Judge orders Time Warner to out illegal downloaders

[FelixDeCat]

http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/25/judge-orders-time-warner-to-out-illegal-downloaders/#disqus_thread

Time Warner has been ordered by a U.S. District Court judge in Washington to identify hundreds of people accused of illegally downloading movies over its broadband network. The ISP had previously argued that identifying the accused parties would be “unfairly expensive and time-consuming,” and it asked that the judge reject the subpoenas for subscriber information. Of the three pending cases where subpoenas for subscriber data were issued, the judge agreed to quash one, as the plaintiff, Maverick Entertainment Group, failed to properly serve the subpoena in compliance with the law. The other two stand, however, and Time Warner will have to identify approximately 250 subscribers. Maverick, one of three movie companies currently seeking the identities of anonymous Internet users who are accused of illegally downloading their copyrighted materials, has 10 days to re-issue the subpoena or it may lose access to the identities of over 700 users.

Ruh roh. D:

 

[Duder1no]

"Land of the free" my ass!

 

[BoomerD]

"Land of the free" my ass!

Dood..."free" doesn't mean you can steal whatever you want...



Or does it? It works for Wall Street.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Dood..."free" doesn't mean you can steal whatever you want...



Or does it? It works for Wall Street.

Doesnt the Declaration of Independence contain the words "life, liberty and the persuit of a five finger discount"?

 

[Jeff7]

Dood..."free" doesn't mean you can steal whatever you want...

Or does it? It works for Wall Street.

Yeah, there's that wealth threshold you need to pass in order to officially be above the law. (And it helps to be personal friends with the people who write and enforce the law.)

 

[sjwaste]

Two words: interlocutory appeal.

This will go up to the 9th Circuit and probably die there. I might be off on my Fed Civ Pro, but I think you can appeal this order. Someone with a Federal practice can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

If completely stopping illegal downloaders meant that buying movies would be cheaper for those of us who pay for them I'd be all for it. Unfortunately it wouldn't change a thing so screw Time-Warner and a big fuck you to the studios.

btw, the people who illegally download content, with all of their pathetic excuses for doing so, are assholes too.

 

[Raduque]

btw, the people who illegally download content, with all of their pathetic excuses for doing so, are assholes too.

What about content that's not available on DVD and not showing on TV?

 

[novasatori]

What about content that's not available on DVD and not showing on TV?

You can wait ~200 years until its out of copyright.

 

[sdifox]

If completely stopping illegal downloaders meant that buying movies would be cheaper for those of us who pay for them I'd be all for it. Unfortunately it wouldn't change a thing so screw Time-Warner and a big fuck you to the studios.

btw, the people who illegally download content, with all of their pathetic excuses for doing so, are assholes too.

Err, TW was refusing to hand over the data. Why are you mad at them?

 

[God Mode]

Is this the kind of shit that will happen when real crime is too hard to work on or is real crime not profitable enough? Throw average joes with no money in court and offer them prison or thousands of dollars in fines to make it go away.

 

[Modelworks]

Is this the kind of shit that will happen when real crime is too hard to work on or is real crime not profitable enough? Throw average joes with no money in court and offer them prison or thousands of dollars in fines to make it go away.

According to homeland security downloading copyrighted work makes you an economic terrorist.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/ip_white_paper.pdf

Recommendation: The Administration recommends that Congress increase the statutory maximum
sentence for economic espionage to at least 20 years in prison.

Recommendation: The Administration recommends that Congress clarify that infringement by streaming,
or by means of other similar new technology, is a felony in appropriate circumstances.

Recommendation: The Administration recommends that Congress direct the U.S. Sentencing Commission
to consider providing a two-level enhancement for defendants with a previous conviction for an intellec-
tual property offense.

Recommendation: The Administration recommends that Congress amend 18 U.S.C. § 2516 to give law
enforcement authority to seek a wiretap for criminal copyright and trademark offenses.

 

[lxskllr]

According to homeland security downloading copyrighted work makes you an economic terrorist.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/ip_white_paper.pdf

Of course it does. The criminals trot out "terrorism" and "kids" when ever they want to infringe on other's liberties. The government is the strong arm of corporate America. I even read that somewhere; Constitution?

...and that government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations, shall not perish from the earth.

I think that's how it goes anyway.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Dood..."free" doesn't mean you can steal whatever you want...
Or does it? It works for Wall Street.

But TWC didn't provide software for which the downloads were made. This is like your local police department demanding your electric company to provide names of those most consuming electricity on the basis they may be growing pot.

 

[Dumac]

I hope this get overturned, as the decision is retarded.

 

[Lemon law]

Its basically illegal search and seizure. A search warrant must name the party suspected, and not become so broad that its a fishing expedition based on guilty until proved innocent.

 

[tyler811]

What about content that's not available on DVD and not showing on TV?

LOL that is like saying what about the gold in Fort Knox. You have no gold so does that give you the right to steal some....... Ummm no!!!

 

[wirednuts]

um yeah ISP's are not police and the minute we let them decide who gets criminally accused and who doesnt then net neutrality just goes to hell. isp's want nothing to do with this. it would be like telling the highway department to point out all illegal activity on their roads so prosecutors can come in and mail the fines to those people, completely eliminating cops. streamlines the process! yay!

 

[techs]

"Land of the free" my ass!

I read that as "my ass is free"
nm

 

[sdifox]

um yeah ISP's are not police and the minute we let them decide who gets criminally accused and who doesnt then net neutrality just goes to hell. isp's want nothing to do with this. it would be like telling the highway department to point out all illegal activity on their roads so prosecutors can come in and mail the fines to those people, completely eliminating cops. streamlines the process! yay!

I thought the DMCA allows this? That is what Title II of DMCA is all about

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmca

 

[ch33zw1z]

Truecrypt is your friend.

 

[DrPizza]

um yeah ISP's are not police and the minute we let them decide who gets criminally accused and who doesnt then net neutrality just goes to hell. isp's want nothing to do with this. it would be like telling the highway department to point out all illegal activity on their roads so prosecutors can come in and mail the fines to those people, completely eliminating cops. streamlines the process! yay!

No, that's a poor analogy. What it would be like is having a private company that issues license plates, observing criminals in cars & having only their license plate numbers, then asking the company that issued the plates for their identities.

A fishing expedition would be telling the ISPs to hand over the identities of everyone who has downloaded more than 250GB per month. That's not what they're doing.

And, having the IP address isn't proof beyond a reasonable doubt, ensuring that someone is guilty. But it should be considered enough proof to get a warrant to seize someone's computer for forensic analysis.

 

[ch33zw1z]

And, having the IP address isn't proof beyond a reasonable doubt, ensuring that someone is guilty. But it should be considered enough proof to get a warrant to seize someone's computer for forensic analysis.

How so? And how many computers? I've got 6 right now and piles and piles of parts new and old. Is that all fair game?

 

[her209]

If the movie studios had it their way, you'd have pay a per person per viewing fee every time you watched their turd of a movie. And you'd have to watch unskippable ads too so they can keep the fees "low".

 

[DrPizza]

How so? And how many computers? I've got 6 right now and piles and piles of parts new and old. Is that all fair game?

If they have evidence that your IP address has illegally downloaded movies, then I have zero problem with them seizing all 6 of your computers with a warrant. If you're innocent, because you're too friggin stupid to learn how to put a password on your router, then let that be a lesson to you that you need to update your skills, sorry for the inconvenience.

(But, I'm surrrrre you didn't download these things illegally. Seriously, I have no problem seeing people's lives get ruined because of their entitlement attitude.)