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Busted By The FBI: The Life Of An Elite Teen BitTorrent Uploader

Releasers and torrent racers are the select few counted on by millions to bring the latest movies, music and video games to the wider Internet in record time. One such person, a 15-year-old school kid, eventually gained access to elite piracy sites and went on to become the top uploader on one of the world’s most famous BitTorrent trackers. But how did the buzz of the elite compare to being hunted down by a Patriot Act-empowered FBI?

In the early part of the last decade when they were still the innocent side of 15-years-old, one schoolfriend showed another an Iomega ZIP drive (right) full of ‘warez’ – games and software with a big fat zero written on their price tag.

Having never seen anything like it before, James (as we shall call him for now) became hooked, and quickly began to display a trait inherent in many addicted file-sharers.

“I simply couldn’t get enough,” he told TorrentFreak. “It was more fun downloading and sharing the stuff with all my friends then actually using it or playing the actual games.”

Having become inspired by these simple beginnings, James began chatting with other like-minded people on warez sites and ICQ, going on to share warez via PUBS, FTP-enabled servers conveniently left open by companies with more bandwidth than security sense.

Sharing files wasn’t a simple process back then and James took exception when Napster began dumbing down the process.

“We hated it, simply despised it because it made a mockery of the hard work we put in to obtain all these different warez,” he recalls.

But despite these early bad feelings towards Napster, the future would eventually see James become a facilitator of even easier ways of downloading. Not for just his friends, but for more than a hundred thousand people.

After working his way up to become one of the top members on the GraveyardFXP warez board, James says he became a moderator of DelusionalFXP. It was there, on their IRC channel, that he would meet people whose new project would suck him in and change his life forever. At some point along the line, ‘James’ became better known to his peers as StonyVision, and he was invited to join a new project being set up by, among others, a fellow pirate known as Sk0t.

Under Sk0t’s leadership, a torrent site called Elite Torrents was taking shape and preparing itself for an eventual membership of some 130,000 active users. It would also become the only US-based BitTorrent tracker ever to be busted by the FBI and ICE.

Elite Torrents

After he’d installed BitComet and began sharing content in February 2004, staff on Elite noticed something very appealing about StonyVision – his impressive upload capability. StonyVision told us he’d “followed instructions” on how to use two instead of the regular one modem his cable connection usually allowed, which gave him business-standard upload speeds. When you’re delivering content on BitTorrent, upload bandwidth is king, and Elite wanted some of Stony’s.

But as file-sharers are often heard to complain, you can never have enough bandwidth, so Stony acquired a 100mbit server at The Planet in Texas and began seeding his files from there. Once around 150 of Elite’s users had grabbed his latest release he’d begin releasing his next torrent, usually the very latest movies. His performance eventually meant that he became a member of staff, later going on to organize other Elite Torrents uploaders.

Of course, StonyVision needed content to share and he wasted no time in getting it directly from source – The Scene. He’d gained access to this elite network through his contacts at DelusionalFXP and ended up adding his own server to something called T.O.P. or “Tower of Power” – 53 dedicated 100mbit servers acting as a single giant RAID FTP piracy site. But still Stony needed more.

“At that point I was on four or five top sites, and my main interest was always movies. I loved movies and still do,” Stony explained. “Since my server was tied up I ended up renting two more, one to race with and another for seeding content on Elite Torrents.”

In common with his more old-school peers, Stony saw himself as something of a Robin Hood, “taking from the rich and giving to Average Joe”, and reveled in the positive feedback left by up to 130,000 Elite Torrents users.

But the environment in the United States had become increasingly unfriendly towards The Scene. The FBI and DoJ’s Operation Fastlink was underway and there was a growing fear that torrent sites would be targeted next. Stony sensed the tension and stepped down from the site’s staff around April 2005. He was 19-years-old – and too late.

Elite Torrents and its operators were already being watched and no amount of IP-address obfuscation would prove effective in hiding Stony or his fellow staffers on the site.

“Truth be told I did hide my IP and was the hardest one to find but [the FBI] used the Patriot Act and came up with an asinine amount of money lost to these companies and the movie industry and labeled me as a possible domestic terrorist who was conspiring to commit copyright infringement,” Stony explains.

“I woke up to banging on the door over and over, the dogs started barking. I got up thinking who’s the asshole banging on my door at 6am? Next thing I know there’s 10+ FBI agents in my house. I started laughing at first – I thought it was a joke – until the reality sunk in.”

It was 25th May 2005 and Operation D-Elite, which was to claim several admins and staff members at Elite Torrents, was underway.

“That was the day of days, I was in total and utter dismay and couldn’t even wrap my head around what had happened. I had no clue what was happening to the others. I lawyered up immediately which in itself is a funny story. I opened up the Yellow Pages, looked under ‘lawyer’ and there it was – an ad with a firm that had dealt with computer crime.

“I think I need a lawyer,” Stony told the gentleman on the other end who inquired “Why?”

“Well, the FBI had just raided my house along with a group they called ICE,” Stony responded.

A few awkward seconds of silence was followed by: “How fast can you get here?”

What came next was mountains of litigation and Stony being told to expect the worst – 5 years in prison. The pressure proved too much and Stony went off the rails, turning to alcohol.

In December 2006 he would learn his fate for the uploading of 53 movies, 6 pieces of software and 10 video games. The government demanded a prison sentence in order to deter others from infringement. To Stony’s huge relief, they didn’t get their way.

“Luckily for me I had the most liberal federal judge there was at the time. I was given a fine of $3,500, 6 months house arrest, community service and 3 years probation in which I was not allowed to touch a computer. I had somehow escaped doing time and the U.S attorney was furious.”

But despite avoiding prison, Stony says that he’s still paid a price.

“It’s been the bane of my existence and yet made me who I am. I continued on a self destructive path for quite some time doing crazy things, still working out, getting in bar fights. Truth be told I’ve been to hell and back, stared the devil in the face with its trillions of dollars of influence (RIAA, MPAA) and laughed and walked away.”

Stony says that confessing to a double felony on job applications hinders him, but the support of a new woman in his life has helped tremendously. So how are things today?

“I of course no longer pirate anything anymore as I’m sure I’m still on numerous watch lists. Its simply fun to look every now and again,” says Stony.

“My story isn’t one of inspiration but one of caution. It could happen to anyone out there. I know people are thinking ‘nah, not me’, but that’s what I thought too and now here we are.”

Stony told us that he recently got back online again with his own computer and was inspired by the huge anti-SOPA and PIPA campaigns.

“Thanks to everyone who spoke out on Internet blackout day. It really did give me goosebumps to see people finally stand up and be heard,” he concludes.

Sk0t’s story and those of his fellow operators and uploaders can be found here and here.

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  • Anon

    I’m certain that many people would hire him with honors because he is a hero despite what the FBI wants you to think.

    • Anon

      No they will not jobs are tight background checks are done would you give this guy access to your servers? He will not find work in corporate IT sadly…he should go to school and forget tech.

  • Test6789

    Hello guys, Thought I would add some of my opinions and thoughts to this debate about copyright infringement. First of; I have had my own pirate ship in the past and have sailed the seven seas with it for sure but I tend not to any more. My old galleon is in safe harbour and is never really used anymore. Some of my reasons for stopping originally were that 99% of what I downloaded, I never really even used or benefitted from. I did a lot of it just to download itself, the sense of self it gave me perhaps in the early days – It made me feel leet inside.
     
    I like to think of physical objects and intangible services that are offered by people and companies throughout the world are no different than that of digital media. I believe that in the system we live within, it is perfectly right for people to ask for money for goods/services they deliver. It is how our entire economic system works is it not? People need a roof over their heads and all work in part to earn a living. Our entire existence is ruled by the need for money. Downloading and using content that was not freely given therefore to me at a very basic level is still stealing and theft, you are stealing a service or creation that was not freely given whether that exists as 01010111 or a physical object like a table. You are benefiting from something and the creators can receive nothing back in return – this is the case when people simply download to get something free.  If everyone were to do this which of course will probably never happen, the companies would clearly go bust. As many people still pay for content and do not pirate, and that many pirates still purchase things and due to some buying things once they have trialled them – these companies can still make money.
     
    Stealing a physical thing from a person is far worse and is a different than piracy. Stealing a physical item from someone is personal and causes harm to that person directly in more ways than just the loss of that item. You often see people saying that when they download something, this is not a loss of sale as they perhaps would not have brought the item otherwise. I think this is accurate in part but also hard to know how many things would result in purchases if there was no way to pirate the item. I think people would perhaps even use credit cards to buy certain things if they had no choice – desire is indeed powerful. Of course though, the amount of lost sales from your collections may be lower. It would be very rare to be 50 downloaded items = 50 lost sales.
     
    If the items are over charged or I don’t like them and would never buy them I feel justified downloading for free is also often raised as a belief here. In the physical realm – it would be almost unthinkable for pirates to steal clothes or TVs just because they cannot afford them. Why is it so easy to justify downloading digital items? The idea that the people who create them do not suffer as there is no lost sale in regard to poor people being unable to afford them may be true however the line on what means poor and how easy it would be to prefer not to buy x digital item as you feel poor compared to rich people but in reality you could afford some digital media. With the argument of why should I pay for something I don’t like or did not enjoy – you cannot really use this argument in the physical realm although it could be argued that a 30 day return policy could be used but with digital media – they would need to trust you do still not possess that digital item. Piracy v normal stealing is impersonal and mostly anonymous with no consequences usually to the downloader. It can result in no loss of sale sometimes for sure but is it still right to take something you may enjoy or benefit from without giving back anything?
     
    If you cannot afford digital media, surly there is enough free content on the internet already? Hollywood movies are certainly not a need for a happy life. If you do not like the product then don’t buy it? The arguments for how fairly priced content are in my opinion another debate entirely. People also seem to talk about the cost of shipping media is so cheap, the digital costs are almost nil to deploy so why do we pay x amount. Are you forgetting that the cost of physical manufacturing is second to the cost it took to produce the content itself. What is a fair price is debatable for sure however.
     
    The effect of piracy at its current levels etc. may not be terrible but the basic idea and premise of getting something for free which was not given if done by the majority would result in harm coming to so many people who produce that content in the forms of losing jobs or lack of innovation. We live in a world where you need to profit for the most part from creations. I would love to live in a world where people make things solely to benefit others, if you were to benefit from my product then I would be happy etc. We need the profit motive also though, I cannot feed my family without money.

    • Anonymous

      I wonder how Bach, Beethoven, da Vinci, van Gogh, Chaucer and other artists even survived at the time, because they surely weren’t paid every time someone looked at their paintings, listened to one of their songs, or even read one of their books. They mustn’t even be able to afford food, or a roof over their heads.

