FYI: Megaupload shut down by Feds.

[DeltaFoxtrot]

"Megaupload is no more. One of the world's largest movie and music file-sharing sites was shut down by federal employees on Thursday. Federal authorities are calling it one of the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought. The official charge Megaupload is being accused of: international enterprise based on Internet piracy. The site was one of the most popular locker services on the Internet, allowing users to anonymously transfer files like music and movies. Many media companies have accused the site of abetting copyright infringement, and the grand jury indictment charges that Megaupload caused $500 million in damages to copyright owners and made $175 million through selling ads and premium subscriptions."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending...170938322.html

[burningblood97]

I'm okay with this. I mean, I'm not happy megaupload was shut down, but at least they suspended SOPA/PIPA. This is a fair compromise IMO.

[MasterP]

Wow! Didn't know there was relation to Alicia.

[Narada]

NOOOO!!! FUUUUUUUU......

I am so pissed off about this. A fuck-ton of Japanese shows that I used to watch via Megaupload are no longer accessable due to this bullshit. I just LOVE how that site has been going for years and Uncle Sam shuts it down the second I start watching vids on it.

If these stupid companies don't want people illegally broadcasting their shit, maybe they should..oh, I dunno...offer their shows on DVD? Supply and demand, people.

[DeltaFoxtrot]

The internet is fueled by innovation. As mega has fallen another site will rise in its place.

Try as they like, the govt. can never stop online file sharing. They should have learned when shutting down Napster changed nothing. People will get what they want.

It's just like the "war on drugs"... law enforcement spends billions but nothing changes.

[MissPiss]

NOOOO!!! FUUUUUUUU......

I am so pissed off about this. A fuck-ton of Japanese shows that I used to watch via Megaupload are no longer accessable due to this bullshit. I just LOVE how that site has been going for years and Uncle Sam shuts it down the second I start watching vids on it.

If these stupid companies don't want people illegally broadcasting their shit, maybe they should..oh, I dunno...offer their shows on DVD? Supply and demand, people.

I don't think the companies are stupid. . . just unfortunate victims of greed. I run a website and have been effected by piracy many times. My entire site has been ripped and exploited due to the ease and convenience of file sharing sites. I have considered putting all my productions on DVD but the consumers don't want that. This is the era of PPV and downloadable links. Unfortunately these file sharing sites have been abused by a few bad apples that have spoiled it for the rest of you. Not the producers fault for being stupid. . . we are the ones who suffer the most from all this.

Lizz

[DeltaFoxtrot]

If producers didn't charge so much for their content people wouldn't be so apt to pirate it. Supply and demand at work folks.

The people are going to get what they want no matter what. So you can keep prices low and encourage people to purchase it legitimately or you can jack prices up and they will find ways to get it illegally. The same process has been going on since the invention of commerce, the internet has just made it easier for the average Joe to participate is all.

[MissPiss]

If producers didn't charge so much for their content people wouldn't be so apt to pirate it. Supply and demand at work folks.

The people are going to get what they want no matter what. So you can keep prices low and encourage people to purchase it legitimately or you can jack prices up and they will find ways to get it illegally. The same process has been going on since the invention of commerce, the internet has just made it easier for the average Joe to participate is all.

So if you go to a restaurant and don't like the prices of your meal you will pull a dine-n-dash? hahaha

People don't pirate as a form of "getting back" at the producers for charging to much money . . . after all. . . it was someone who made the purchase in the first place in order to share. Plus not all producers charge unfair prices so your justification of why people pirate is only a very small percent. Pirating has become a profitable business. Certain pirate forums sell "Vip" access so people can download special videos, they sell add space, ect.ect.ect. It a whole other business. . . . they are making money by making available content they did not produce. But the majority of pirating is NOT due to the unsatisfactory prices of a video. . . .LOL. . . . it's become more sophisticated than that.

[pissed_myself]

Only thing I will add is copyright infringement is not the same as stealing... The "dine and dash" comparison is not fair. I am not using this post to argue WHICH is better or worse, that is for another time and more debate. The best way to compare this is: before the internet became big you had to choices... copy your friends cassette tape or go to the store and steal an original... The first is copyright infringement the second is stealing.....

