Police and File Sharing
Is it just me, or have the police given up caring about file sharing? It's been ages since hearing about anyone getting caught or prosecuted for torrenting or file sharing through P2P software. What's up with that?
Are they still cracking down on it or have they finally realized that it's not worth doing?
Are they still cracking down on it or have they finally realized that it's not worth doing?
Comments
I assume you are in the UK. The police never really cared anyway - the only ones that did were the copyright lawyers who stood to make some cash from it.
Of the top of my head, I could not give you one single successful prosectution in the UK for sharing files online. I could give you several where the case has collapsed however.
In English criminal law, to gain a conviction, it must be beyond all reasonable doubt. Proving an individual has illegally downloaded something is next to impossible.
Last years Digital Economy Act is also in the process of having its arse torn out by judges.
It has been seen that in the UK at least, lest not other parts of the world, it makes no sense at all to chase individuals who may (or may not) have downloaded copyrighted material illegally. Easier to take out a file sharing network, after all, would it be easier to destroy all cars in the UK or just put road blocks up so no one can use their car.
Governments have got bigger fish to fry online and little money to work with - file sharing is of little interest.
I also remember my friend getting a letter demanding him to attend court after getting caught downloading an album torrent. He's a millionaire though and I think he paid up, although I can't remember what actually happened in the end.
They will have received letters from legal companies rather than a court summons. A few years ago, a couple of legal firms were investigating file sharers in the hope that they would pay up the token sum (it varied between a couple of hundred and a couple of thousand depending on the firm). The legal firm would then contact the owner of the copyright and pay them a token sum (<£100) and keep the rest.
Most, if not all of these firms have gone bust or ceased trading - I think they were LOLed out of court due to the inability of them to prove person = IP address.
I mean, usually isn't it the copyright owner who files suit or something?
How far were you living from Osama?
150-250 Km
This.
Really? What does it say?
I got in trouble for downloading that Clint Eastwood movie where he's living in the chinese neighborhood.
They sent a letter (I forget most of it), but it specifically called me on downloading that one file. I don't think they threatened legal action, though. I'd probably remember that.
Basically, you've been caught downloading and sharing "Paul" without proper consent, delete the file and don't do it again or we will terminate service.
Two things though, 1. I dl'ed it in fucking march and just got a letter
2. I've downloaded Scream 4 and shared it when it came out, but I deleted it, hope they don't notice.
Also they mentioned the possibility of that $250,000 if I keep doing it.
Oof, Id stop mate, its not worth taking the risk. Its not that they catch you with it on the computer, it is the act of actually downloading it that incriminates you. I plan to keep doing it until the letter comes, then I'll stop.
Yeah I stopped, its just funny cuz it was the first movie I actually torrented.
That is the theory I work off, yes I did indeed pussy out of using torrents :facepalm: I got scared and said..
I used to torrent loads everything but then I got worried I'd get caught so went to using file hosting which can be a bit fail but I prefer..
Pretty much the same here. That said, filehosting sites have sold out to their users over the last few years. Rapidshare has literally turned to shit, making users pay for pretty much ANY service :facepalm:
:facepalm:
Go read RS' latest update. They're now enabling piss-poor fucks like you to download at max speeds with a download limit.
That's pretty cool. I haven't used RS in a long time since they started limiting pretty much everything unless you bought an account. I turned to Megaupload who seemed much better, but RS looks promising again. Thanks for the heads up.
It is the act of sharing it that incriminates you as far as I was aware. When you share parts of torrents, your IP it attached to the information - I am sure such software exists so that it will help you stop this from happening, but as as is the nature of sharing programes, one computer must connect to another.
This is the only decent type of evidence that I have seen put forward yet by anyone prosecuting such a case.
In Australia, I thought that it was a civil infraction, but I can see those stupid warnings saying something about criminal convictions. Imagine if they took 100 people to court and they were fined 250,000 each. They are going to cotton onto this eventually and find lawyers to help establish convictions. Eventually, movies will be released in order to snare people.
Maybe I'm paranoid and a little over the top- but that doesn't mean that 'they' aren't after you, us, me....