      • Ashamed

        They worked on a patronage system. Art was essentially paid for and controlled by the rich. Not an ideal system.

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay

          And yet… Kickstarter takes the patronage system and gives it new life…

        • http://identi.ca/LauRoman Lauren?iu Roman

          @ Jay But would you use kickstarter to fund Kesha’s next “masterpieces”?

        • Wombat

          bit like what is happening today
          rich fatcats controling media and they get squat
          5-9% of a cd sale in some cases

        • Bob

          @Lauren?iu Roman

          Look at what freddiew accomplished on kickstarter. We recognize talent and will fund people that we want to make stuff,

        • Filesharing

          So you are saying things have changed? That the wealthy no longer control our lives? Is it the common people who publish music or books? NO! It is the wealthy and affluent producers and publishers who make ALL the decisions about distribution, copies published etc. etc. that is why filesharing is a threat! filesharing is the common people doing the publishing and producing! If you want to make money become a banker. If you want to pursue your gifts and abilities,and share that with others you might try becoming an artist.

      • Rohe

        Many of those persons you listed where born rich. Many composers of the 17th and 18th centuries where “popstars” in their times, chunking out stuff in high frequencies and got paid by wealthy city officials to fill up theaters and concert halls.

        But if they crossed ones benevolence, they had to leave town. Like that. Especially todays famous dead painters practically lived like gypsies, traveling from one palace/city to the next one, always in hope to get contract work. Many of them died poor, often totally broken.

        Da Vinci was the son of a Notary who worked for the Medici, the most powerful family in Florence. If you want you could use him as a posterboy what a brilliant mind could do if you wouldn’t need to spend time “surviving”. You could count him to the 1%, wandering around in Italy as an respected artist under the protection of quite wealthy families.

        I really suggest reading his entry at wikipedia. Its quite an interesting.

        • Anon

          To add to his examples, how about the cavemen who painted things on the rocks? Were they also born into powerful families and paid by city officials? Did they get a chicken every time someone drew a deer in red paint running on a field just like theirs?

          I think the point is being an artist isn’t easy, the artists that survived in those times were either the ones who didn’t need extra money to survive, the good ones, or the ones who changed their trade. I don’t get to just do something I want to and demand being paid for it, as it seems to be the case with most “content” creators nowadays.

        • Anon

          Also, “many” in the small list of examples he gave is hardly a good counterpoint.

        • Kr0nZ

          @Anon can’t tell if ur trolling or not, next time do better

        • Anon

          @Kr0nZ
          I’m not. What I’m trying to say is that copyright is useless. People have always created art before it even existed. It was thought up out of fear, when new technologies arose, to curtail liberties so that the previous people who managed that art could still make money.
          Nowadays, we have the Internet, which is a wonderful thing, and limiting its uses to cater to big middlemen companies is ridiculous. How someone can imagine that the free flow of culture is a bad thing that should be hindered is beyond me. And doing it so that companies can make money? I just can’t wrap my head around it.

        • Floppy Copy

          Anon said: “It was thought up out of fear, when new technologies arose, to curtail liberties so that the previous people who managed that art could still make money.”

          Well spoken, Anon. I don’t think it’s far from the truth to say the majority of so-called “pirates” would love to support artists and have no problem with it, so long as the money being asked for is within the realms of reality and reflects the real value of what your getting in return. It’s the middle men who are the real problem, taking far more than their fair share for doing next to nothing. Certainly nothing creative anyways. Artists would be so much better off without them.

          Why the creative industry is still allowed to have a monopoly at all is really mind boggling. The world is always changing and the old ways die as a result. Adapt or perish is just the natural order of the universe. I don’t mind a little bit of protectionism, but the goal has to be positive for the majority and it has to make sense. Current draconian laws, with even worse ones on the horizon, are insanity to any thinking rational person. Thankfully there are people willing to rise up and oppose them.

          Kodak’s bankruptcy comes to mind. Should laws be passed which outlaw digital cameras? Should it become illegal for other businesses to create and compete using their own innovations? Should law enforcement be authorized to take down any who do on no more than a whim, and with no due process? Should a fund using taxpayer dollars be set up to support Kodak so they can stay in business? Should Kodak be allowed to have a monopoly on cameras and film to help them accomplish exactly that?

          If any of those sound crazy, then why is it ok to do exactly the same things for any other industry? All of them are things the entertainment industry either has already, or are close to achieving. What makes them so special that they don’t have to adapt to an ever changing, supposedly free market? What makes them so special that they are allowed to have a completely legal monopoly that is protected using taxpayer dollars? Kodak has been around for 132 years. They are an American icon and a major player in terms of history. Their contribution to the world won’t be forgotten. Yet even that isn’t enough to say they deserve to be supported, that they don’t have to change and adapt.

          And they are just one company. Untold numbers have met the same fate throughout history, as will a great many more. This isn’t a bad thing at all because even more have risen, and will arise, to take their place. When the new isn’t allowed to replace the old, we all suffer from the stagnation that inevitably occurs. We’re already seeing this quite clearly in the movie and music industry.

          Change is precisely how we’ve grown and progressed as much as we have. We’d still be dressed in furs and living in caves if we hadn’t. If it’s time for an industry to die because they won’t adapt to a changing world, then LET IT DIE so something better can take it’s place!

          /soapbox

        • Rohe

          @Anon You are coming from the wrong side of the argument.
          “We” as a society designed a way that you can make something and there is a way to be paid for it. This way exists.

          Some people may say: look, we have other ways getting your stuff, we don’t like your rules and I would guess if you don’t like my rules of taking it for free, its better to stop doing what ever you do, because I will not respect you or the rules.

          I’m ok with that. I’m ok with people stopping doing things if it doesn’t pan out for them. But now comes the cheat. Those rule-bender know, that others will still follow the rules. So, people can escape with the fact that they don’t need to follow the rules, because other people do.

          So there will be still an unlimited supply of art. Its just someone else that pays it for you. The question is, if those people think they are better than others. And they should question themselves if they really want the artist to stop. If its really their intention, an movement that all artists stop creating something digital and they only care for “live performances”. I think that are the bigger questions.

        • Rohe

          @Floppy Copy The “monopoly” exists because the masses don’t like to hang out on Jamendo, Magnatunes or on VODO to pay-watch direct-to-customer Bittorrent productions.

          http://www.pioneerone.tv/2011/12/season-2-and-beyond/

          They only wanted something like $1 for 6 episodes. The didn’t even get that and they already were on 16h shifts and begging everybody to give them access to their hardware for free.

          I understand your argument, but I see the reality. There are many people out there who try to live to those “argument lists” – and they seem to lose the fight.

          Are the arguments wrong? Or aren’t simply the people not there, who really want to live these arguments? Future will tell.

        • Rohe

          @Anon “Also, “many” in the small list of examples he gave is hardly a good counterpoint”

          If you would take your time to look the names up on Wikipedia, you would see yourself that the only poor guy in the list was “van Gogh”. He also was practically obsessed with his art and weaseled his way to wine and food. At the end he was so mad, that he cut off his ear. I don’t think thats the right way to see future artist lifestyles.

          So, the correct term would not be “many”, it would be “nearly all” ;)

          In the bigger picture I have no problems that Lady Gaga makes 150mil in a world tour. I have also no problems music artists ask for $200 per ticket (or $20 for a 3d picture in cinemas). Someone will pay that.

          It creates a new media caste system as a negative side effect, but if this is the way it has to go that people can download freely, it will happen.

        • Amanda

          FloppyCopy: Nobody wanted to buy Kodaks products. Your argument would work if there was no demand for Hollywood productions. The demand is there. Your argument is severely flawed and I would only believe it, if you personally would not use/watch/consume anything coming out of the Media Machine and be happy watching free cat movies on Youtube for the rest of your life.

        • Anon

          @Rohe
          I have no problem with artists being paid for their work, of course. But it’s not them who lobby the government for laws, it’s their publishers, the ones who those laws actually benefit. That’s the point, I think.

          Copyright is a great benefit for the middlemen. Without it, the way we experience that content would make much more sense, and it would be much fairer to the artists and the consumers. Especially taking advantage of digital technology and possibly the greatest tool ever created, the Internet. It allows anyone to distribute their own works infinitely and without any loss in quality at all, for virtually no cost!

        • Floppy Copy

          @ Amanda: So what your saying is because there’s no demand for Kodak products, they don’t deserve any draconian laws to help keep them in business, while Hollywood does deserve to have those same laws because there is a demand for what they produce? Care to explain how you came to that distinction and why you think it’s correct?

      • Kurt2000

        I’ve actually read (or heard) somewhere that Picasso always used stolen paint. Wonder what the owner of the paint would say if he knew.

        :)
        just a thought.

        Kurt2000

      • Anonymous

        Beethoven routinely sold copyright of his works to multiple publishers, which was pretty easy when communications between companies wasn’t so streamlined.

        Most of these guys also gave lessons, both to their wealthy patrons and others.

    • bionicTeddyBear

      Well said…
      I think there is another problem that piracy creates that people fail to see and that is the more we pirate the more we tend to take certain things for granted.

      When I used to pirate (I still do in low levels but definitely not proud of it) I would play a game for 30 mins get frustrated or bored and label the game as crap, then move to the next pirated game. Because I didn’t actually spend money on the game I really didn’t feel the need to complete it or perhaps appreciate it.

      I’m sure this is common for many pirates, whether they like to admit it or not. When I effectively stopped pirating, I decided to buy the games I had once pirated and realised that most of those games I had dismissed as being crap were actually pretty fun. Dead space is an example.

      I guess this ties into the pirates that say “I usually buy the ones I enjoy…”

      • Test6789

        I have been buying things at I hugely enjoyed and benefitted from during the last year. I feel good about supporting the future creation of such content. I mostly refer to books/learning materials etc. I think that alot of what I did was all about the coolness (perceived) of what I was doing, 360/PS3 iPhone all modded etc. so many Xbox 360 games downloaded, so few actually used.

        I think good old fashioned greed also comes into it from my experience, I. Learly already have loads yet I always wanted to download the next thing etc. Ii think downloading itself was a hobby. Feeling leet just because I understood about the scene etc was defiantly felt early on.

      • Rohe

        Many older friends started doing something else: they watch Youtube Videos of people making “quick runs” trough shooters, adventure games and others. Because they are so lazy even to play the games :)

      • Darkwiz666

        “play a game for 30 mins get frustrated or bored”
        You mean back when you we’re a kid? Most kids take things for granted…it’s in their nature and a byproduct of how they are raised in today’s society…and you can’t apply that idealism to a full grown man with either no job or a job that doesn’t pay well and bills to ay at the end of the month. THOSE people pirate because they can use the money for better things but would rather not be removed from some of the ‘finer’ things in life.

        • bionicTeddyBear

          No… not when I was a kid.