I guess another way to compare that MIGHT be, going to the restaurant and finding the recipe for the their food, memorizing it and going home and making the same meal yourself (the ingredients would be like the blank cassette or the hard drive space from getting something on filesharing) or "dine and dash"... the first would be closer to copyright infringement (or maybe theft of intellectual property) -- the second would be stealing. I would argue in this case that "theft of intellectual property" is more like copyright infringement than it is like stealing, personally.

[pissed_myself]

People don't pirate as a form of "getting back" at the producers for charging to much money . . . after all. . . it was someone who made the purchase in the first place in order to share. Plus not all producers charge unfair prices so your justification of why people pirate is only a very small percent. Pirating has become a profitable business. Certain pirate forums sell "Vip" access so people can download special videos, they sell add space, ect.ect.ect. It a whole other business. . . . they are making money by making available content they did not produce. But the majority of pirating is NOT due to the unsatisfactory prices of a video. . . .LOL. . . . it's become more sophisticated than that.

One more thing to add, your right about a whole black market cropping up to profit off of piracy.. My comparison of that would be (a) copying your friends cassette tape VS (b) buying a copy of the original on the street corner, or from your friend.... B is much more serious than A....

[MissPiss]

One more thing to add, your right about a whole black market cropping up to profit off of piracy.. My comparison of that would be (a) copying your friends cassette tape VS (b) buying a copy of the original on the street corner, or from your friend.... B is much more serious than A....

Yes you make some very good points. I have no problems when people share a video they purchased from my store. A little promotion can be good. But when a person rips my entire site then posts 700 links on a forum for thousands of people to watch for free, then all those people share and trade. . . . well that kinda sucks.

Anyway that was a fun debate. . . thanks for sharing your opinions regarding!

Lizz

[DeltaFoxtrot]

One more thing to add, your right about a whole black market cropping up to profit off of piracy...

Again, there has been a black market profiting off of piracy as long as there has been commerce. Absolutely nothing new here. We just have individuals falling victim to it now alongside large corporations because one person with something to sell can start an online business.

[pissed_myself]

Yes you make some very good points. I have no problems when people share a video they purchased from my store. A little promotion can be good. But when a person rips my entire site then posts 700 links on a forum for thousands of people to watch for free, then all those people share and trade. . . . well that kinda sucks.

Anyway that was a fun debate. . . thanks for sharing your opinions regarding!

Lizz

Absolutely sucks....

Only other thing I can add to this is it is only lost income if someone who was getting that material was planning buying it. That lends to the distinction of theft vs piracy again... I would suspect you did lose income due to those huge site rips though, and that really does suck....

[MissPiss]

Absolutely sucks....

Only other thing I can add to this is it is only lost income if someone who was getting that material was planning buying it. That lends to the distinction of theft vs piracy again... I would suspect you did lose income due to those huge site rips though, and that really does suck....

Yes for the few weeks that those 700 links were active I lost over half my income, which isn't alot to begin with. Once the links were removed my sales went back to normal.

Lizz

[Apemantus]

Yes for the few weeks that those 700 links were active I lost over half my income, which isn't alot to begin with. Once the links were removed my sales went back to normal.

Lizz

Why anyone would want to pay for stuff when so much excellent genuine amateur stuff is around is beyond me!

My own view is that I think producers do indeed have the right to payment, but unlike food, drink and many other things where you can test the quality and know what you get, with films, vids, music and pics, you often don't know until you have seen them whether you actually want them.

That makes streaming services and monthly payments like Netflix much more viable, if the price is right.

I have one simple question - considering how piracy has rocketed and yet film and music sales have not taken an equivalent hit and in many instances (not all, not necessarily across the board) have gone up - this would indicate that many pirates are taking something they wouldn't have paid for?

Good products, well made, will always get paid for, because people respect them (hence why they pay well over the odds for Apple stuff!) but the rubbish and the mediocre will suffer.