Crackdown on File-Sharers Trading in Gay Porn
Written by enigmax on October 03, 2007After being a relative safe-haven for file-sharers, the sharing of porn is becoming the latest target for increased legal action. Following on from promised action against people involved in mainstream porn, a leading distributor of gay porn is now flexing its muscles against those it accuses of infringing its copyrights.
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve reported how parts of the adult content industry is aiming to tackle sites which they believe are involved in the illegal distribution of their intellectual property.
Titan Media advertise themselves as ‘the premier creator of all-male erotica’, (aka ‘gay porn’) and they are also cracking down on sites and individuals who they say are illegally using their content.
Previously, after the CEO of anti-piracy company BayTSP refused to chase porn file sharers saying: “We don’t want to be known in the porn space”, companies like Titan had to go it alone, even going as far as complaining directly to KaZaA in 2004.
No stranger to taking (or at least threatening) legal action against P2P in more recent years, Titan has previously targeted sharers on the eDonkey and other networks, including several blogs.
Now, according to industry publication AVN, Titan Media has shut down what it calls ‘an online gay porn piracy ring’, which in reality were half a dozen blogs (some hosted by Google) carrying links to gay porn stored on sites such as Rapidshare.
The lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California names Gilbert Michael Gonzales (aka ‘MikeyG’) as the brains behind the operation, also listed 21 ‘John Doe’ as defendants and alleges copyright infringement of 45 Titan Media productions.
President of Titan Media, Keith Webb told AVN: “The message we are sending is that you can run, but you cannot hide. Mr. Gonzalez thought he could hide behind anonymous blogs and postings, but he was seriously mistaken. People need to realize that nothing they do online is anonymous. Every single posting, upload, download, or page view is tracked and recorded, and can eventually be traced back to the individual. Mr. Gonzales taunted us in his online blog postings to try and catch him and shut him down…so we did. If you steal Titan Media property, we will identify you and we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”
Back in 2004, Titan admitted tracking down those it said infringed its copyrights and threatening them with legal action. However, as an alternative to a messy and costly lawsuit, it offered alleged file-sharers an amnesty in return for them taking out a valid subscription to Titan Media’s products. Titan did not immediately respond to emails requesting a comment so we are unable to confirm if this is still the case.
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Oh, no! They’re going to out us! :D
You know, it’s rather hypocritical for an industry which caters to “special needs” groups to turn right around and extort them based on these needs. You can bet I won’t be supporting Titan Media.
FIXED (thanks ernesto)
bummer. titan media sucks anyway ; )
Most of these type file sharers surely reside in Canada anyway. Maybe they can form a coalition with ex-demonoid users and march through the streets in their underwear together. xD.
“The message we are sending is that you can run, but you cannot hide”
LMFAO!! sry couldnt hold it.. :)
theres alot more fitting things they could have said instead of that :D
What I can’t undertand is the way the government enforces the copyright of porn film producers, and at the same time hauls them to court to face obscenity charges. (I’m starting to wonder if child-porn producers can sue for copyright infringement also?)
[quote]Federal Grand Jury Charges Arizona And California Companies
And Their Owners With Obscenity Violations
WASHINGTON – A Chatsworth, California film production company and a Tempe, Arizona video distributor and retailer, along with three owners of the businesses, have been charged by a federal grand jury in Phoenix, Arizona with operating an obscenity distribution business and related offenses, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Paul K. Charlton of the District of Arizona announced today.
In an indictment unsealed yesterday, Five Star Video, LLC, of Tempe, Arizona, and Phoenix residents Christopher Warren Ankeney and Kenneth James Graham were charged with four counts of using an interactive computer service to sell and distribute DVDs containing obscene matter … [/quote]
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/June/06_crm_343.html
I say extradite them all to Iran - they’ll settle it!
It would be interesting if the gay-porn industry went after P2P users the same way as the RIAA - by making them a private settlement offer before going to court.