          The older you get the less time you have to waste so 30mins ends up being quite a lot of time.

          Taking things for granted isn’t something that only kids do and usually occurs when you have unlimited access to things without much effort on your part. For example having a Ferrari F430 Scuderia would be amazing but if you could get as many cars as you want for free.. what value would the F430 or in fact any car have?

          This is what is happening with piracy and perhaps what has driven the cry of games and movies are shit these days. Is it really that they are worse than before or is our habits that are causing us to to see a change?

    • Grouper

      I have a question; if the new business models (Netflix, Jamendo, Steam, etc…) are better for both consumers and artists, then why is piracy necessary? Why can’t we simply support these new business models instead of pirating content? If an artist does sign with a record label or join a movie group or something like that, why don’t we just respect their business decision, and not listen to their music or watch their movie if we don’t like their price? If the new service is better, then artists should, over time, join them instead of the old services. So, why don’t we just let that happen?

      Why is piracy necessary?

      (And yes, I understand that we should oppose the existing groups if they support repressive legislation, but not all of them do, and I still don’t see how that would make piracy necessary.)

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay

        I have a question; if the new business models (Netflix, Jamendo, Steam, etc…) are better for both consumers and artists, then why is piracy necessary?

        Because the older companies don’t understand that piracy is inevitable to those that enjoy their freedoms in the world. Why did someone record the old Dr. Who episodes and put them out as part of the lost ones for BBC?

        Why did Fox decide on waiting 8 days to release content to Hulu?

        Why do Russians pirate games after they haven’t been released in 6 months?

        The better question is how to adapt to piracy and keep your customers happy.

        • Grouper

          “The better question is how to adapt to piracy and keep your customers happy. ”

          That’s a question for businesses. I’m not talking to businesses, I’m talking to pirates. I’m not asking how someone could adapt to piracy, I’m asking why people pirate in the first place. Not all content is delayed in release or is restricted, so that can’t be the only reason.

      • Guest

        Because they aren’t offered worldwide, and they don’t offer DRM-free copies of the shows people purchase to download to their harddrive.

        • Anonymous

          I’m asking why people pirate in the first place. Not all content is delayed in release or is restricted, so that can’t be the only reason.

          I’ve known people who spent $2500 purchasing an Adobe Master Suite, who then resorted to using a downloaded crack because the Suite gave them a ton of trouble when they tried to re-install it after removing a virus.

          You can spend thousands of dollars on a piece of software and only be able to install it say, three times or so. What happens when people want to upgrade their operating system or has some kind of computer issue requiring a repair installation? When you get the cracked software (for free) – you don’t have to deal with the limited number of installations.

          Another program had a habit of connecting to a server over the internet once every two weeks to do a serial number check. If the program was unable to contact the server (internet was down), the program would lock up. The pirated version of the program had this feature taken out of it.

          Why spend money on an item when that DRM-ed item is going to use up all of your resources and give you a massive headache?

          Why pay $30 for a DRM-ed Kindle book that you can only read on 6 devices? (With iPhones, eReaders, work computers, home computers, you can easily have more than six devices per person). The non-DRM copy of a Kindle book can be read in HUNDREDS of devices.

          Why pay $300 for an operating system that you can only install once, maybe twice… when the pirated version allows you to install it on HUNDREDS of computers?

      • Anonymous

        Because they are playing a fools game.

        NetFlix is now here in the UK and they have an “exclusive agreement” with one of the major Hollywood movie studios. They have set their sights on BSkyB being their top rival because Sky grabs most of the rest.

        NetFlix’s solution to this problem is to compete for media. Obviously they have not been in Europe for long and do not realise what a brutal bloodbath that would become. Sky is the monopoly in the UK and certainly has the financial power to out-compete all rivals. Sky’s rival graveyard already includes BSB and ITV Digital.

        So NetFlix aiming to compete with Sky is only heading for their own destruction as the prices of media they need to obtain shoot up due to competition to the point their service ceases to be financially viable. Then the collapse occurs and no doubt BSkyB buys NetFlix to become Sky NetFlix.

        So why does this nightmare exists? Competition leads to destruction. Monopolies are formed. Zoning is common to avoid monopoly competition. User choice is very limited. Services lack entire studios their rival’s have. Monopolies care less about a good price and better service leading to Government regulation so they don’t rip us all off.

        And you ask us to support this?

        One thing that can be said for file-sharing is that the public control the market and you may notice that innovation, ease of access, and transfer between device has well outstripped all official channels.

        This is the whole problem with the old market. It is Hollywood that controls the market in Europe and not the users.

        I can tell you that this can be easily fixed through banning exclusive agreements by instead selling to all who wants based on number of subscribers. Then services can compete in a free market no longer limited by zone.

        Hollywood would lobby hard against such a change because services who compete in this monopoly bloodbath makes Hollywood rich.

        • Rohe

          You are right. BUT, and there is a big but: Netflix, Hulu, even Google understand now, that you can’t win in this rigged game. Google wanted to buy Hulu, but the content door bouncers didn’t wanted to play with them.

          The only way out of this is: creating own content. Instead of wasting millions in betting for movies and series, they simply produce their own. Practically every day some small conglomerate recently comes out with the news, that they set aside 100, 200, 500 millions to create stuff.

          In this system, independent produced stuff is the key to break the monopoles.

      • Rohe

        Because some humans lie. It has a reason that the “official” top 100 lists and the “inofficial” top 100 lists of some sites are practically the same. People download fricken American reality TV! That should “explain” it all.

        We should simply accept, that the masses don’t search for “Alternative” content. Its becoming a straw man in discussions, Many people just want the current ruling Digital Drug Lords to lower the prices – and give them more accessibility. There is pirating “out of necessity” (eg. French wanting to see American sitcoms in English, but there isn’t a legal way to do so besides waiting for DVDs).

        But most of the times is simply a numbers game. $0 cost in an extreme capitalistic world is just the best offer you can get.

        • Aleksej

          “Digital Drug Lords”. I am not sure what you mean by “Some people lie”. I guess many people want the popular content not because it is better or useful, but because of peer pressure, or because they think it is popular because it is better, out of curiosity; or because that’s what they’ve been watching when they were children, so it pleases them even if they know it’s not so good.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001772393375 Lia Piera
    • Dex
      • Test3679

        I don’t agree with the Forbes article on the service problem point, I think steam and amazon MP3, waiting for a blu ray to arrive a day or two, walking in and out of a shop or renting from an online service is not exactly runining your ability to get things. The article yet again says that there is no loss of sale, but there clearly is if you would of brought the item if you had no way to pirate it, whether you would do that is of course not always the case. If you could walk into a place that sold tv’s and copy them without buying them or taking one of them, how could their business operate if everyone else did that too? There would be no future TVs. It’s only because so many do buy the goods including pirates

    • Alkarz

      I think, there are fine lines between just doing it for you or doing it to run “some sort” of business. Its a fine line if you download an album here and there because you think it could be good – or you just download everything to your external usb drive and becoming the “to go guy”, gaining “cheap” status.

      One shoe doesn’t fits all people, and thats the way wrong simple view of the industry.

      I think that some people who download washed out 0-day cam-rips simply don’t have those type of friends who would go to the cinema with them. You might not be able to find a friend who watches it with you, but you might find a way to watch it without a friend.

    • Guest

      Go away with your fake opinion you paid troll!

      Nobody care about you!

      Ok?

      • Resin

        Oh lord. Did you read anything there? He had an opinion (an interesting one too), and he expressed it nicely. Even if he’s not fond of piracy, he’s still 100x more welcome on these forums than someone who tries to shut down discussion like you do.

        Please leave. We don’t like trolls.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002639684444 Ryan Smith

      I steal services all the time. Why, just yesterday I stole an oil change and the shop didn’t even know that they had given me one. My toilet has been backed up so I’m probably going to steal some plumbing work. No worries tho, it will get unplugged by the plumber while he’s working on a paid job and won’t even know his services were stolen.

      Man, I love being able to steal services all the time.

    • Xxx

      You`re right, but if we take hollywood movies as example – they invest say 20 milion and after the first week of projections gain 100. Isn`t it enough ?
      Why I`m worse paid than an hollywood actor ?
      Give me 1 mil for 2 months work of what i do and i`ll never pirate anything, I`ll buy everything. But I have to live with $700 per month and pay movies that here are for $20 the copy – it hardly could happen.
      The things are not so simple.

    • Anon

      What if i can’t afford to watch all the movies i want or buy all the software’s i want? I probably wouldn’t buy it, so they would never have made a sale. And it takes less time to Download Photoshop from a torrent and install it then buying it online or buying it at a store, it goes for movies, music, etc. If you ask file shares what would get them to start buying things they all say price, and its true not everyone has the money.

    • Food For Thought

      I can see your point but how about the earth they used to create these things? Do they that create own the earth or is it just as much yours as it is theirs? The money they would make: first is UN-lawful money while lawful money would be the elements of the earth. Second: that money is created from PAPER which is an element of the earth but how do you attach a value to something that was FREE as the earth is. Every tree that is cut down to create the unlawful currency we use costs us all oxygen while the FEW benefit from the perceived value. Not advocating for either side just food for thought.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Zack-Nelson/1287355169 Zack Nelson

    I’m upset, but not surprised that they would use the (ironically named) PATRIOT ACT to shut down James, a file sharer. While this very bad law was supposed to be used to shut down bonified terrorists, the FBI has been getting more liberal in abusing this law for significantly lesser crimes. It’s needs to be shot down.

    I’m also glad that James got a significantly reduced sentence. Not only was the original sentence excessive, its wrong because the government shouldn’t be punishing people for the purpose of deterring crime. A real court of law is a place of justice, not humility or the achievement of another end.

    • Kr0nZ

      makes you think how many terrorists have they taken down compared to filesharers, using this law.

      • anon

        Indeed, it makes me wonder about that.

  • Anonymous

    It’s all about control. It infuriates the MPAA and RIAA that regular people can just do what they want with some bits on a disk. Society really needs to take a step back and decide where the priorities are. Putting file sharers in jail is not the them. Criminalizing copyright infringement is not one them. spending tax dollars chasing teens using P2P is not one of them. Hey, how about stopping a real crime? How about healthcare?

    • http://profiles.google.com/artfulldragon TL Dragon

      Exactly. Never been about money.

  • http://www.facebook.com/hopeyoufsckingdie Hope You Die

    I was heavily involved in similar activities between 98 and 02 and in my mid teens at the time as well. Had I not lost interest and started skating/joined a band things could have easily gone the same way. Treating anyone, let alone teenagers as criminals for simply sharing information with others is absurd. I hope that one day my own children can grow up in a better world than this, but I’m not hold my breath..

