Illegal Downloading. Who is next?

[MrPlum]

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19370862
'Joel Tenenbaum must pay $675,000 (£426,000) in damages awarded to the major US music labels'

This could be a great money-spinner for lawyers... Watch the ambulance-chasers send out letters to millions who've downloaded Justin Bieber, asking for a fat fee not to prosecute.

[sandman67]

well...it is in the USA, and lets not forget that the USA is the country where a court awarded damages to a bloke who bought an RV and then crashed it cos he thought cruise control meant he could leave the RV to drive itself while he made coffee. The same country that is crowing about taking down MegaUpload when in fact its just made things worse, as file sharers now use a wider range of smaller file hosters so its now harder to track whats going on.

Also bear in mind that there were a flurry of cases like this in the UK and they died off all of a sudden when some bright spark worked out that the law, and the levels of damages and fines, were on very shaky legal grounds as its almost impossible, without seizing the computer and doing some very expensive analysis of activity on it, to establish who is the guilty and therefore liable party if the computer is used by more than one person.

And finally, they keep on poking the snarling dog that is the "Anonymous" crowd by doing these convictions. If I were the judge in that case Id never connect my computer to the web ever again, cos you can bet your botty that judge is now on a list of attractive targets for hackers.

Its a no win situation for all involved, and like the equally stupid and pointless war on drugs its just good for generating some ink, collecting some victims in the crossfire, and achieving absolutely bugger all of worth.

and finally.... if you listen to Justin Beiber you belong behind bars.

[Lung Per]

well...it is in the USA, and lets not forget that the USA is the country where a court awarded damages to a bloke who bought an RV and then crashed it cos he thought cruise control meant he could leave the RV to drive itself while he made coffee. The same country that is crowing about taking down MegaUpload when in fact its just made things worse, as file sharers now use a wider range of smaller file hosters so its now harder to track whats going on.

Also bear in mind that there were a flurry of cases like this in the UK and they died off all of a sudden when some bright spark worked out that the law, and the levels of damages and fines, were on very shaky legal grounds as its almost impossible, without seizing the computer and doing some very expensive analysis of activity on it, to establish who is the guilty and therefore liable party if the computer is used by more than one person.

And finally, they keep on poking the snarling dog that is the "Anonymous" crowd by doing these convictions. If I were the judge in that case Id never connect my computer to the web ever again, cos you can bet your botty that judge is now on a list of attractive targets for hackers.

Its a no win situation for all involved, and like the equally stupid and pointless war on drugs its just good for generating some ink, collecting some victims in the crossfire, and achieving absolutely bugger all of worth.

and finally.... if you listen to Justin Beiber you belong behind bars.

Who the f*ck is Justin Bieber??

[Spitfire]

Who the f*ck is Justin Bieber??

From what I can gather he's a scary little male teen and sings annoying songs in that type of soft voice (along with whipping-up complementary naff images/videos to such songs) that prepubescent girls find comforting to the point that they can express themselves confidently in the security of their bedrooms.

As SM67 said, if you are listening to that then.........

[MrPlum]

If you didn't already know, '...most file-sharers are monitored'... http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19474829

"You don't have to be a mass downloader. Someone who downloads a single movie will be logged as well,"

Although the article says it is doubtful whether courts would convict, you may still find speculative legal firms paying for IP addresses, finding your email address, then contacting you seeking 'compensation'. I have read of this already happening. Some people pay up out of fear.

How do you protect yourself?

If your connection is shared, it is impossible for anyone to know which individual actually copyrighted material. Therein lies the defence.

[buksida]

If your connection is shared, it is impossible for anyone to know which individual actually copyrighted material.

Not quite, for those using shared ADSL over telephone lines an ISP can trace which IP is assigned to which phone number at any one time, from the land line number they can ascertain the physical house address. They will not usually do this without a court or police order though, so for those running forums it is handy to know someone who works at the provider if you want to get an address of a troublesome member!

Using someone else's wifi and a proxy is the way to go.

[MrPlum]

I was thinking that if you had a family, how would the authorities know if it was you, your wife, your children or just a visitor who downloaded? Surely, they don't?

I've dragged my feet on the proxy front mainly because I read that it doesn't mask your MAC address. Unless I start changing network cards, what's the point of using a proxy?

[buksida]

Of course, they cant actually tell which person was using the comp, but they can pinpoint the machine itself ... not sure if pleading ignorance would help in these cases, if they want to make an example out of someone such as fining a housewife $250k they're screwed.

[MrPlum]

... not sure if pleading ignorance would help in these cases, if they want to make an example out of someone such as fining a housewife $250k they're screwed.

Yes. If they want to get you that badly, I'm sure they will.

Can you comment on the MAC question. Would you recommend changing this as well? http://sadgeeksinsnow.blogspot.com/2010 ... rents.html

Considering the years I've spent downloading and 'conspiring', it hardly seems worth the effort.

[buksida]

Considering we live in Thailand I wouldn't even worry about it, they have bigger ghosts to chase.