I’m sure that a lot of copyright-infringing homosexuals would gladly hand over $3000 just to keep their identy secret. Pastor Ted Haggard would have considered that a bargain price :)
hmmm… the gay-porn industry just might be sitting on a goldmine and not even realize it.
well this is one less thing to worry about i don’t use bittorrent to download porn….in fact if i do download porn i never save it i erase it right after watching it’s not something you consider at all valuable
Even downloading a file is rare for me i usually see em on you tube like sites.
(psst. i don’t download gay porn i download lesbian porn instead :))
WTF? When a man cant go online, grab a quick girl on girl flick to beat the meat too, without fear of being exposed, it starts to make me wonder what the hell this world has come to. - CJ
depo thats a warning to you buddy
its odd they are going after blogger circuit circulation - which is kind of amateur torrent ‘ring’ hidden inside news groups or whatever
when there exist 2 or 3 very well known high profile established sites - the equiv of demonoid or pirate bay in the gay scene.
maybe its a new kind of sex-high……
titan-torry-chasers
or maybe the name of the latest gay-vid…..
Indeed the porn industry is coming out swinging…but methinks it will be more like a silly flailing cat fight (dude, you fight like a girl). they think they got extra leverage because of the social stigma attached to the content.
I dont believe a C&D that says:
“Pay up you Filthy Pirate…or else we’ll tell your family, friends, and fellow church members youve been stealing [gay] smut!!!”
…would be compliant with the DMCA.
However when they say things like:
“Please stop and consider what such a paper trail could do to one’s future.” as they do at http://www.getamnesty.com, the sight that is attemting to profit in such extortion rackets on behalf of the porn industry, they are basically saying the same thing.
the company behind getamnesty.com - nexicon- just signed up 4 new [porno] ‘motion picture studio’ customers: http://tinyurl.com/29hljt
if you like to download porn, then be on the lookout for a C&D or as nexicon calls it a “Bill”
happy spanking
Omg. *hides under bed.
i agree titan media vids are not that great anyways…but its not like they can totally stop P2P many try but something new will come…technology will not be stop…
peeps will find a way to share them…no matter what..we may lose some battles..but the war will be won…
Oh NO! I can’t share my gay porn!!! NOW WHAT WILL I DO!?!?!?!?!!???!!!11one
Enigmax what us your obsession with reporting small pr0n cases. Maybe report something big, like a massive pr0n tracker going down, but stuff like this noone gives a shit.
The main reason is you have to try hard to browse internet without porn being thrust in your face. A little less porn out these isn’t going to effect anyone. Only the site owner and the small communities around them will be bothered, and those will surely move on quickly to other sites.
It always Amazes me how Someone who makes something expects to be completely the sole proprietor of it and expects to live in Bliss without any risks to tehir wellfare whatsoever . this is Negligent behaviour - this is for those who are normally NOT 20 years into a field of business… business has its risks some risks are higher than others hopefully teh Judge will have his or her own secret stash of Downloaded porn and I for one am not worried about identity come and get me! i think if US Media producers really want to go after fileshrers - Why arent they doign it in droves? why make mess with small fry huh?
COWARDS!
jaymarcs@ hotmail
This will for sure mark the end of the file-sharing. Without the gay porn, whatever will we do?
Personally, I’d love for them to find the names of the illegal downloaders and share all their names. It could become it’s own new reality show, “Guess who downloads gay porn”.
Titanmedia.
Im in urgay porn ruinin ur faps
@ #3 “its ok”
deepthroat my canadian dick
The most funny thing in this story will be when the screen names are read out in court.
[quote comment="180385"]@ #3 “its ok”
deepthroat my canadian dick[/quote]
Is that the name of a porno D:
[quote comment="180426"][quote comment="180385"]@ #3 “its ok”
deepthroat my canadian dick[/quote]
Is that the name of a porno D:[/quote]
didn’t find it on Google.
but did find Deepthroat my Latin Horsecock on Google.
[quote comment="180367"]
Personally, I’d love for them to find the names of the illegal downloaders and share all their names. It could become it’s own new reality show, “Guess who downloads gay porn”.[/quote]
Do you have a Phone book?
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