  • Mouse

    “…and the movie industry and labeled me as a possible domestic terrorist…”

    A file-sharer is a TERRORIST?! COME ON?! So was he a part of Al-Qaeda “the file-sharing edition”? Ahhh.. this can’t be happening.
    Pirate Parties need to start winning or else all the file-sharers will be labeled as terrorists. I’m 20, so I hope that I will see copyright reform (or absolute abolish of copyright) in my life-time.

    “Do What You Want, Cause A Pirate Is Free… You Are A Pirate!!!!”

    • Xenophobia

      No. Without copyright, there will be no drive for anyone to innovate. Plus it would never pass. Really, I have nothing else to say but that you are an idiot and part of the cancer that is killing the internet

      • http://joshesforchange.wordpress.com/ Josh C

        Yes, because EVERY musician out there is really just doing it for the money? /eye-roll

      • Guest

        He didn’t say obliterate copyright, he said copyright reform.

        Pre-DMCA you had all necessary and sane protections guarding your commercial works; if the person was sharing non-commercially you would take them to a civil case and claim the actual value lost in opportunity cost plus _some_. Only commercial pirates (like those who press fake CDs in China on a daily basis and sell them as the real thing) were taken to criminal court, because only they were actually causing provable harm.

        Post DMCA, UCITA, ACTA and the eventual passing of SOPA/PIPA clones (they will rename and try again, every year, until they succeed) has not shown a decrease in “piracy”, or an increase in the economic condition linked to multimedia, but has further pushed the USA as having the most per capita citizens incarcerated _in the world_. Ironically any attempts made to embrace technology and offer services to the consumer _have_ shown decreases in “piracy” and increases in profit.

        The only cancer killing the internet is aristocracy that fear for their lives because time has passed them by and they refuse to learn any different.

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PFCI5VRUCYT6AVBT3P6ILV3COI Ophelia Millais

          So far it’s not about incarcerating more than a handful of pirates. It’s about making examples of a select few, holding them accountable for not just what they personally did, but for what their brethren does and the damages allegedly caused by all pirates in aggregate. And it’s about extracting money—gobs and gobs of money, far in excess of any actual provable damages—from as many other pirates as possible. The champions of this form of justice are the scum of the earth, people who shit and piss all over the rights that their countrymen died for.

          The more rights these people take away, the more people they ruin, the more concessions they demand, the more fear and contempt they sow, all the while having to be dragged kicking and screaming into half-assed attempts to offer anything competitive in return, the more they give pirates an incentive to continue inventing and evolving and pirating like never before.

      • http://profiles.google.com/artfulldragon TL Dragon

        *yawn*

        What an idiotic load of bullshit. Too bad centuries of human history prove your copyright bullshit completely fucking retarded.

        We get it, you are weak and dumb and without copyright are fucked. That means nothing to the rest of competent useful and intelligent members of our society.

        Copyright has it’s place because we have some extraordinarily stupid motherfucking people in our species and the more useless among us must lie, cheat and cannibalize to stay afloat. Copyright does NOT and SHOULD NOT be a money making tool. It should be used as a protection against what copyright CURRENTLY is. Copyright should be a protection from abuse, instead we have allowed it to become an epic fucking weapon. Copyright should be about keeping ideas and designs vital to our advancement accessible to the population.

        We are a species with needs and desires. We innovate out of desire primarily. Desire for cash is certainly motivating but it is a truly a brain dead fucktard that thinks innovation ends without copyright. The only argument you can make is that innovation might be slowed because lack of financial gains and legal desire to control could lead some to abandon certain endeavors or ideas.

        Unless you can find a way to end human desire, you cannot find an end to innovation.

        This bullshit now where they can copyright a movie, that is a retelling of a remake of a retold event that has been told in various and sundry forms since the dawn of fucking time is idiocy. There is absolutely no story or music or even fucking idea UNDER THE SUN that hasn’t been said, done, thought or imagined before. Does. Not. Exist. If you want to spend the cash to retell the story in a way people will want to see and PAY you to see, fine. Go fucking wild. You can’t fucking copyright it. It’s not new, and it’s not yours. You took someone else’s shit, and you changed a couple of things, or told it with different people. You had a money making idea, and thats GREAT. You don’t fucking own it. You can’t fucking copyright it. Fuck you, thats fucking stupid. You cannot call something yours that has belonged to humanity forever. Fuck you, you didn’t do anything new, you didn’t make shit so you don’t get to copyright it.

        Disney draws a neato little snail and wants to copyright it? Fuck Disney. If Joe Bob can draw the same goddamn snail on his own, he can sell that motherfucker all damn day. He made it, he didn’t trace it off of Disney letter head. He drew that bitch with his hands and if he wants to put it on a tee shirt riding pluto’s face, he fucking can. Snail riding dogs face, tee art by Joe Bob $14.99. Disney can go fuck itself, or make a better version dub it snail rinding Pluto’s and sell it for $13.99 and Joe Bob can eat shit. Neither has added a fucking thing to the world and neither qualify for fucking copyright. If Disney makes better snail dog porn movie and does it first, Disney will get the fucking cash. So long as Disney isn’t saying they are Joe and Joe isn’t pretending to be with or representing Disney it’s fair fucking game stop wasting my time with idiotic bullshit.

        • Z14xx

          Yawn fucking yawn is right. You need to fucking end yourfuckingself right fucking now fucker. Paid or not I can tell you’re just fucking bitter you’ll never create anything meaningful during your fucking clueless juvenile existence.

    • Ball Juggler

      I knew that these pieces of shit would do some thing like this (branding the as “terrorist” and ABUSING the f*#k out the Traitor act)

  • maxwell elle

    the stupid FBI can not stupid piracy by arresting some geeks they will take their business somewhere else Russia or Iran a country you never heard of

    • Anon

      already are most of the top sites are not on us soil anymore they already have chased them out but the groups are still booming in the USA they just release carefully.

    • Kr0nZ

      I do my sharing out of Nauru =D

  • http://twitter.com/martchand Martain Chandler

    Iomega Zip Drive: Click click click click click.

    Some of us were driven to warez because we lost everything because of those ratbastard drives.

    Good times. Good times.

  • Jake

    I must say piracy is addictive its kinda of like a drug downloading content just to have the satisfaction of having it. Half of the content you might use and the other half is just copied to a hard drive but you will find yourself looking at your collection and feeling good about it and it feels good bragging to your less tech savy friends that you have such content for free or seeing a movie when its still in theater it kinda of gives you feeling that your better than the people around you even though millions of people do the exact same thing everyday. Basically my point is that piracy to most is an addiction and here is an idea maybe it should be treated as a disease instead of a crime. Not to say pirates neglect there family’s or there duty’s in life but if your like me you find yourself refreshing your favorite release blog every few hours to see what new content you can grab it kinda of takes allot of your time.

  • Alyssa Blindy

    The problems simply money. The fact that society can’t work without money. If we could just have a resource based economy, the world would be a lot better off; it would be much better off than it is currently. It’s all about greed. The MPAA/RIAA wants control of their product.
    In above comments, it asks if you could go into a store, and copy something without buying it, wou

    • Test3679

      It would be great if we could make things solely for the benefit it brings to people and because we want to share joy and entertainment etc. We need to earn a living however to pay the bills and freely giving things away will not pay the rent. If its so simple to suggest that digital items be given away for free, why can’t this apply for every other item/service? Can the world operate without money? I must make myself clear here that I am referring to anything digitally produced which does not just mean Hollywood productions or creative works. If it is fair and normal to ask for money in every other area, why is it so different in the digital realm? DRM arguments/pricing are topics of debate, it doesn’t mean you can just take it all (refers to a genuine lost sale) as payback. It’s not as if you are being charged for food at ridiculous prices where taking the food in protest might easily be justified.

      • Alyssa Blindy

        Can the world go on without money? That’s truly a good question, which I have been introspecting (thinking and reflecting inward) on for quite some time. I have found that the only reason we can not live in such a society like that is because we are too afraid of change. That is, the world is afraid of changing anything. In truth, I do not agree so much with asking for money for digital creations. I am on the pirate side of this argument. However, I am not a pirate. With that in mind, I know how much it costs when you put the cost of all the things you buy together. A hundred songs? Over a hundred dollars; about 125 dollars. And where does that money go? To the artists? Nah. It goes to the record label. Here’s part of the reason why people pirate music and movies (MAFIAA productions) respectively. The money they are giving for them does NOT go to the artists.
        The price is UNAFFORDABLE.
        Think of the innocent teenager who wants music on their IPOD, but their parents can’t afford all of that. Music is just copyable information. Why are we holding that back from the teenager? I personally don’t think it is morally right to do this. The adult even, who can’t afford the digital products. It’s all about the moral spectrum in this case. Is it morally right to try to sue someone for downloading your creation because, it makes them happy and they can’t afford the price it costs just to take a copy? It’s ridiculous.
        It’s greedy.
        These people are greedy asking for money for blatant copies. We are all greedy in this society. What pirates are doing is rocking the boat. We all live on the same boat, and they, we (as a group who hold the same beliefs) are looking for change in business models, change in the way this is done, and a change in the way the entertainment industry is set up. Does this make sense?

        What type of change?
        How about one cost for all music on a global platform for artists to use to get paid? The same for movies. Software to, maybe. However, software can be more difficult because it doesn’t do the same thing each time you execute it. Yu use it for a purpose, making it do different things. You may need tech support, or repairs, and maintenance. So, maybe software doesn’t need to join in on this ideal global platform. Do you see where I am coming from?

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PFCI5VRUCYT6AVBT3P6ILV3COI Ophelia Millais

        “Freely giving things away will not pay the rent.” Well, I don’t think there’s any argument about that.

        The problem is that we all came of age at the very end of a long era in which it was conceivable—and, with a little help from the law, practical—to derive some kind of revenue from certain kinds of things, in large part because it was always difficult or outright unfeasible for people to make and distribute amongst themselves copies of those things with the same ease with which one can transmit a meme through the spoken word. Consumers and producers alike are accustomed to the idea of these kinds of things having some non-zero price attached to them, even when items have zero popularity or redeeming quality, and in spite of copyright law’s deliberate use of the term “license” instead of “license fee”.

        But here we are today in an era where technology has almost completely eliminated the burdens associated with making and distributing copies among ourselves, so naturally people are running rampant with it, as they will continue to do regardless of whether it’s permitted by law. Had this technology existed all along, would we have ever constructed a way to profit from these things? Would ever have reached a point where some of us simply feel absolutely entitled to be paid handsomely for every copy, every transmission, every consumption of these kinds of works? I highly doubt it. Why, then, do we feel that these things must continue to be exclusively bought and sold, never given away for free? How can we justify it? Just because a select few of us grew accustomed to paying the rent with our profits from the commercial trade of these things, a situation that was only possible as long as the technology to copy and distribute was largely under our control?

