RIAA/MPAA vs. xMule Author, EarthStation 5 1107
Two bits of news in the ongoing battle between the RIAA/MPAA and the rest of the internet: One P2P company, apparently based in Palestine, has thrown down the gauntlet to the movie industry. Meanwhile, a developer of another P2P tool who unwisely chose to live in the USA has been shut down (mirror) by the RIAA.
Not that it needs to be said, but (Score:5, Insightful)
It saddens me as a developer that you can't even deign to write a P2P add without the assumption that it will be used for sharing copyrighted materials and thus shut down by the RIAA/MPAA. It's really amazing to see what lengths these bastards will go to to protect their industry after a major, earth-shattering shift in their profit model.
I urge everyone reading this to be very diligent in your boycott of buying new music or going to see movies. I haven't bought a CD in 22 months and haven't seen a movie since (believe it or not) 1999. You can't cheat and plead, just one movie! It's the Matrix! I have to see it. Nothing but the bottom line is going to get through to these people. If these folks don't get the message and soon, you may find yourself asking for permission to write anything on your machine that moves bits around.
You forgot something... (Score:2, Insightful)
Extracts from ES5 press release (Score:5, Insightful)
(...)
ES5 (http://www.es5
(...)
Ras Kabir's warning to the RIAA and the MPAA, "The next revolution in P2P file sharing is upon you. Resistance is futile and we are now in control".
OMG! It's what I call a man who has BALLS!!
Kicked off the Internet?? (Score:2, Insightful)
This guy's talking about being barred from use of the Internet as a result of a DMCA subpoena. WTF? Is this sensationalism or is there legal basis for this claim?
It's Idiotic. (Score:2, Insightful)
Why exactly is this on slashdot? It's not a freedom movement. In no way can it be given a good slant. It's out-and-out copyright infringement. Period.
Even the most cockeyed activists have to see that far from making Hollywood "wakeup", this kind of thing is going to give them the ammunition they need to get more draconian laws passed in congress.
Moronic.
Re:Not that it needs to be said, but (Score:3, Insightful)
No kidding, just posted to the Mandrake Cooker list:
> > Could we get some kind of p2p solution up and running? With so many
> > people wanting to keep a local cooker tree, it would seem self-evident
> > that we should be taking advantage of this technology. A cooker torrent
> > would be excellent! (does BitTorrent handle large numbers of files
> > easily?).
> This would kick ass. :) Especially if it was setup so that it can download
> from multiple sources at a time to increase speed.
So much for that idea. Although it IS copyrighted material, it's not illegal to distribute it. ;)
Re:Extracts from ES5 press release (Score:1, Insightful)
Admitting that they enable the distribution of pirated movies won't really help their cause. Whatever their cause may be.
Re:Not that it needs to be said, but (Score:5, Insightful)
Just A Publicity Stunt (Score:2, Insightful)
Precedent against this sort of suit (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't know if the bill was passed to bar this type of action, but the legal precedent is there at least.
You cant blame a tool for its improper use.. or the tool maker..
Re:Extracts from ES5 press release (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, given proper threats, bribes, etc.. to the right people..
Re:Extracts from ES5 press release (Score:2, Insightful)
It's not admitting it, it's shouting it from the rooftops. Why the hell should they care? As the MP/RIAA apologists keep pointing out, it's not about what's right, it's about what's legal. As Palestine isn't recognised as a state, it can't sign up to the Berne Convention, and so the MP/RIAA can go screw themselves.
The cause might be to get the MP/RIAA to strongarm the Whitehouse into accelerating the creation of a Palestinian state, so that they can start taxing it. It'd be a roundabout route, but, hey, money means a lot more in world politics than principles.
Re:Full text of article (Score:5, Insightful)
Not quite, I think he is saying that he has to relocate to continue his work. Let's face it. The US is a pretty fucked place to live unless you're rich and have several lobbyists on the payroll.
Re:It's Idiotic. (Score:5, Insightful)
Now users of this software may be be breaking the law, but I would argue that they are doing nothing unethical. After all law does not dictate morality.
