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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: It's so easy to pirate content, some people don't believe it's pirated
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 02-15-2015 03:03 AM
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
If there some serious laws passed, I would have no problem fining her or putting her in jail.
Those laws are already there, I don't know the specifics about Canada, but the potential penalties are quite unpleasant for average Joe. Still, it seems courts have better things to do than sending old ladies to jail for buying a naughty box at the local store. I agree with Mike, the ones they should hang for this are those who build those boxes and peddle them to the public.
quote: Steve Matz
Was this theft of Service? Well in a way it was; but I say if I can turn some knobs or hook an antenna or whatever and receive the signal in the Privacy of my home then I don't feel it's stealing.
The situation in the U.S. might be a bit different, because of the DMCA actively prohibiting any circumvention of copy protection (even ripping a Blu-Ray you bought could potentially end you in jail ![[Wink]](wink.gif) ).
But in most jurisdictions without something like a DMCA, it's not considered illegal if you unscramble a signal that's already delivered to your home, whether this signal is delivered by cable, satellite or over-the-air doesn't really matter.
The only conflict that could arise is a conflict with your cable company, because you're misappropriating their connection and are probably using it outside the scope of what's defined in their terms of service. So, they could potentially cancel all your services and sue you for it. But, if you don't have a contract with them to begin with, the only thing they could do, is disconnect you from their network.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 02-15-2015 12:02 PM
quote: Frank Cox
Society has a general attitude that drunk driving is bad -- you are a bad person if you do it and deserve to be punished.
It does now, but didn't always.
I once saw a British 16mm classroom film from the 1950s aimed at teenage schoolkids who would shortly be learning to drive. Once scene shows a man coming out of a country pub staggering around a bit, getting into his car and driving off down the road, weaving from side to side, as the commentator states (as near to verbatim as I can remember): "There's no harm in driving home after a few pints, but it's not a good idea to drive when you're completely sozzled - you'll probably end up in a ditch!"
When you consider that 1950s driving was a lot slower and there were far fewer cars in existence per mile of tarmac, that advice probably wasn't as stupid or as reckless as it seems from today's perspective. The drink-drive laws were later toughened up because the roads became inherently more dangerous places.
Today, the authorities are mounting a big propaganda effort to convince us that driving while using our cellphones is as unacceptable as drink driving, but all the signs I see are that it isn't working. I see people with one hand on the wheel and the other holding their phones to their ear (or writing text messages) every day. If the police tried to catch them all, they'd have to drop everything else they're doing.
A serious effort has been going on to make the piracy of recorded music and movies socially unacceptable for decades - at least since the Home Taping is Killing Music campaign that started in the early '80s. The music industry essentially gave up trying and changed their business model to one in which pop stars effectively give their recordings away, but make their money on live gig tours. The movie industry is still trying, but I'm not holding my breath as to the outcome.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 02-15-2015 07:54 PM
I wasn't actually trying to open a debate as to how dangerous drink-driving is compared to driving on the phone, but rather to make the point that people's ideas of what is acceptable and what isn't change over time, and that vested interests try to make that change happen - as illustrated by the fact that for many decades, DUI was not a crime at all, and then for many decades after that, was considered by many if not most to be a victimless one. 12 year-old girls being married off to 40-something men was considered quite OK once upon a time, too (and in some parts of the world, sadly, still is, but we're in danger of getting political if we go there) - etc. etc. etc.
What's relevant here is that a critical mass of the population still regard the pirating of mainstream movies as a victimless crime, hence the large-scale sales of these boxes that enable them to do it. If history is anything to go by, this situation cannot be changed by law enforcement alone.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 02-15-2015 09:05 PM
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
I have always said that its the laws that need to become ever stricter which would help prevent some of this.
The laws are already very strict. The problem is enforcement. And good luck on that. A great deal of computer based crime, particularly crime involving theft and distribution of pirated movies, music and software, happens across International borders in countries with no extradition treaties with the United States or other western nations.
quote: Mike Blakesley
By the way, despite disbelievers, people really do camcord movies in theaters.
While it's true people do sneak camcorders into theaters and bootleg content from the screen none of those taped off the screen movies have much of any value. The video and sound quality is almost always horrible. I laugh at anyone silly enough to waste 2 hours of their life watching a movie in that form.
Screener discs are far higher quality sources. They often deliver at least DVD quality levels if not quite a bit higher. The only thing viewers have to put up with (sometimes) is stuff like time code at the bottom of screen or labels like "Property of Paramount Pictures."
quote: Frank Cox
The lady involved is "honest" and has a sincere belief that what she is doing is legitimate. Do you really think it is she should be arrested, fined thousands of dollars and spent several months or years in jail? She isn't trying to rip anyone off; she's just watching television at home with her family; if she wasn't watching her Showbox she would be watching Channel 7 instead.