        • Amanda

          You are right that there must be a different way, and maybe we will be forced to find another one with more and more tech swindling its way into our day by day existence, like Google or Facebook did with their services.

          I just don’t think any revolution starts with the pressure that some can’t play a $60 game. They already have a solution for that, its called Free2Play. The music industry now tries to create streaming offers, which is nothing less than a 90% price reduction (by removing the owning part). Nintendo has problems selling $40 cartridges, because people think “Hey, I can get $40 x $1 buck games at iTunes, why should I do that?”

          The system is already creating differentiation by it self. In the broader picture, I see much more problems people paying rent, food or clothing, since the machines will reach a point in the near future, where the production cost per piece, per unit is practically nothing.

        • Test3679

          Hey guys, First off – Thanks for the replies which seem to be far more civilised than I have seen elsewhere on here. My views on this subject are not crystallised. If you could come up with reasons that show that taking that which is not freely given when offering it at a price is not unlawful or unfair is a skilful act or can be in this instance, then I can easily change my feelings on this which I have done in the past. If company A was selling Air at a huge price or selling the ability to walk in town then I would probably not feel too guilty in doing this for free.
           
          My view on this has changed entirely as I used to feel that, well I am only one person – It will not make a bit of difference if I continue to download or not – My potential loss of sale (guessed at 10-20% of my downloads) will not make much of a difference on the balance sheets of these companies. If I stop downloading – it would not stop others doing it, so what the heck! After all – I am not uploading it, I am not encouraging it (anymore amongst friends – and online), I am not profiting from it in a direct monetary sense (selling to friends – making money from cyberlockers). It is very impersonal – I am wondering into a huge warehouse invisibly – making a copy of something without damaging the original or causing an individual investigation about the theft. The people will not even know in my own instance that I have done the deed – How impersonal is that?!
           
          If I was to compare that to stealing a physical item from someone who already had the item – this would not really be a lost sale as the person had already brought the item – maybe it would even mean an additional sale as the person would need to buy another item because I stole theirs. This logic would I doubt convince you to do the act. The fact the very personal nature of stealing from that person is obvious in its harmful effects – this may be enough to stop the majority of people including pirates of course but there is also the fact that you are much less anonymous than in the digital version of this. You could get caught and the risks are very real. If you were to be perhaps a nicer thief and steal from the factory itself – Let’s say you can do it ocean’s eleven style and anonymous. This would be more directly personal to the company but no one person except maybe the business owners would feel hurt and even then it would not be the same hurt as a personal theft of their own possessions. There is now the argument of the crook – I could not afford the item so the only thing lost is the manufacturing value of the item – they have only lost a partial sale. I do not sell the product on so I do not profit from it in a monetary sense directly. I do not encourage theft – I am the opposite in conversations – after all it helps keeps my anonymity. My action will not make any difference to the company when looking at the balance sheets.
           
          There is a difference between the top two examples of course; it is clear that in the real theft that a loss of partial sale is guaranteed with each theft which is not the case with piracy all the time or at all. If however a large number of people started to steal and loss of sales were rising and a larger people started to cause loss of sale in the piracy realm then this would cause problems for people. It may not be affecting people now because as I said previously – many people do buy the goods and not as many steal the goods whether loss of sale via digital loss (piracy) or physical theft loss.  
          I never used to think much about this at all, I didn’t lose sleep over it with any feelings of partial guilt or anything. I always had the idea and image that well they are already making enough money – little old me will not make any difference but am I contributing to something that will do and does do in areas other than the top boys and girls in Hollywood/music industries? If piracy was at high levels and many lost sales were clearly present as people just enjoyed and loved getting things for nothing (not all pirates of course) – if I could see this was having impacts then I would stop 100%. The argument that if I stop it will not make a difference – someone else will take my place is not a right reason not to stop. Pirates are not the same as normal thiefs for some obvious reasons but the core reason of getting something for nothing and feeling cool about it may still exist in some.
           
          My personal stance is that I can easily afford games/movies/books/music that I want to buy, I have no problem paying the amounts asked for these but that’s probably because I don’t buy too many of them. There still exists an area that is grey for me and that is items that cost £200-500 for training materials. I cannot afford these but WANT them – I get a lot of cognitive dissonance around this. I have brought some of these when they were at 75% price but then have the view on here which may be more genuine in this instance – is it a loss of sale? I cannot afford £300 but if there was no piracy I may spread that out over 3 months on a CC if I really want it. I think people far too easily think what they get is not a lost sale but you would not really know that until the item was impossible to get for free. If I like company A’s products and they are out of my reach in money terms – is it ok to download them for free if I cannot afford them (this is very flaky and not always clear cut)? Is it a long term investment from me? I will pay them back when I get the money or buy something from them at least and promote them? Is it then justified to get it for free?
           
          Lastly copying between friends, the ability and right to share what you have. We obviously share things between a few friends etc. but the ability to share a file on torrents to millions to me is not really the same. This open up the possibility that only one person has to buy a digital item and that’s the only sale the creator will make – this of course does not happen currently. Most files on torrents are not even owned by the uploaders – the uploaders have leeched it from elsewhere and for all you know the original may of come from borrowing some ones copy and then using that to put online.

    • Grouper

      Why would a money-free economy be any good? That doesn’t make any sense. If I’m a fisher and you’re a jeweler, then what can you pay me to get my services? In a normal economy, the answer is money. In a barter economy, the answer is nothing. You have nothing that I need. I don’t care about jewels, and I don’t know anyone else who reliably will. Knowing that, why should I sell you food?

      Seriously man, money works. It’s a good system. Greed is the problem. The desire for money is just an expression of greed. Don’t blame money for that.

      Your problem seems to be with greed, but barter economies don’t eliminate greed. Greed still exists; people are just going to hoard things other than money.

      • Alyssa Blindy

        I guess I can see what you mean when you say the problem is greed; that makes sense. However, I do still think money has its down sides. That has nothing to do with intellectual property, copyright, filesharing, or piracy, therefore I will not get into that here.

    • http://profiles.google.com/artfulldragon TL Dragon

      The problem with MAFIAA and RIAA isn’t that they want money. They have money. If the entertainment industry right now stopped giving a damn about piracy and left it be, there would be very little loss as a whole financially. It would not collapse in poverty. It’s control that they want. The ability to move the business and it’s contents in the direction and design they want it to go. Quite possibly the greatest example of this is magnum Opus of his grand Nazi’ness and Nutbag Mel Gibson. Passion of The Christ. Countless Christians believe that movie is an accurate telling from the very pages of the bible. That shit ass movie did more than make car loads of money, it was brilliant propaganda done at it’s highest level. Gibson was paid to instill his own ideology.

      It’s more than entertainment, in fact entertainment is merely the bait. The working, the struggling, those of us whose day to day is an exercise not in advancement, but hanging on and trying not to slide into the fucking abyss. It is us who need entertainment. We are less educated, on the whole, we have seen less, know less of the world and we really don’t have the time, resources or energy to get on an even ground with those who struggle less and have more.

      We think we are watching a movie. We are, but it’s more than a story line. There is subtext, ideology, behaviors and consequences, and we aren’t left to our own imagination in a movie. We are guided. Every plot change, hero, failure success and close call, which bad guys “get it” and which don’t. Hero’s attributes, they all say something, and we don’t really have to think about it. It’s given to us.

      Control of the masses is easily done through control of entertainment. There are more of US than there are of THEM. The web has taken away their main advantage, mass distribution. Their grip is slipping. My favorite example here, is Dan Bull. He’s a man of OUR people. He has made and distributed on a fairly wide scale for a “little guy” some very good and entertaining work all on his own. He is able to make cogent and entertaining work pertaining to copyright and reach every age and nationality. He has support, and since it is NOT dependent on any of the big models, they can’t stop him, and they can’t shut him up.

      The “problem” now kiddo, is THEIRS because we have found OUR answer. The internet. The pissants of the world can freely share and communicate with one another. They can’t keep idea’s and actions secret any longer. We are linked. If something is a lie or crock of shit, we can share that. Revolutionary artists and idea’s can’t be kept under wraps and censored.

      They don’t give a fuck about the money. They want out internets. They want our voices and they want to be able to cut us off from one another and keep us dependent. We are much easier to govern when we are clueless and alone.

      It’s not about money, and don’t let them convince you it is.

      • Alyssa Blindy

        Ahhh. Yes. I love your argument. I see where you come from. You believe it has nothing to do with money. You know, it does make quite a bit of sense when I look at that. Control. Also, I have heard Dan Bull. I have a lot of his music, and I really do enjoy it. They (the MAFIAA) makes it seem like it is all about money, when it’s not. They want to tell us what is right and wrong. They want children to be begging for the newest films on DVD. They want children buying all the t-shirts they make, they want to distract all of us from the problems around us.

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  • Anonymous

    like Stoneyvision, I think a lot of ‘pirates’ are just poor kids who can’t afford to go to the movies, or whatever. Kids are raised to to believe all kinds of corporate instilled nonsense, like idolizing ‘rockstars’ and whatever other stupid shit.

    Our media companies do not propagate socially responsible content so why should they expect their customers to do so? If only we could concretely measure the damages wreaked by the diseased content of popular culture… in the meantime we are stuck trading in our souls at the company store… really sad state of affairs…

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  • foff

    The interesting thing about this so called crime is there is no money involved to speak of. This guy obviously was in it for the thrill. This is also mostly a victimless crime. The claims of loss are just that claims of loss. In this whole war on warez not one conviction or site shut down has resulted in a single additional sale.

    So fuck the fbi you hear me fbi fuck you go investigate a crime that makes a difference stop wasting you goddamn time. All you are is being whore bastards for the mafiaa.

    • Test3679

      I am talking about piracy when it refers solely to downloading something without paying for that content especially when you can afford to buy the content. The service certainly was not what made me pirate, I of course am not everyone but I reckon a large amount are similar to how I was and this is what I criticise, I criticise my old self. I pirated because it was cool, I pirated because I felt I was doing something shady and that it was underground. It made me feel cool for sure, I downloaded because it saved me alot of money.

      Steam and easily available MP3s are available Nearly as easily as possible – yet PC piracy is rampant and music piracy still exists. Perhaps some pirates do purchase more, but I am criticising the core act of taking something without giving. If I buy a few of your movies, does it give me the right to take all of your other movies for free? If I buy a car from ford, I will not help myself to all the other ford cars. (or copies of them)

      • ^^

        I’d feel just fine purchasing a used Ford Focus then copying myself a free GT.

        • http://profiles.google.com/artfulldragon TL Dragon

          WTF a focus? Fark that. Look how expensive printer ink is, you really wanna piss away the cash for your 3d printer to get a damn Focus out of the deal?

