Comments on: Prison Time For Downloading Movies

By: mostknownunknown

mostknownunknown — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:42:39 +0000

does this law apply in canada?
and where or who would i talk to about getting someone busted for downloading movies illegally and burning them to cd’s?

By: emoboy

emoboy — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:43:27 +0000

Hi, My pics of my new emo hairstyle
at http://xrl.us/ouog6

By: Travan

Travan — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:25:08 +0000

Everyone of you have no clue!! The Federal Government can do what ever they want when ever they want to who ever they want and it doesn’t make a difference what you or I say about it.

I know this for a fact!! I just recieved 12 months and 1 day sentence along with $39,000 and change restitution for nothing more then programing 1 Satelight TV card for a kid that was wearing a wire. 1 charge!!!! A civil case that was blown up into a Federal prosicution simply because I pissed the wrong Small Town USA truck drive turned Deputy officer off for an unrelated incidend.

There are thousands of Civil cases where the defendent has done far more infrigments and recieved Far less and even no penalties at all then what I recieved. Do a google search for your self if you don’t believe me.

The Legal System in this country is so screwed up that unless you know how the system works or have the money to hire a GOOD lawyer you are going to Prison for a very long time for nothing more then a petty crime or even worse no crime at all. A Court appointed Lawyer is nothing more then a paper filer of the courts. A Federal Defender does not have your interest or defence in mind but instead does what is necessary to be sure the paperwork for your case is filed in a timely manner.

Your given NO legal advice and If you decide to plead guilty thinking its better to work with the prosicution and possably recieve a lighter sentince then to fight and lose and then recieve the maximum sentince to a petty crime such as the one I committed the court can and will use fabricted evidence against you in determaning what your sentince and or monitary losses will be. Evidence which is clearly and obviusly flawed and would never be allowed in a trial now becomes “Factual evidence and no longer needs a factual bases to be proven”

What a legal injustice this form of practice now allows the legal system to do. So before you start expressing the rights or wrongs of downloading movies, software, or Satelight TV you need to find out the truth.

travan@yahoo.com

By: Lensman2501

Lensman2501 — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 20:41:56 +0000

I have been reading A LOT about the supposed economical problems the music and movie industry is having since people started d/l their IP from the internet. But what about some info I read a couple of years ago that these industries were fixing the price of the cd and movies so the customer was paying more. If I am not mistaken, they (the music and movie industries) had to give this money back to customers, but the catch was that the customer had to show a proof of the price paid (sales ticket, bill etc). If I bought a cd/movie 5 years ago, how the hell am I supposed to keep those bills around? It was ridiculous. Why not lower the price of cd’s/movies for a period of time or permanently to make sales more attractive and keep people from d/l stuff? LIKE THAT WILL EVER HAPPEN!! There are reasons people are going less to movies, buying less movies, buying less cd’s… Most of the movies, and music cd’s coming out are crap, pure and simple. When a movie or cd is good, it sells, when its crap, well, lets just say I don’t know anyone that owns a copy of Catwoman. Another big reason is all this nonsense DRM technology included with the music cd’s. I will not play in my computer another cd for risk of unknown software being installed doing only god knows what. For example, I know of people that buy a cd, play it on regular cd players and d/l the actual songs from the internet or file sharing programs to avoid getting nasty software in their computers. These companies have been milking customers for a LONG time and making lots and lots of money, if they want to make people stop d/l stuff they should start by changing the way they treat their customers, charging less to promote sales and stop bullying everybody. And can someone clarify the rights of a user of IP, for example i was under the impression that you could d/l IP (a song or movie) and delete it in less than 24 hrs and this is not considered a infringement; also making a copy of your cd’s and movies for personal use/safeguard is legal.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 05:51:45 +0000

I’m quickly learning just how much the ones in power understand about technology and the people and listen to the ones that give them money. downloading music is closer to figuring out what is in a product at a restaurant and then making it at home. One you didn’t take a real product like gum. you merely figured out what the contents where and then made it yourself. No real stealing went on. You aren’t stealing a dvd or the music cd merely your computer is figuring out what is in that song and then lets you listen to it. Thats it. so the ones that compare downloading a song clearly have no idea how to set laws and policy for this day and age and should go get a degree in computer science instead of listening to the ones that give them money.

