UK court to unmask 'file-sharers'

AndyBorzi · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:29

Noxis said:
I post in quite a few forums - cant think of any that end with Hell. Always sign on with this username tho.

I wasnt planing on turning this into a guessing game - but it would be very easy to figure out from the details I provide publically on this forum

Just a thought, as I sometimes post in there (ntlhell.co.uk)

Greenlizard0 · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:30

Say one guy got busted for sharing everybit of classical music he owned. Since this stuff isn't copy writed any more would there be a problem?

SexyGreyFox · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:30

NOXIS -

How exactly do you know what people are uploading?
Can you actually see someone sharing eg the new Arctic Monkeys album?
What about people who only download and don't use torrents, can you see what they are downloading?
The last time I used Bittorrent was at least a year ago and I only go for old rock concerts that were shown on German TV etc.

benjo plz. · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:30

I see little point in taking down the big sharers, then trying to go after the small time downloaders, as there would be less due to the lack of things to download because of the absence of big time sharers. Therefore I would say its most likely they will only go after the big time shares, as it would take forever to go after the small downloaders. Also, how exactly would they file a lawsuit against someone for downloading a couple of albums, it would be pointless tbh.

And yep dmp, you can see what people are sharing.

Duke · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:34

Phnom_Penh said:
Also, how exactly would they file a lawsuit against someone for downloading a couple of albums, it would be pointless tbh.

They know they are fighting a losing battle, so all they can realistically do is make an example of a few people, to try and frighten people off from sharing. Looks like it has worked - i.e. this thread

Greenlizard0 · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:34

Phnom_Penh said:
you can see what people are sharing.

Isn't that an invasion of privacy to say the least?

benjo plz. · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:36

greenlizard0 said:
Isn't that an invasion of privacy to say the least?

Not really, you're breaking the law in the first place. Is the DEA spying on a drugs ring or drug factory an invasion of privacy?

PureAppleJuice · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:37

Isn't just as easy as double clicking a customer's username and seeing what they've downloaded though. Or at least I certainly hope not

Phil99 · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:40

greenlizard0 said:
Say one guy got busted for sharing everybit of classical music he owned. Since this stuff isn't copy writed any more would there be a problem?

If it wasn't copyrighted he wouldn't get busted in the first place, and if he did there wouldn't be a case at all.

It'd be like someone trying to sue you for visiting the BBC website or something.

Phil99 · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:41

jidh007 said:
Isn't just as easy as double clicking a customer's username and seeing what they've downloaded though. Or at least I certainly hope not

Why not? It's only like a Bank being able to view all your transactions etc.

Raikiri · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:43

While action being taken against people who download or upload huge amounts of things seems fair, the fact that people have been arrested for downloading maybe £50 worth of music and have been sued for thousands seems ridiculous. The penalty should be an out of court settlement for the cost of what you have downloaded. Also, people are being fined for downloading programs that arent sold on DVDs but only shown on TV. Seems a bit daft really.

PureAppleJuice · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:47

Phil99 said:
Why not? It's only like a Bank being able to view all your transactions etc.

Because I'm sure that'd be an invasion of privacy. I'm sure more people would be locked up for piracy if it were that easy.

HaX · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:47

jidh007 said:
Isn't just as easy as double clicking a customer's username and seeing what they've downloaded though. Or at least I certainly hope not

Basically, organisations representing the interests of the Software and Music industries will log onto file sharing systems (eg Bit Torrent) and note the IP Addresses of people sharing files or segments of files. Once they have the IP addresses they will then contact the organisation which owns the offending IP address, an ISP for example. They will then use some legal procedure to get the ISP to disclose who was using that particular IP address at that particular time.

PureAppleJuice · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:51

Yep, that's what I was thinking, I was saying that I don't believe that the ISP can literally just view an entire customers history of downloads just by clicking the username and access that list when they want.

benjo plz. · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:58

Thats kind of what I meant/said, the can see what you're sharing, but to see what you're downloading is harder, unless it's from one of their servers.

I suppose the ISP could monitor what you access, but it would be a huge list, and while it may be their responsibility, its not really in their interest, so they probably wouldn't (its also an invasion of privacy unless they have a reason to suspect you).

PureAppleJuice · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:59

Ah sorry, probably misinterpreted what you said

iCraig · 30 Jan 2006 at 22:05

Well, I've made a big bonfire, going to do some spring cleaning

LordSplodge · 30 Jan 2006 at 22:09

The more you tighten your grip, the more files will slip through them.

The long and the short of it is the old fashioned rape the customer buisness methods of the "MegaMediaCorps" is failing and instead of adopting the Internet for a new delivery system they are just trying to keep the old system afloat whilst trying to send a message by suing teenagers in their bedrooms.

As far as I am concerned if they can change they deserve to die and let the newer younger companies take over.

Oh and PIRACY is what those guys with eye-patches and parrots get up too!

HEADRAT · 30 Jan 2006 at 22:15

cleanbluesky said:
*kisses Protowall*

Yeah like that is going to hellp, do you know how easy it is to assign IP address and route them, 5 minutes and the RIAA (or similar) could be scannin away like crazy

HEADRAT

HaX · 30 Jan 2006 at 22:18

Just thought I'd make this post my last one before I go to bed for the night.

I've just been onto the FAST website - www.fast.org.uk - as I thought I may aswell find out what is going on, rather than read the BBC's rather alarming and scare mongering report.

I think this excerpt taken from here will put a lot of our minds at rest.

Despite the accuracy of Operation Tracker, the emphasis of subsequent action will focus on organisations and the directors who allow their employees to break the law. However, if an individual is operating on a substantial scale, The Federation will consider acting accordingly. Action by The Federation is primarily to combat the complacency about the increasing problem of software piracy that it believes prevails in certain sectors of corporate UK.

So, in short, it would appear that they are only going to focus on piracy taking place within commercial organisation and large scale piracy by individuals.