Re:Not that it needs to be said, but (Score:5, Insightful)
Back in college, I had good success buying used CD's. If I recall correctly, only once did I have a problem with skips, and the store gave me a refund right away.
Re:Not that it needs to be said, but (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Precedent against this sort of suit (Score:3, Insightful)
There was no DMCA-type of law for guns, however. Apparently stealing copyright is more important than stealing lives in this country.
Re:Precedent against this sort of suit (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not that it needs to be said, but (Score:2, Insightful)
Continuing the cycle (and restoring their profits) at this point will only encourage them and prove that their recent "tactics" work. It will also keep them in business indefinately.
I agree that a slump in sales will allow them to blame it on P2P. But they're doing that already. And it'll only work for a little while... because as soon as a REAL boycott occurs, there will be NO WAY they can blame it on P2P. There is already holes in their correlation & stats about P2P stealing their profits away. Even bigger discrepancies will work against them.
Not only that, but the boycott should remain in place even after they "shut down" P2P. Indie sales need to go up. Our money should go towards other forms of entertainment (computer games, etc)
Boycotts have worked in the past. Corporations only exist to create cash. Take that cash away from them, and even they won't be able to afford congress critters anymore. Not only that, but somewhere along the line, big artists could jump ship and go with alternative distribution and marketing, which could get the whole ball rolling in a brand new direction on its own.
Re:Not that it needs to be said, but (Score:5, Insightful)
WRONG!! Boycotting WILL EVENTUALLY WORK! (Score:3, Insightful)
You see, some of the worst movies ever made were from the past few years. (Think Gigli).
Tell your friends about how the media industry bought off scumbag politicians and circumvented your constitutional rights with the DMCA. About how they are targetting college kids (who are eternally broke thanks to a f*cked up higher educational system in this country) - and grandmothers. The boycott approach will only show the illogic in the media industries plan.
Also remind these fools that HIGH PRICES are the reason for slow down NOT PIRACY! Also the fucking recession might be a good reason, or a Republican in the White House (especially a brain dead former coke fiend father of slutty daughters) - ANY REASON can explain the lack of business growth in any sector.
You know... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Precedent against this sort of suit (Score:2, Insightful)
Well, examine the costs:
Social Security Death benefits (cost of a life): $255 [ssa.gov]
Political donations from the movie industry in 2002 (cost of copyrights): $10,498,466 [opensecrets.org]
I think it's pretty obvious which one is more valuable in America.
Re:Anti Semitism? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:You forgot something... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm pretty sure that Israelis wouldn't fuck with anybody if people stopped blowing them up. I've never lived there, but talked to quite a few people who have, and have family members and that seems to be a general consensus amongst them.
That should be their new slogan, "Stop blowing us up and we'll stop taking your land."
RIAA/MPAA (Score:3, Insightful)
The only way government and pseudo-government (RIAA, MPAA, etc) officials will help reduce illegal file sharing is if people choose to not download files. It's all about freedom of choice, folks. So save your money from suing people and spend it on advertising, appealing to people's sense of right and wrong. Being a bully and suing some poor college student is just kicking the hornet's nest, and begs for someone like Earth Station 5 to rise up and make what they're trying to stop even worse.
Re:Nice sentiment (BIG) BUT (/BIG) (Score:3, Insightful)
It floors me that the RIAA cannot seem to make enough money to keep themselves happy, when just about everyone from 12->25 wants their products! I certainly wish I had thier financial problems.
Don't starve yourself! Seek other entertainment! (Score:3, Insightful)
This site:
http://www.magnetbox.com/riaa/
has a "bookmarklet" to help you identify non-RIAA bands when you're shopping online. Or, you could find the small clubs in your area (Baltimore: The Talking Head, The Ottobar, The Mojo). Check their schedule, look up the bands (who will probably have free, legal downloads). Go see the ones you might like; it's probably only $5 or so. Buy their CDs if you do like them; most of it goes to them, and the CDs are cheaper too.