By: Mr. Fusion

Mr. Fusion — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 05:08:16 +0000

Well, sometimes the Government and courts do believe it is theft. A few months ago there was a topic discussed here about someone using a neighbor’s WI-FIs feed. The court found him guilty of theft.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20060325/tc_cmp/183702832

It didn’t help that the guy pleaded guilty.

By: truth hurts

truth hurts — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 23:12:11 +0000

#30 – the car was never stolen. Giving away keys to a stolen car is not the same as downloading files. Infringement should not be illegal, criminally OR civilly. It’s not the state’s business to protect Mickey Mouse for eternity. It should be in the public domain now. Copyright is intended to “promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts, by securing for limited times…” Corporations want to extend IP rights forever, based on their financial interests. But copyright was not intended to protect some company’s right to make money for all time. In a TRULY free market, there would be no IP. Either Innovate or Die.

By: axe

axe — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 20:42:41 +0000

#23 – How do you know the stolen car is in the owner’s garage? Many people leave their keys in the ignition going to a convenience store or somewhere else, sometimes with the engine running. That’s a common place where cars are stolen, just ask the police.

I do agree with your library book analogy.

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 16:46:24 +0000

If anything, I believe that downloading promotes sales more than anything. More than often, I watch a downloaded movie only to buy it on DVD a short time later. I have a vast collection of bought movies. All were a result of making a informed decision on how to spend my hard earned money.

By: John Johnson

John Johnson — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 13:50:33 +0000

Lou says ” the point that there are more heinous crimes is completely irrelevant…. ”

Well Lou, I hope you get raped and see how you like it

By: pez

pez — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 13:18:24 +0000

how about jail times for

- manipulating the development and release of new technologies in order
to maintain a stranglehold on the market and using to engage in ant-competitive practices.

- continuous and pre-meditated exploitation of consumers and artists

- destroying the global culture by promoting high profit trash at the expense of independant artists and distributors

- using the courts and legal system to prop up a out-moded business model.

The music and movie industries have been ripping people off for so long, its their own fault that they are getting themselves in trouble now. Anytime you artificially inflate prices to a higher level than the market will bear, a black market springs up.

price your product reasonably, make it available conveniently. see what happens.

By: seadog

seadog — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 11:49:38 +0000

god, some people are so bloody annoying, Lou youre a fuckin tosser, get off your high horse and fuck it, you righteous fuck! Long live piracy…fuck these multinational corporations, since when do they give about ethics etc…so why should i?

By: C.Raab

C.Raab — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 11:46:51 +0000

Horrible. This is not the Germany I was born into anymore, and that did occur just 14 years ago. Maybe I’m moving France.
I wonder what the comment from this CSU-politician really means; maybe he wanted to express that he thinks that illegal downloading is a theft, and should be punished as such? That would clearly not result in 2 – 5 years of prison, with my definition of an object of theft. Well, the prisons in Germany are not that hard and depriving of rights as they are in the US, but this is stil, as could be translated from German, tough tobacco. I am not that well wandered in law, but I feel that this is a very sudden change in the copyright-laws with fatal consequences. O tempora, o mores…..

By: truth machine

truth machine — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 11:15:49 +0000

I get a copy of the X-Men movie that is to come out in May, and I print up 200 million DVD’s of it and distribute it free throughout the country. The first week the movie comes out in theatres, it tanks at the box office (less than $1 million in sales). Would you say that this infringement resulted in a theoretical loss? Would you say that this deserves a token fine?

Suppose that, instead of distributing the movie, you wrote a scathing review that was picked up all over the internet, and other movie reviewers echoed it in their columns, and as a result the film tanked. Should you be thrown in jail for two years?

The government does not exist to guarantee the movie companies a profit. In the U.S., there is a specific body of law that applies — copyright law — and it’s motivation is not to make coke snorting studio execs rich. The motivation is spelled out in the Constitution:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries

Legislatures would do well to keep in mind that it’s the interests of society, and not those of megamedia corporations, that they are supposed to protect.

By: truth machine

truth machine — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 10:52:07 +0000

” Isn’t that like someone giving me the keys to a stolen car?”

No, because the “stolen” “car” is still sitting in the owner’s garage. As has been pointed out numerous times. There’s a term for ignoring critical points like that — intellectual dishonesty.

If someone removes a book from the library without checking it out, that’s theft from the library. If they check a book out, copy it, and return it, that’s a violation of the author’s copyright. They are radically different infringements, against different parties. They have very little in common.