagen how many people would get fined. Fine every one like $5 for every movie they downloaded and they could get like $500,000,000 easily.
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
46
91
Originally posted by: CTrain
I call shen....if its really true, we would have probably read something about it already.
I never ever heard of any company going after someone downloading a movie yet so if this is true, it'd be all over the news.
We've all read about them going after people dowloading music before but I've never read anything about movies.

I'm not ready to call the OP shen but his friend is.

I was thinking the same... when the RIAA filed their lawsuits, they did a bunch at one time, and there was a lot of fanfare - it was all over the news. They did it that way because it was intended to deter other people from sharing music. There's no benefit for the MPAA to file a lawsuit against this kid if nobody hears about it.

Edit: Their website says they filed some suits in November... but there's no mention of anything recent.
 

bluemax

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2000
7,182
0
0
You guys keep telling him to format his hard drive, etc....

To make the claim they have, wouldn't they have to have confiscated said drive to prevent him from removing any evidence? They might have left some back doors.... this sounds like a publicity scare/stunt more than anything.

Buy the DVD, claim to have made a DivX backup.... but the missing factor is "why did you put that DivX into your "Kazaa shared folder" and permit uploading? If Time Warner saw the file on your hard drive and made a successful complete download it's about equal to a successful transaction in a drug bust.

 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
126
I'm not justifying it but has anyone ever been sued for sharing via BT ? I mean it moves pieces of files so you're not sharing the entire file... has the RIAA or MPAA sued anyone for it ? Everything is based on technicalities...
 

hevnsnt

Lifer
Mar 18, 2000
10,868
1
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#1) Setup a website called holyfvckIambeingsued.com or whatever
#2) Post all the details, include emails & scanned letters etc
#3) Get the word out about the site; here, fark, SA, etc.. Have a $5 donation box
#4) Get the $4000 and pay them.. After your buddy settles, change the page to "Yes I downloaed it, because it sucked so bad I didn't want to pay for it" or something.
 

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,747
579
126
Originally posted by: NFS4
Originally posted by: Chraticn
They're saying either $150,000 or settle for 4k for a movie (One of the harry potter movies) that he dled over a year ago.


The guy is going crazy right now. Poor kid.


I can't think of anything to say to him, though.


If you're gonna get busted for downloading a movie, at least download a decent one. Idunno, something like "Taylor Rain Goes to the North Pole..."


Naw, I don't think anyone gets busted for those kind of movies. I'm pretty sure the adult film industry doesn't have ties with big giant a$$holes organizations like the MPAA.
 

BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
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Originally posted by: rh71
I'm not justifying it but has anyone ever been sued for sharing via BT ? I mean it moves pieces of files so you're not sharing the entire file... has the RIAA or MPAA sued anyone for it ? Everything is based on technicalities...

I don't know about sued, but people have had tgheir connections terminated over it.
 

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,747
579
126
Originally posted by: FoBoT
you guys don't get it

they don't have to prove anything

a middle class family is going to have a dent in their budget to hire a lawyer to defend against this

it will be easier/cheaper to settle than to fight it, so the pirate boy's family is going to be out 5-10% of their annual income because of this


Exactly, they can go ahead and go bankrupt fighting this if they want. Time Warner will just throw more money at them and crush them in court anyway.

Even if it was actually downloaded by some one else on their wireless network...the smart thing to do would still be to just pay 4k and move on.
 

Hammer

Lifer
Oct 19, 2001
13,217
1
81
Originally posted by: Ausm
Originally posted by: GoodDad
how can they prove that he dl'd it?



That part baffles me also.


Ausm

server logs and screenshots i imagine. not really great proof, but what would a judge or jury know about it. they wouldn't know how easily they can be altered.
 

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
86
91
Originally posted by: Eli
Originally posted by: FoBoT
you guys don't get it

they don't have to prove anything

a middle class family is going to have a dent in their budget to hire a lawyer to defend against this

it will be easier/cheaper to settle than to fight it, so the pirate boy's family is going to be out 5-10% of their annual income because of this
I guess that's the price we pay for the society we live in, but it just seems fscking wrong for a multi billion dollar corporation to even care about 4k, let alone stiff a working-class family out of 5-10% of their annual income, as you say..... just seems wrong...

