Fearless Digital Pirates Don’t Care About Lawsuits
Written by enigmax on October 13, 2007The year 2005 saw the first person sentenced to prison for sharing a movie. In 2007, the possibility of being fined huge amounts became a reality as a music sharer snared by the RIAA picks up a $222,000 bill. So presumably file-sharers are in hiding? Hardly. This fearless internet breed never stops sharing.
Once it became clear that the ‘Grokster Decision’ was actually a win for file-sharing and not the golden bullet against sharers that the industry had hoped for, it became increasingly clear - sharing was simply not going to go away. Today, if one visits the Grokster site, you’re greeted by this message:
There are legal services for downloading music and movies.
This service is not one of them.YOUR IP ADDRESS IS 83.233.168.134 AND HAS BEEN LOGGED.
Don’t think you can’t get caught. You are not anonymous.
Apart from the fact that I am anonymous (the IP is owned by the anonymous Relakks service), this message is typical of the type of useless scare tactics employed by the industry. Time and again the message is “Don’t think you can’t get caught” and “You are not anonymous” or “You can click but you can’t hide”
Millions upon millions of file sharers are responding to these slogans, not with words, but with actions. They ARE clicking and the vast majority simply don’t care about hiding. It’s true that when you use a standard connection on the internet you aren’t anonymous and of course, it’s certainly possible to ‘get caught’. However, as ever more serious headline-grabbing events come and go, file-sharers are getting wise and making their own risk assessments, probably based on: “I’m clicking every day, they never find me. Or any of my friends. Or their friends.”
When Scott McCausland and a handful of other people went to jail for uploading a pre-release movie in 2005, the industry put out the message: You will go to jail for sharing. Well, it’s 2007 now and surprise, surprise - no one else did. It was a special case, it doesn’t apply to 99.99% of file-sharers and it’s useless in the battle against them.
Today in 2007, we hear about Jammie Thomas, the most famous of the 26,000 recipients of legal action at the hands of the RIAA. Sure, she really got hammered with that huge fine and it will deter some from sharing, but the overwhelming majority either haven’t heard about the case or don’t think they’ll be caught - and they could be forgiven for thinking that.
Even if we super over-compensate and say that 100,000 people worldwide had legal action taken against them (it’s nowhere near), this number pales into insignificance when put alongside the conservative estimate of 100 million worldwide file-sharers. Furthermore, take away the legal actions in the United States and the chances of being ‘caught’ edge ever closer to zero. The odds of being ‘caught’ in the rest of the world aren’t quite zero but they’re substantially slimmer than in the States.
Whatever the reality, it’s the perception that really matters and the perception among file-sharers is that while they’re downloading the latest blockbuster movies or millions of TV shows every single week, the chances of being ‘caught’ are close to zero. Therefore the chances of paying a ‘fine’ are close to zero and the chance of going to jail, closer still.
So maybe digital pirates aren’t fearless, brave or even reckless. Maybe they just like to gamble when the odds are hugely - massively - tipped in their favor.
Previously: Anti-Piracy Organization Domain IFPI.com Now Owned by The Pirate Bay
Next: Most Popular DVDrips on BitTorrent (wk41)
109 Responses
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nice report
so if we clicked on that link our IP’s are really logged? :S
yay, well said!
[quote]so if we clicked on that link our IP’s are really logged? :S[/quote]
People are so scared of getting their IP logged for going to a site or something. It’s like the people thinking that an ebay auction selling anti-piracy technology was just to get the IP of buyers, despite the fact that buying anti-piracy technology on ebay is not illegal.
They can not prosecute you for going to the grokster site.
interesting i like my odds
Great read Enigmax! I remember the old days when I used to download a ton of songs off Napster. I have to admit I am a bit more cautious these days when downloading. There are days in which I wish I lived in Europe and not in the states.
But you are right, it’s not enough to keep me off of downloading.
Amen.
Also, every single site you visit “logs” your ip. It’s just intimidation.
[quote comment="186629"]Amen.