Reply to this post with your tastes if you want suggestions. I can't help with hip-hop so much, but I can with nearly everything else. And, shameless plug, WMBC will start broadcasting again in a few weeks
Don't buy in to it (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not that it needs to be said, but (Score:1, Insightful)
The palestinians have never had their own country per se, that's what everyone but them is trying to get accomplished for them. If the terrorists would knock the shit off, then maybe they could establish one. Unfortunately, the terrorists have no desire to even allow Israel to exist and are foregoing their own country for vengence. Small minded.
Honeypot! It's a trick! (Score:1, Insightful)
-streaming FIRST RUN movies over the internet for FREE
-freely share their music and movies online
-FREE video streaming of first run movies
-FREE ten SEX channels
-hides the identities of its users and their IP addresses
It's an RIAA/MPAA honeypot! They're finally learning from us! Run...RUN! They'll be on you like stink on a hillbilly!
Re:You forgot something... (Score:1, Insightful)
The problem is (Score:4, Insightful)
Now, I'm no fan of any of the money-hungry lawsuit-happy big corps out there, but you have to use your head a bit. The RIAA business model is based around singles and one-hit-wonders. To get one decent song you want, you have to shell out for a whole CD or Album which often otherwise contains crap.
It's not about the expense of CD's themselves... I find that a CD with 90%+ good content is worth the bucks (if it weren't funding the RIAA)... it's about getting a shitty value for our dollar.
Now with movies it is different. Unless you go to opening night (and that's your choice) there are loads of movie reviews out quickly. The MPAA even admits that text messaging [slashdot.org] is speeding this process. Now, are these idiotic lawsuits a good thing? No.
However, to turn the buck around, is expecting to get away with downloading perfectly good movies just to avoid paying for them a good thing either? No! The MPAA does make good movies. Over the last year I've seen lots of em (American Wedding being the latest). They were worth my cash, and if the MPAA went after users who were providing bootleg/P2P movies I think that would be great. Going after the programmers is dumb... but everyone else is trying to freeload a quality product.
Come on people, you don't believe that anime [slashdot.org] should be "pirated", so why should movies? Want them to cost less, protest the huge f***ing wages going to bullsh*t actors or producers. Don't watch the movie. But if you go out and download Revelations insteading of paying to see/buy it... then you're no better them them... you're just being a greedy bastard.
In summary. Nope, we don't have to pay for the crap. But the stuff being downloaded isn't crap, or at least it's in demand, or it wouldn't be downloaded. I won't be buying any RIAA music anytime soon, but I will be seeing Revelations in the theatre, as it shoudl be. How about you?
Re:I'm a big fat TROLL! (Score:3, Insightful)
A thought.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't it amazing how something so unimportant as a few studios that produce screen plays and music can drastically change the laws in a huge country full of freedom loving (wanting) people?
The RIAA and MPAA members wealthy off our dollar. Please don't spend more money with these people unless you don't mind kissing more freedoms goodbye.
Re:Nice sentiment (BIG) BUT (/BIG) (Score:3, Insightful)
Ah..but in 1983 you would have paid a fair price! (Score:5, Insightful)
This is what you get for outlawing P2P programs (Score:1, Insightful)
MPAA/RIAA first destroyed Napster, a music only centralized system, that could have generated cash with a few tweeks to the system. But no the music industry did not want that so they killed it.
That left a void which was soon filled by Kazaa, DC and everybody else, some go to other countries, some go broke, some hang on only to see there users attacked by MPAA/RIAA. The field is now filled by these application and all of them are trying to talk to MPAA/RIAA. If another P2P app appears it will have no void to fill and therefore few users.
Therefore this ES5 has gone on the attack. They don't care about international laws, they protect their users identity, they use encryption. They are either trying to be the next big app and earn loads of cash or they will go down realy fast.
If they get a lot of users fast and they cannot be defeated legaly then I wouldn't be suprised if the MPAA/RIAA begin to fight dirty.
MPAA -> