Mythbusting
Written by Ernesto on January 14, 2006Slyck has a post on the myths surrounding filesharing
Myth: 16,000 people have been sued for filesharing
Facts: No they haven’t. The actual figure is around a handful
* The number of people who have actually been sued for filesharing by the recording industry amounts to little more than a handful
* None of these cases have actually been defended on the basis of filesharing, but on the basis of fair use, dismissal because it was someone else, etc.
* A letter demanding settlement does not amount to a lawsuit, or being “sued “
Myth: Filesharing is illegal
Facts: No it isn’t illegal inasmuch that it does not constitute a criminal act
* If you are caught and if the matter is pursued, it is a civil matter between you and the recording industry and you could be sued.
* You cannot be arrested, searched, fined or imprisoned for filesharing. The recording industries do not have state support, they cannot simply search property at will or seize your possessions, they are private companies with no more rights than private individuals.
Myth: The recording industry always wins
Facts: No they don’t
* Over 75% of the people receiving demands for settlement in the 2 years ended September 2005 neither settled nor were taken to court
* No cases contested on the basis of filesharing have yet been heard by a judge
Myth: The risks of being caught filesharing are very high
Facts: They are not
* The risks of receiving a demand for settlement are 1 in around 4,000
* The risk of receiving a demand for settlement and then actually having to do so are around 1 in 17,000
* The risks of being taken to court for filesharing are around 1 in 12M
* Nobody has ever received a demand for settlement or been sued for downloading only. The risk of being the first to face such an action are in therefore the order of 1 in 60M
* More than 95% of those caught filesharing have been caught using Fastrack clients such as Kazaa
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18 Responses
Well i just wanna say THE PIRATES RULE AND FILE SHARING IS HERE TO STAY.So likes of RIAA and MPAA better get ready to close thier offices as soon as they can as they r fighting a lost war.
Its great!
Sources, please?
In my opinion this is just propaganda. I cannot see any facts or confirmed issues here. If you would have worked for a worldwide corporation, you would see that they never lose (regarless of the fact they win or not, they NEVER lose). Any newbie approaching file-sharing will have a high probability to get burned (one way or another). Because of so many newbies entering the scene, veterans will, most likeky have a lower chance of being caught. So don’t come here and say baseless things. If you would look deeply, you’d see that even in Eastern Europe (where I’m from, sorry for my english) things are begining to get dangerous…
Hi!
Got any evidence for your figures?
try asking over here
http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1054
Unless I hear a judge or other lawmaker quoted and confirming this stuff, then i’m still not going to believe it. Downloading is risky. Always has, always will be.
If the recording and software industries would take less of a “cash-grab” in marking up the prices of the media, more people would get the stuff legitimately. Like if a DVD were priced at the real cost of $9.00 they would sell a thousand times more of them. And why do software companies charge the same amount for Downloaded delivery as I can find the item in the store for? So much for by-passing the middleman.
Well, I wait patiently to see corporations win this one. As far as I can tell, filesharing has only gotten stronger and better, with other big corporations resorting to the use of filesharing methods. Just as VHS tapes were always copied, and tdk cassette tapes were always in use, so too filesharing would remain.
I cannot swear for the facts stated above, but from personal observation, I see no decline in filesharing. It’s funny that these so-called corporations spend so much just to lose.
Filesharing is risky…so too is driving a car, or flying in an airplane. ;-)
I am a 13 year old computer programmer, I rely on P2P Networks to distripute my software over the net because I cant afford a high bandwidth server. Filesharing will remain even if it is for legal purposes only. (although I doubt that, VHS was always copied people made tapes from recording music from the radio. You cant stop it.)
well shit, if your afraid of being caught for downloading files, go out and buy a wireless internet card, pop it in, and use your neighbors internet! i am not afraid of anyone on the internet.
the RIAA and MPAA can go suck my harry nuts
As a lawyer I can tell you an awful lot of the information here is incorrect, I would excercise caution before believing anything you read on the internet.
posters who demand ‘evidence’ or maintain the ‘danger’ of file sharing probably work in the recording/film industry in some capacity; ie shills. dont listen to these worryworts.
i ’steal’ music and videos all the time. come get me.
who cares what the risks are , at this point there aren’t even enough jails to hold all the downloaders , we are nearing critical mass with the amount of people who download ,with a few more million people we could even legalize it …
All the media (copywrited or not) I download I wouldn’t pay for in the first place and the rare gem of a movie, album or game that is worth purchasing I infact DO. If there was no file sharing I’d just go back to playing the games I already legally purchased (wow, cs:s, crysis) and you would likely never see another cent from me again. I don’t get what the big deal is the industry isn’t losing revenue from the majority of people that download, they wouldn’t of payed for your overpriced, overhyped product in the first place. I only make it through 25% (generous figure) of the movies I watch (through downloads, movie theater, VOD or movie store rentals) perhaps if they spent the same amount of money on developing products worth the price they charge (or lowering the price of said products to a more reasonable figure) instead of using money pursuing legal action against file sharing, perhaps there wouldn’t be an issue. So RIAA and MPAA you won’t be getting my money unless your product deserves it, and hardly any of it does. Take this time to introspect and see why people aren’t buying your products I’m sure you’ll find the answer. I’ll give you a hint though… it’s not file sharing. O_X yarrr
You are more likely to win the lottery and then get hit by a bus then you are to be busted for ‘illegal downloading’. Anyone who says otherwise is a spy.
While it is possible to get caught filesharing, and to get taken to court, it is, as this article stated a civil action. Filesharing is not a criminal act, anymore than it is criminal to rip a track from a CD and send it to your cousin via Yahoo Mail.
No corporation has the right to show up on your doorstep demanding you turn over your computer to them, or submit it to a search, etc. This can only be done by a legitimate law enforcement agency, and then only under a warrant of search & seizure authorized by a judge serving in the county in which the search is to be conducted.
The RIAA and MPAA have taken people to court- and it is always the same- a little 12 year old girl from New York who downloaded Disney songs, for example.
This is because the RIAA know that they can’t get the money they ask for in their lawsuits, $12,000 per song downloaded, etc… no judge would ever grant such a request over a few Hannah Montana songs. But, the RIAA target these particular “pirates” for shock value. They want to get the press - “If they’ll go after a little girl, none of us are safe !” - scare tactics.
The RIAA will never take some 35 year old hacker, stealing files in the comfort of their basement to court because even if they could make a case, they’d never be able to get their money, and they wouldn’t get any shock value in the press.
The RIAA doesn’t want money from downloaders as a punishment for downloading… they want to stop downloaders from downloading any way they can so to force these same people to purchase overpriced, low quality product- the standard business practice of the recording industry from the dawn of the CD era until the advent of the Internet, and Napster in the 1990s.
When a CD from Matraca Berg costs $39 in a CD store in 1991… or Star Trek DVDs cost as much, per season, as 4 seasons of MASH you have the answer to the question “why download ?”
To the RIAA, and the MPAA - lower your purchase price for your commercially available product and you’ll see that “decrease in sales caused by downloading” go away…. because it is not caused by downloading. It is caused by the unbridled money lust of a few corporate fat cats who think they can make people pay any amount of money they want for a product of any level of quality if they hype it up enough.
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