I'll echo this. There's a lot of people who really think Popcorn Time and Showbox are legit ways to watch movies, even though all they would have to do is ask themselves a simple question: Am I having to pay anything for this? That should be a clue some wrong-doing is taking place. Even when they realize these polished looking torrent applications are delivering illegal content they shrug their shoulders and just keep using it. Just like Napster back when it was popular.
quote: Mike Blakesley
There's no need to jail somebody for something like that "Showbox" thing, considering it's apparently being sold in stores.
I serious doubt any gadget pre-loaded with Showbox is being sold as a legit device in a retail store, particularly any retailer with multiple locations (such as Best Buy).
The showbox app is not available through any legitimate online store, such as Google Play or Apple's app store. Further, if you're installing it on an Android device the app's installation instructions tell you to turn off certain safeguards, like allowing unknown software. That's a big invitation to huge risk. I can just see this app being used to hack into someone's Google Wallet details and then max their credit cards.
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 02-16-2015 01:35 AM
We still see a lot of people drinking in movies and don't ask about any of them how they do get home .
But like Leo already pointed out, values and standards differ between times and cultures. Piracy is, by and large, not seen as something bad, even though the laws are already in place.
So, either "Hollywood" learns to live with it and finds ways of making sufficient money despite the rampant piracy, maybe they can help themselves a bit by trying not to prematurely leak the good stuff or they'll find a way to get to people's minds and change the perception.
Unfortunately, what they're actually doing is something different. They're trying to convince governments around the globe how much they're hurt by piracy and therefore need to be compensated. Essentially they want to tax your Internet connection. This way, they tap a large revenue stream without actually producing anything new.
quote: Bobby Henderson
I'll echo this. There's a lot of people who really think Popcorn Time and Showbox are legit ways to watch movies, even though all they would have to do is ask themselves a simple question: Am I having to pay anything for this?
How many people do actually know how the business model of free-to-air TV and radio works? And like Frank already mentioned, Google, YouTube et all also deliver tons of "free" goodies or at least point the way to all kinds of "free" goodies.
quote: Bobby Henderson
I serious doubt any gadget pre-loaded with Showbox is being sold as a legit device in a retail store, particularly any retailer with multiple locations (such as Best Buy).
The large retailers probably won't sell anything like that, at least not with them knowing. But still, nothing is going to stop an independent operation or a rogue franchisee to sell those devices.
Also, it's seemingly not very difficult to load stuff like the Chrome Cast with those Apps. So, if some sharp-witted family member drops by and loads it on there, they probably also have no clue about the legality of it all.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 02-16-2015 10:07 AM
quote: Frank Cox
I don't pay anything for use of google, youtube and CNN, and I don't think I'm doing anything wrong by using their services.
That's not the same thing. There is a big difference in terms of content. Much of it is stuff no one would buy at all. Even when you're just visiting one of those sites to read an article or watch a viral video commercial ads are often included to monetize the operation.
These people are using Showbox and Popcorn Time like they would Netflix. It costs money to subscribe to Netflix. It doesn't cost anything to use Showbox or Popcorn Time. Again, that's another big clue. And those torrent applications are serving up movies that are still in theaters or even haven't made it into theaters yet.
Someone has to be incredibly naive or even just plain stupid not to realize any of this new breed of movie torrent applications are illegal.
Most people know deep down they're doing something wrong when using these applications. They can try to rationalize it all they can. One excuse I've heard is some of these applications serve up ads. So what? While that ad revenue might pay the people maintaining these applications it doesn't give someone a free pass to watch movies in theatrical release on their computer or phone free of charge.
To me these torrent applications are no different than Napster and Kazaa. Everyone who used those two applications knew they were breaking laws when downloading pirated music, videos and software. It shouldn't be any different this time around either. Like Napster and Kazaa, I'm sure these new torrent applications carry their own high risk of delivering malware to computers and portable devices.
quote: Marcel Birgelen
But like Leo already pointed out, values and standards differ between times and cultures. Piracy is, by and large, not seen as something bad, even though the laws are already in place.
Most people have no clue the amount of work that goes into making a movie or developing a software application. Yet they expect the people creating those things to basically do the work for nothing. The same goes for creative, copyrighted works like art, photography, literary material, etc. I guarantee NONE of the people downloading movies, music and software illegally would be willing to do their jobs for free.
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