          Screw that. Go Shelby >^.^<

        • Gu357u53r

          I would copy a probe then I would show all the ladies.

      • Arthurtwoshedsjackson

        If you have a problem with your Ford you can take it back and get another car – or you can even get a refund.

        But what about the $10I spent on the Wicker Tree DVD (a very, very, bad movie) – (note, this is just an example… it isn’t even out on DVD yet…)

        Anyway – Answer – NO, I’m not getting my money back, and I’m down $10 – I cannot take it back to the store and say “this film sucks, I want another one.” Of course, I could lie, and say the disc is defective but then I’d be committing a crime (fraud)

        Sure, I could sell it on eBay – but I’m not going to get the $10 I spent on it back. In fact, as the film is a steaming pile of crap, chances are I’ll have a lot of difficulty selling it in the first place.

        “You know what! You can read a ‘review’ first and see if you think you’ll like it before you shell out $10.”

        Hmmmm… that’s an interesting idea – but what about Reviewer X who has been paid a LOT of money by the Wicker Tree publicity department to give the film a good review. Or perhaps Reviewer X who is scared to give it a bad review because he’s fearful the distributor might not send him any more review copies?

        There is a MASSIVE difference between buying a car and buying a DVD.

        By the way, in case you hadn’t noticed – there are a lot of very bad films out there… Probably more bad ones than good ones.

        all imho.

      • Anonymous

        in a decade or two I will download a car!

    • Anon

      tough internet guy. lol

  • Gtifter323

    LOL I like the antipiracys argument, “we lost money” but they assume we would have used there software or saw there movie when in truth if it weren’t free we’d have nothing to do with it. If the movie was crap it was crap nuff said, if the software with 50$ a freeware substitute can be tracked down somewhere, don’t stroke your ego’s thinking your something special. Well then why didn’t we do that, because we didn’t have too we had the free option so wth why not.

  • Amanda

    I find it depressing, that this guy had all that knowledge and seemingly mad skills, but decided to follow the lure of the liquid devil. I mean, in a different reality this guy could have used his skills to build Fakebook or Tweety.

    • Anonymous

      he used his skills to help other people, not to make billions
      I don’t see that as depressing

      • Amanda

        I was talking about the time after he got bust. We should at least have perspective here. He didn’t feed them, he didn’t tried to build a company to produce cheaper medicine. Giving some free content to people to have a better free time with isn’t very high on the “help” list.

  • Anonymous

    Who comes up with all that crazy stuff man!
    Total-Privacy dot US

  • Anonymous

    After reading this article- it made me think of what Gabe Newell had said about piracy. (You can read it here if you want: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114391-Valves-Gabe-Newell-Says-Piracy-Is-a-Service-Problem). In short- Provide an easier route to ‘acquiring’ your items (Ie Steam), less of an issue Piracy becomes.

    For example- Why trawl trackers and such for a copy of Portal 2 when you’re running the possible risk of getting a virus and spending lots of time just finding a working copy when you can go to Steam and buy Portal 2 AND get Portal 1 for £5? (in one of their numerous sales) You aren’t running any risks and you aren’t wasting your time on copies which may fall at the first hurdle.

    On a side note: I hate the slanderous lies the likes of the MPAA push out into the wild telling a story of how “Billions are lost in revenue”. After watching a documentary on it (here: http://watchdocumentary.com/watch/are-the-net-police-coming-for-you-video_27a7d2e10.html) it does make clear the ‘truth’ of what they’re hiding.

    Some of it is rather interesting and rather amusing. Especially the fat ‘police expert’ which tells the viewer that owning the Bittorrent client is illegal. An interesting point was brought forward however- Digital piracy AIDS the growth of sales. Case in point: You torrent an item. Like it, go out and buy it. Don’t like it? Delete it off your HDD. No large net loss of money (and if anything, a gain for the company as you aren’t asking for a refund).

    I also hate how they deem ‘damages’ in excess of $1 million completely fine and sane (to make matters worse, If memory serves me correctly, she was a single mother). It’s, to be blunt, disgusting that they deem it morally correct to ask for outlandish sums of cash (to which the artist will see none of it) for such stupidly menial things. Then again, what are morals in their line of ‘business’ when they make their ‘money’ scaremongering people into paying for things they haven’t done (German woman fined for torrenting a film when she hadn’t had a PC and an internet connection for 6 months prior to receiving the letter).

    Technically it’s not stealing either. Stealing conveys you’ve gone into a shop and taken a physical copy. In Bittorrent’s case, someone had to pay to see the film or pay to get the album so technically speaking- it’s borrowing (Albiet on a large scale).

    Some will disagree with some (or all) points but this is just my view on the situation (if any). If you’ve read the wall of text, I congratulate you for having nerves of steel. If not…Well…nothing really.

  • Anonymous

    Well Stony could at least still join in with the ACTA protests. The people who will be on the streets in Europe this month go far beyond pirates by including those who want protect the Internet, Copyright reformers, and general Freedom advocates,

    The big day there for most of Europe is Saturday the 11th of February.

    As to the United States then the game is not over there yet. The President’s signature on ACTA is invalid when he cannot bypass Congress on matters usually control by Congress. Preventing Congress from setting the Copyright laws it likes is one huge violation of a Trade Agreement. So ACTA needs to be sent to Congress so that it can be properly debated.

    So those millions in the US of A have a job to do.

    • Ball Juggler

      That bastard Obama wants to pass ACTA like he passed the NDAA… while everyone is looking the other way.
      Ron Paul 2012!

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  • Trespass

    Maybe I am a minority, but all bittorrent is for me is convenience. I can get a movie a couple of months before it goes to HBO and I record it. For music I get it weeks before it shows up in a pawn shop or second hand store.

    How am I a terrorist? Who am I stealing from? Why doesn’t HBO get sued for aiding copyright infringement since I record movies or True Blood off of cable?

    For me the internet is one big broadcast channel and I see little difference in downloading a movie now, or when I was recording albums off of the radio in the 70′s.

    Neil Young recently stated that “the internet is the new radio”. I totally agree…

  • Will_the_man123

    The original reason for property rights is the issue of scarcity which as physical resources are limited that a person needed to protect his/her scarce resources. Ideas on the other hand can be infinitely copied which does not fulfill the requirement of scarcity as is the requirement in order for something to be property. Also copying does not deprive the person with that information of that information therefore it cannot be classified as stealing.

    Innovation consists of 3 things: Copy, transformation combination. For information to be available in the first place there must be copy and then with the powers of transformation and combination there is innovation. Since intellectual property prohibits copying, that information cannot that be combined in different ways or transformed in different ways hence hindering innovation.

    Hence intellectual property rights should not be in existence in the first place as it inhibits competition and innovation.

    http://mises.org/daily/4848
    http://mises.org/journals/jls/15_2/15_2_1.pdf
    http://mises.org/daily/5025

  • Anonymous

    I say let this be a good warning to some people. It’s one thing to download some movies or albums or games here and there, we almost all day. But when you try to take it to the next level like this, all you’re doing is putting your self at risk of having your life ruined. And no one in the “community” cares. This guy got in trouble and the scene didn’t pause or hiccup for a moment, it kept on moving. Lot of young teens/kids care a lot about their inetnernet rep but let me tell you, no one else really cares about you when you get arrested, they will just download from somewhere else.

    Use common sense, use caution, and if you have the money support good products you enjoy by paying for them.

    • Darkwiz666

      If I got caught you won’t see me drinking my life away, hanging myself, or crying like a little bitch…now get you’re troll ass out of here…because you’re comments? Well…”no one else really cares”. You said it yourself.

      • Anonymous

        Not quite sure why you feel the need to call me a troll or attack me. I’ve been around the piracy seen for 20+ years and seen it all pretty much. Since it’s typically kids who end up wanting to be huge uploaders or part of the staff on a major scene site or torrent site or whatever it may be I was simply trying to give some advice because most these people don’t realize the risks and the long term consqeunces it will have on their life.

        I think you put it best. You seemed to get upset from my comments, so I’m I really someone you want to go to prison for and be a convicted felon for? Cause if you start uploading a lot to a torrent site or some scene sites and I download them and enjoy them like I always have, you’re typically the one going to jail, not me.

        Was just trying to give a heads up to some of the younger people out there to be carefull and use some common sense. Like I said I’ve been downloading stuff for 20 years and I doubt I’ll ever stop but you should always use some common sense and ask yourself if you want to take it to that next level and risk getting your life ruined simply so you can have some internet status on a torrent site or something similiar.

        That’s all I was saying. Not trolling, not hating, just trying to share some of my experiences with the younger generations. Cause let me tell you, a criminal conviction can and does do a lot of damage to your life long after you’ve served your sentence.

        • themerryreaper

          “Cause if you start uploading a lot to a torrent site or some scene sites”
          That quote alone proves you’re quite piracy ignorant… After 20 years you should know the difference between crummy releasegroups and actual scene groups.

          Oh fuc* I fed the troll, sorry.

        • Anonymous

          @themerryreaper. of course i know the difference. dont be silly. what i said stands. there’s certainly different involvement and levels of piracy I was simply warning the younger generation (since it’s typically kids/young adults who end up getting caught/in trouble a lot of tiems) to use some common sense and seriously consider the risks/rewards of what you’re doing.

          My involvement with RNS and Ragemp3 years back certainly impacted my life in a very negative way and there’s certain life dreams I had that are very difficult for me to attain now due to some naive mistakes I made when I was younger and as a result I have some convictions in my background. For example I always wanted to travel and live abroad in various countries, always had been a goal/dream of mine, due to my unforuntiate run in with the law though I simply can’t get a Visa to go to a lot of countries, something I always wanted to do is virtually gone or near impossible now.

          Certainly not a troll, just trying to let people to use some common sense. But hey, I understand whenever someone tries to warn others there will be a few jerks who feel the need to call them a troll or an idiot. To the youngsters out there though, just be careful what you do cause run in’s with the law really do have a big impact on your life. For example the guys involved with this website were in America, running a site in America, or another example is people only calling a lawyer after they get in legal trouble instead of contacting a lawyer first and figuring out the best way to protect themselves. Simple steps like that that sadly a lot of younger people don’t think to take because they think “this could never happen to me”

      • StonyVision

        LOL that was taking with liberties in the writing, truth was i just snapped and went on a total slef disctructive path, visiting collages every weekend making the rugby guys look bad at drinking games and drinking in general, getting into bar fights ect. simply otta control I dont give a fuck cuz im going to prison anyway attitude, does that sound like crying to you?

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  • Asd

    The guy was running a torrent site in the US. It was only a matter of time before the FBI came after him.

  • Darkwiz666

    I remember as a kid how my mother would always bitch about having to spend $7-10 on a movie ticket…even for me and my brother (we were around 7 at the time.), so instead of going to the premiers or evening shows, we’d just go to the cheap-o or matinee’s to save money.