Especially when you can goto China and but the movie for 15 cents. But I would imagine they are doing this as a deterrent. The odds are most will never go through this, but I am sure all pirates now have that in the back of their mind.
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
46
91
Originally posted by: hevnsnt
#1) Setup a website called holyfvckIambeingsued.com or whatever
#2) Post all the details, include emails & scanned letters etc
#3) Get the word out about the site; here, fark, SA, etc.. Have a $5 donation box
#4) Get the $4000 and pay them.. After your buddy settles, change the page to "Yes I downloaed it, because it sucked so bad I didn't want to pay for it" or something.

#5) Forget to declare extra $4000 of income on tax return, go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200. :p
 

Jzero

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
18,834
1
0
Originally posted by: Ausm
Originally posted by: SampSon
Go go court with a public defender.


Ummm Public Defenders are worthless.

AUsm

Not to mention, I do not think you are entitled to a public defender when being sued civilly.
That's also why no one has bashed down his door and confiscated his PC.
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
126
Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
Can we sue the movie and TV industry for not putting out good material?
no ones forcing it upon you... nice try though.
 

Jzero

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
18,834
1
0
Originally posted by: rh71
Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
Can we sue the movie and TV industry for not putting out good material?
no ones forcing it upon you... nice try though.

That doesn't stop the anti-smoking lobby. Your case doesn't have to hold water, you just have to have enough money and publicity to carry the farce on long enough to get them to settle. Nothing like abusing the civil court system to shake down the rich, eh?
 

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
14,582
162
106
Originally posted by: NFS4
Originally posted by: Chraticn
They're saying either $150,000 or settle for 4k for a movie (One of the harry potter movies) that he dled over a year ago.


The guy is going crazy right now. Poor kid.


I can't think of anything to say to him, though.


If you're gonna get busted for downloading a movie, at least download a decent one. Idunno, something like "Taylor Rain Goes to the North Pole..."

[puts on list to download]
 

knyghtbyte

Senior member
Oct 20, 2004
918
1
0
He downloaded it, didnt pay for it, he was in the wrong and sadly got caught, if you steal you live with the fact that you might have to pay more in the long run.

Not sure about US Law, but in the UK its a slightly grey area regarding personal copy of something, supposedly its legal to make a copy for your own sake as you havnt bought the disc or the tape etc, you have bought the right/licence to own the song/movie/book/puter games/etc and use it within your lifetime for as long as you want. So technically that means you can make backup copies in case the original is destroyed. However, you cannot of course use those copies publicly or give them to friends/family, whether free or paid. Example would be that if you bought a CD of The Prodigy and copied it to tape to play back in the old system in your car, that is legal to do. However if you then lend that tape to a friend to listen to or copy then you are breaking the law.
Downloading/copying MP3's is not illegal if you own the song on another format already (tape/cd/vinyl) and can prove that, even if you do not have the tape anymore providing you can show a receipt that you bought it, then you are legal.

I dont d/l movies, i just buy them on DVD, sometimes if i hear part of a song on the radio and i'd like to listen to the rest i might d/l the song on kazaa so i can listen to the whole thing, if i like it i go out and buy the single or the album its on, if not then i delete...if i dont like it why keep it..lol
Due to a minor disability going out shopping and hanging around listening to music in the shops isnt something i can do easily, hence my d/l to see if i like the song/artist. Although thankfully a lot more artists now do websites with a song or two on a flash like setup.

If people didnt pirate so much then costs in shops/online stores would be cheaper, not necessarily by a lot, but enough that most people would be able to afford what they wanted. It due to piracy that things got so inflated, thankfully mass competition has driven things down a little. Im not a goody goody two shoes, i just dont mind rewarding the people who create something that makes me happy. I like the Steam idea of online content delivery with PC games, i think its very good, it takes the publishers out of the equation, and hopefully once the ties with them are cut then the content will become cheaper, even if only by a third it will be good :)