Also, every single site you visit “logs” your ip. It’s just intimidation.[/quote]
Yap ! I Knew That Too .. And Once I Visited Edonkey site (to Download the client ) .. .And I saw .. My IP was Blah .. It was logged Blah .. Piracy is Bad Blah Blah …
I just dont care !
LimeWire/FrostWire, Mininova , piratebay and isohunt …. these are enough for me ..
:)
Indeed, I’ll continue to share as always.
If anything, the lawsuits has just made me angry, and more eager to share their material.
yeah, yeah ips are logged and logs are deleted,
or did you buy that large expensive hdd to store logs?
13yearoldwrote
Yap ! I Knew That Too .. And Once I Visited Edonkey site (to Download the client ) .. .And I saw .. My IP was Blah .. It was logged Blah .. Piracy is Bad Blah Blah …
I just dont care !
LimeWire/FrostWire, Mininova , piratebay and isohunt …. these are enough for me ..
uhh, you do realize that the faggot RIAA closed down isohunt, right?
Good article and all, but the more and more I see articles like this, the more and more it seems that you’re trying to convine yourself, and others out there that we shouldn’t be scared, instead of stating a fact.
Anyone want to go in on playing the lotto? We have better chances of winning then we do getting prosecuted. Ither way… I believe that should the anti-piracy lobbies get by some strange luck to sue all 100million+ file sharers that it would bring a huge uprising against the governments causing global chaos…
(hopes and wishes for chaos)
When MPAA and RIAA sends over 100 million people to jail, you won’t be so fearless, would you? Just you wait…
lol. They wouldn’t possibly send 100 million people to jail. That would cause massive revolution.
On second thought let them, we need a revolution.
Revolution is definitively needed!
MAFIAA (Music And Film Industry Association of America) has already started a project of building a super-prison on Titan, one of the Saturn’s moons. Why do you think NASA sent Cassini-Huygens? And, according to the latest events, they’ve established a jurisprudence system of their own.
Today, you download. Tomorrow you’ll rot in methane mines. Just you wait…
Ok, so in the lasy 15 months, i have downloaded 3.650.65 GB’s of data,
Or 3.5 terabits of data, sue me!
please take me away from my wife and children and leave them without the neccessary means of support, because I am unable to pay the over inflated prices demanded by the CD and DVD manufacturers and the respected parent companys, Its bad enoughth that my govenment is screwing me for as much as possible, I wouldnt even hope to be able to go out and buy a CD after they are through with me, so the only way I can get current music and films( as the cinima is out of the financel realms of possibilty) is to download it. Its a risk I and many other file shares take because we have no option left RIAA, and associated partys across the world. etc etc etc
Glad to see you’re still up and fighting because I am still impressed by the design of TorrentFreak.com!
Microsoft wants me to illegally download music… In a way.
I recently learned that some of the proceeds of the Zune go to the music industries because Microsoft is aware of what their product will be used for, so not ‘illegally’ downloading music means I’m not getting the full bang for my buck.
[quote]uhh, you do realize that the faggot RIAA closed down isohunt, right?[/quote]
Closed down? Isohunt is still up and running fine.
[quote]lol. They wouldn’t possibly send 100 million people to jail. That would cause massive revolution.[/quote]
If the American government can put hundreds of thousands of non violent people in jail just for posessing or selling substances the government doesn’t like, they can put hundreds of thousands of non violent people in jail for sharing data over the internet.
isohunt was only shutdown to US visitors if I recall correctly
[quote comment="186707"]
uhh, you do realize that the faggot RIAA closed down isohunt, right?[/quote]
No, Isohunt just banned all american IP’s
So whats the life expectancy of a MPAA CEO these days?
people who haven’t experienced the use of ‘calling cards’ and 1-800 numbers to call boards world wide don’t have the right to “be afraid” of a simple msg like “your ip has been logged”..
I use torrents myself for the classic movies which can’t be found in normal mainstream outlets.. but i truly wouldn’t shed a tear when the whole p2p networks came down crumbling.
Evolution, let the strong survive.. (we have, for over 20 years)
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