    Well wouldn’t you know it…the stupid ass movie companies didn’t like getting half profit for the works (which by the time they were reduced to $4 for the cheapo shows had been in theaters for a good 5-8 weeks…) so they closed down most of the matinee theaters and you were basically forced to watch it full price or wait for the DVD to be released and still pay $20+ for it in the end.

    This is when we started sneaking food into the theaters (also before they started cracking down on it) because there was no point in buying and concessions…we had spent all the damn money on ticket costs.

    Shortly after this the cost to go see a movie spiked to fricking $7 for a child and $12-15 for a teen/adult and the candy prices starting looking like someone was robbing you at gunpoint…$6 for a non-refillable SMALL bucket of popcorn that used to cost you $2.50 WITH free refills…naw, fuck that.

    Then around this time ‘bootleg’ DVD started making their way into the city…just about everyone and their mother (grandmothers too… lol) had at LEAST one…and the reason was pretty damn obvious…it was because no one had the money to be wasting on a movie that was TOTALLY not worth its price.

    Netflix and other digital distribution sites are basically HINTING at what major media should be doing instead of their archaic physical mediums…hell, why not do what they do with Pay-per-view (lol…rhyme) and have it available on day 1 for people to buy a ticket to watch? It would cut out the middle man of costly theaters and a bunch of other ‘costs’ that they rack up trying to get people in the theaters…

  • Darkwiz666

    If SOPA or PIPA had made it to a vote, ANYONE who voted for it was going NOT going to get reelected…and coverage of them looking like asses trying to push it forward even though they didn’t even know how it could negatively impact the ‘net drove that home in the one part of their brains that contained the smallest hint of intelligence.

  • http://www.facebook.com/terrence.a.davis1 Terrence Andrew Davis

    If someone makes someone crazy and the kill someone… CIA gets off the hook.
    When you’re facing aliens and end of the world or terminators as the case might be…
    Relax — God’s just. I wrote 130,000 Lines of code over 8 years. Piss-poor investigators. It gets better — God talks.

    God says…
    folks’ severer betrothed maintain voluntarily forsaketh
    vagrant PARTICULAR intoxicated mimic vile conscious blesses
    Howsoever what’s talented spacious Or loving never profounder
    atrociously indications garner wanton joineth deservings
    armory credulity benefit States twins unruly grievest
    haply self flows shared at discourage tolerating derision
    actually indirectly filthy conveyedst wrath Intelligences
    done fettered according everlastingly thinking Medicine
    Abraham’s emblem

    I’m not sure your delusion is for or against me. Just pray I don’t go over the edge because of you.

  • petes2feetsmell

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_D-Elite

    this is the wiki of the case.

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  • still kicking

    So the government used the Patriot Act to bust this kid. That measure was created and passed into law for the explicit purpose of tracking down terrorists. You know, the ones in Al Queda and the Taliban who go around planting bombs and killing people. It was not suppose to be for any other reason, especially not for protecting private business interests.

    It is sadly ironic that when the law was passed the greatest opposition came from the Left which claimed the law would be misused and the rights of the people would be compromised. And yet, after Obama became President all discussion against the law suddenly disappeared and, in fact, the scope of attempted government control over people has actually dramatically increased.

  • Anonymous

    Here is a good question. How much life does physical media have left? Clearly the future of media is a pure digital form but will we be mostly physical media free in 5, 10 or 20 years?

    CDs are near obsolete when MP3 and FLAC demand has dragged the whole music market towards a physical media free future.

    Computer games and applications are the ones who have embraced innovation when click, buy, download offers many advantages over physical media. So they are already over half way towards a physical media free world already.

    The biggest problem are those dinosaurs in Hollywood still focused on their DVD and BluRay sales. Even their greatest innovation of NetFlix they are trying hard to kill which helps their plans to beat piracy none.

    Well the future awaits for download whatever you want and with an extra click of the button load it into your home player of choice. Even if the MPAA are trying to stop such innovation this is not a battle they cannot win.

    So how many years away are we from such an efficient digital only transport, transfer and sales scheme?

  • StonyVision

    Besides folks one facts remains that you all seem to forget, piracy forced the industry’s and wolds hands to give you cheaper content, cheap enough that its no longer worth pirating. Seems like at the end of the day we won anyway. Do you think itunes and netfix would exist if it weren’t for piracy? they were born out of necessity to make changes. Faster computers for cheaper because we were over clocking them and liquid cooling them. DVR’s & Tivo, all meant to stop people from downloading tv shows commercial free. Like it or not piracy changed this word in the last 10 years and its for the better.

  • http://www.yusufkisa.com/ Yusuf

    Very Nice

  • FidgetApps

    Reading this makes me sad…

    We have just started create windows phone 7 apps, nothing too exciting published at the moment (needless plug: google fidgetapps) but we work on the basis that ad revenue from unintrusive advertising and random donate buttons are the way forward…

    I have spotted a competitor who charges for a simple app that solves trigonometry problems and that makes me sad :(

    I am going to work on the principle of everything is free, might consider ad free versions for 79p if something really takes off, but generally everything will be available in an unaltered form with a small discrete ad banner.

    When piracy kicked off the artists should have started transitioning away form big companies and into this ethos. It just works, take the angry video game nerd on youtube, he just raised $300,000 for a movie from the public having gained a following by posting about 80 videos online. I know from ad revenue he must be making enough not to have to have a second job….

    We need the big media companies to die out, the people who develop and create really don’t need them anymore.

    Advertising and Marketing companies alongside ISP’s are the new distribution mechanism.

    The fact that this kid and many many others are going to prison to help support them just makes me sick. Its not piracy its called evolution of the market place with a sprinkle of cold hard truth for those who have abused it for so many years.

    • Test3679

      Hey guys, First off – Thanks for the replies which seem to be far more civilised than I have seen elsewhere on here. My views on this subject are not crystallised. If you could come up with reasons that show that taking that which is not freely given when offering it at a price is not unlawful or unfair is a skilful act or can be in this instance, then I can easily change my feelings on this which I have done in the past. If company A was selling Air at a huge price or selling the ability to walk in town then I would probably not feel too guilty in doing this for free.
       
      My view on this has changed entirely as I used to feel that, well I am only one person – It will not make a bit of difference if I continue to download or not – My potential loss of sale (guessed at 10-20% of my downloads) will not make much of a difference on the balance sheets of these companies. If I stop downloading – it would not stop others doing it, so what the heck! After all – I am not uploading it, I am not encouraging it (anymore amongst friends – and online), I am not profiting from it in a direct monetary sense (selling to friends – making money from cyberlockers). It is very impersonal – I am wondering into a huge warehouse invisibly – making a copy of something without damaging the original or causing an individual investigation about the theft. The people will not even know in my own instance that I have done the deed – How impersonal is that?!
       
      If I was to compare that to stealing a physical item from someone who already had the item – this would not really be a lost sale as the person had already brought the item – maybe it would even mean an additional sale as the person would need to buy another item because I stole theirs. This logic would I doubt convince you to do the act. The fact the very personal nature of stealing from that person is obvious in its harmful effects – this may be enough to stop the majority of people including pirates of course but there is also the fact that you are much less anonymous than in the digital version of this. You could get caught and the risks are very real. If you were to be perhaps a nicer thief and steal from the factory itself – Let’s say you can do it ocean’s eleven style and anonymous. This would be more directly personal to the company but no one person except maybe the business owners would feel hurt and even then it would not be the same hurt as a personal theft of their own possessions. There is now the argument of the crook – I could not afford the item so the only thing lost is the manufacturing value of the item – they have only lost a partial sale. I do not sell the product on so I do not profit from it in a monetary sense directly. I do not encourage theft – I am the opposite in conversations – after all it helps keeps my anonymity. My action will not make any difference to the company when looking at the balance sheets.
       
      There is a difference between the top two examples of course; it is clear that in the real theft that a loss of partial sale is guaranteed with each theft which is not the case with piracy all the time or at all. If however a large number of people started to steal and loss of sales were rising and a larger people started to cause loss of sale in the piracy realm then this would cause problems for people. It may not be affecting people now because as I said previously – many people do buy the goods and not as many steal the goods whether loss of sale via digital loss (piracy) or physical theft loss.  
      I never used to think much about this at all, I didn’t lose sleep over it with any feelings of partial guilt or anything. I always had the idea and image that well they are already making enough money – little old me will not make any difference but am I contributing to something that will do and does do in areas other than the top boys and girls in Hollywood/music industries? If piracy was at high levels and many lost sales were clearly present as people just enjoyed and loved getting things for nothing (not all pirates of course) – if I could see this was having impacts then I would stop 100%. The argument that if I stop it will not make a difference – someone else will take my place is not a right reason not to stop. Pirates are not the same as normal thiefs for some obvious reasons but the core reason of getting something for nothing and feeling cool about it may still exist in some.
       
      My personal stance is that I can easily afford games/movies/books/music that I want to buy, I have no problem paying the amounts asked for these but that’s probably because I don’t buy too many of them. There still exists an area that is grey for me and that is items that cost £200-500 for training materials. I cannot afford these but WANT them – I get a lot of cognitive dissonance around this. I have brought some of these when they were at 75% price but then have the view on here which may be more genuine in this instance – is it a loss of sale? I cannot afford £300 but if there was no piracy I may spread that out over 3 months on a CC if I really want it. I think people far too easily think what they get is not a lost sale but you would not really know that until the item was impossible to get for free. If I like company A’s products and they are out of my reach in money terms – is it ok to download them for free if I cannot afford them (this is very flaky and not always clear cut)? Is it a long term investment from me? I will pay them back when I get the money or buy something from them at least and promote them? Is it then justified to get it for free?
       
      Lastly copying between friends, the ability and right to share what you have. We obviously share things between a few friends etc. but the ability to share a file on torrents to millions to me is not really the same. This open up the possibility that only one person has to buy a digital item and that’s the only sale the creator will make – this of course does not happen currently. Most files on torrents are not even owned by the uploaders – the uploaders have leeched it from elsewhere and for all you know the original may of come from borrowing some ones copy and then using that to put online.

    • LazyDave

      “the people who develop and create really don’t need them anymore.”

      The day that and people stop buying their stuff is when big media companies will indeed die. Until then, let and let live. Thankfully, though, I don’t have to buy stuff whose prices I don’t agree with and can get do fine without, but that’s just me.

  • Papillon

    After reading this story my first thought was: How did he pay for all that bandwith? And how much did he actually upload in all those years?

    • StonyVision

      I had a dropship website with sponsors that created enough revenue monthy to pay for the servers, back then they were cheap, 100mbit at the planet unlimited BW for 170$ a month. Just had to look for deals.

      • Blue

        Are you really stonyvision? :)

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  • Anonymous

    Put all of that great intellegence and talent to better use. Stony got off easy and hopefully learned a few lessons. Hopefully the next thrill will be something that’s legal. With the knowledge he has, he could work for the FBI to stop piracy.
    http://www.summersweetsports.com

  • Mistr-l

    well, its been a blast, but http://www.made-downloads is now for sale, and I have been swamped with people giving offers. i think i;ll wait another week, and give counter offers to several of them, see where it goes to, sell, and start a new..

  • Anonymous

    Seems to me like the Feds have WAY too much spare time on their hands!
    Real-Anon.tk

  • LazyDave

    Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Uploader King. Or something, heh.

    Seriously, though, interesting story to read. And thanks to the parties involved for sharing it.

  • Username1

    They are not sending me any message with all this garbage.

    As far as I’m aware , I don’t believe any “arrests” or DRM , or warnings , or anything that they try to
    do has prevented anything from reaching the millions , and millions , of file sharers out there.
    Including the streaming sites , they are still around.
    I still use cyber/digital lockers every single day also.

    Pretty much everything is online. Some receive more attention than others , but for the most part , if you want it
    you can have it FOR FREE.

    I think it’s complete bullshit that they first of all , call it “intellectual property” LOL.
    And that they then get government enforcement to guarantee them a paycheck for the next lifetime of years and years ,
    and when the deadline comes for that copyright , they pay for an extension so that it never ends.
    ARE THEY STEALING FROM THE PUBLIC ?
    Should they get a real job ? One that doesn’t guarantee them 1000 years of pay for one days work.
    Do you believe they won’t keep extending the copyright or something ?

    I’m not going to allow them to shape the world to their benefit.
    They can do what’s best for them , and I’ll do what’s best for me.
    They would rather that I just not have , well “they would rather” WRONG.

    I’ll pay you when and IF I ever want to. And you’ll thank me for it.

    I haven’t slowed down AT ALL.

    Whatever , I do what I want !

  • harry krishna

    lesson learned: in times of trouble, turn to pussy

  • Gu357u53r

    I invented the wheel therefore I shall forever be known as your King. I wonder what age and wage they are paying those workers to put together those phones that make it easy to share copies of files. What’s Pandora, YouTube, JTV, Twitch.TV, FilesTube, Usenet, DC++, ed2k, P2P, FTP, VPN, Google, Napster, Kazaa, IRC, BitTorrent, SSL, SSH, FLAC, H.264, VP8, DRM, etc. etc…. I’ll tell you it’s all part of their plan to warp your brain so you watch their crap so they make more money. Boycott it if you really want to stir up the frustration of the machine. Sick of the greed in this country, and how it’s affecting our job loss due to outsourcing. So what are they going to make personal computers more like tablets so when it breaks you are forced to buy a new one, and cannot repair it? I wonder if they tried this already, and what was the outcome… :P

    • Anonymous

      You wrapped up SSH, FLAC, and VP8 into that….. free as in freedom codecs with no strings attached and one RSA encryption transport. I’m sure you were just searching for more acronyms, but please don’t blame this on free software. I only encode my music in ogg and FLAC because of the royalties that I know surround the very, very common MP3 format. H.264, which is the only codec allowed in the proprietary flash platform and allows for DRM; then there’s WMV – also DRM encumbered, then you have whatever on earth Apple uses… so please. I understand your point completely, but don’t put the “evil plan to warp your brain” label on free software. Put it where it belongs – on the faces of Franhauser, Microsoft, Apple, the RIAA, MPAA, CBS, etc.

  • Gu357u53r

    And to the author link official court documents from the courts website or I call bullocks on this article. It sounds made up, and heavily “media fear tactic”-esque. Just sayin’…

  • Me

    Great story and very well written, thank you!

  • Anonymous

    I actually made some cash after i found this. Take a look if you want…bit.ly/vZONo1

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  • http://profile.yahoo.com/LMXX3MRN7KLP3VGOOGNNJXG5N4 GnarG

    “‘…[the FBI] used the Patriot Act and came up with an asinine amount of money lost to these companies and the movie industry and labeled me as a possible domestic terrorist who was conspiring to commit copyright infringement,’ Stony explains.”

    Mission creep. This guy is not a fucking terrorist, and this is a perfect example of how the Patriot Act is being systematically abused as a blank check to a government that is no longer accountable to the citizens it was created to serve.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TMJ66JH4SIZIQ46DJIQCC6TCYI Alfred

      Why are you angry about which law the government used to catch him? The guy admits he was breaking the law, the Patriot Act just enabled the government to catch an admitted lawbreaker. The Patriot Act didn’t take away any liberty in this case, unless you feel that being able to break the law is a liberty.

  • Tarun14379

    but surely internet is not all about music industry , hollywood or softwares. it started revolution like in egypt . if in a democratic country just by passing a law you can take control over internet who is there to stop a dictator ?

    now they will come for us saying artists are starving and then who can give gurantee that they would not come saying you can’t speak ill about a government just because we say so …..

    the barrier between virtual and physical world is getting smaller . we should accept it learn to adapt not fight it .as world changes so should copyright laws .

  • Fucter Fucter

    I find it interesting that the litigation against him drove him to do the same things they force their employees to do. Take the music industry: Winehouse, Morrison, Hendrix, Cobain. Take the movie industry: Lohan, Sheen. These industries are destructive. Thank for sharing your story. I think we as citizens need to evaluate the patriot act being used to catch file copiers. Also, pirates rape people, pirates dont download movies. The whole use of the word piarte just gives credence to mpaa/riaa.

  • Anonymous

    my buddy’s half-sister makes $87 every hour on the computer. She has been unemployed for 7 months but last month her paycheck was $8462 just working on the computer for a few hours. Go to this web site and read more…bit.ly/vZONo1

  • Malcolmhume

    The little creep still thinks he’s cool… what a joke

  • Jb2012

    I didn’t read every comment on here as I don’t have hours to waste. Anyway, here’s my 2 cents:

    The way it’s going now, this battle against piracy will never end. It will simply evolve to some other method, and all these organizations paid to put a stop to it will be forever chasing down these pirates.

    I feel, as a content creator myself, if someone were to download a song I made, for example, I’d be happy that someone is enjoying it. That should be the underlying reason one makes content, for others to enjoy. Money is a byproduct. Yes everyone needs a roof over their heads, food, etc. But I feel we are on the cusp of a time where high-paid entertainers will be a thing of the past. I mean to the extent they are today.

    Look how the music and movie industry is able to streamline getting their content to the people via digital methods, eliminating the high production and delivery costs of physical media. And with everyone already owning a PC and hooked up to high speed internet, content providers can leverage this to get their content to consumers.

    Yes, right now they loose profit from people downloading from torrents and such, but I think they are fighting change way too much. They need to change where they derive profit from. For example, a musician gets paid from live shows and the selling of merchandise, yet their music is freely available for anyone with internet and a computer to download and enjoy. Why shouldn’t it be like that? Yes easier said than done, but any worthwhile change is an uphill battle. Especially when we are conformed in concrete to such dated methods.

    Same with movies. Companies get paid from people seeing it in theaters and the sales of related merchandise. All popular movies earn more than their budget back from the box office anyways. Unless the movie sucks, but hey that’s part of the risk of movie production. Like an investment, some profit, some don’t.

    I could go on but I think I made my point.

  • Bersvein

    …”hunted down by a Patriot Act-empowered FBI? ”
    Bullshit. We’re being hunted down because the current US President gets huge donations from the recording and movie industries. That’s your stupid asses fault for voting that tyrant into office. Dipshits.

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  • StonyVision_is_not_Sk0t

    “At some point along the line, ‘James’ became better known to his peers as StonyVision, and he was invited to join a new project being set up by, among others, a fellow pirate known as Sk0t”

    “Sk0t’s story and those of his fellow operators and uploaders can be found here and here.”

    AM I MISSING SOMETHING HERE??? IS IT JUST ME??? STONY VISION (WHO NARRATES HIS JOURNEY AND STORY IN THIS INTERVIEW/ARTICLE IS NOT “Sk0t”!!!!……am I correct???? “James” aka StonyVision is NOT “Sk0t”

    Can someone correct me please?

    • http://TorrentFreak.com Enigmax (Andy)

      Stony Vision and Sk0t are two different people

  • StonyVision_is_not_Sk0t

    Can someone confirm if all 7 people arrested as part of Operation E-lite for the take down of EliteTorrents, were ADMINS or part of the “Team” MANAGING the site, or were some of them just “users” or “members” that had no role in administration/staffing etc???????????

  • YUGDAB

    “Sk0t” indeed.

    Unoriginal lamer :/

    http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1999-36.html

  • 9021O

    Holy Crap this is an inspirational story

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  • Mr Grumpy

    Epic Lulz ! xD

    Talk about getting PWNED.

  • touhou

    The day they get me im done living, noone live forever anyway. You might see me in the newspaper sometime in the future, they will call me terrorist.

    And everyone will be shocked and clueless why I did it… so ill explain it in advance, im not their slave, im not made their personaly money milk cow, im a viking. They oppress me 99,9% of the time, but 0,01% of the time ill oppress them back. In the end, we are even and everyones dead and happy.

  • http://edanhewitt.com/ Edan Hewitt

    Some scene links here: http://higg.in/the-scene

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7X7FOKXGRDO5FBBZ6VVI3THPSI mario23

    yeah now you cant really upload anymore, because if you upload lots of torrent, you can easily exceed the 250gb per monthly data usage, and get teh risk of having your internet shutdown… now someone wanting to be like him a top uploader you cant anymore….

  • XxxX

    criminals the real abusers are here to be seen FBI MPAA RIAA they may live in a ‘protected world’ for now but times change and this will not be excepted for long.

    Then you guys will see the true power of open sharing caring world
    when your asses are in jail for rapping and dehumanising a generation
    all in the name of your failed business model.

    history too will speak ill of you
    remember this when your grandchildren spit in your face
    and are ashamed to share the same genome of you.

    freedom liberty will always WIN

    the world do-sent owe a exsistance and neither should you abuse you power to your own wims

  • Anonymous

    ITS BECAUSE OF THINGS LIKES THESE
    I THANK GOD EVERYDAY I LIVE IN A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY.
    AND ADVISE ANY ONE LIKE STONY TO MOVE THERE.
    WITH THE RECENT UPRISINGS WE ARE STRONG IN HEART AND UNITED (kinda). one thing is left, to move true freedom and rights from the virtual world (the internet) to the real world.

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  • Somebody

    Damn, StonyVision, there’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time, man the days of DelusionalFXP seem so long ago. Dito really let that place go to shit

  • BTGuard - BitTorrent Anonymously

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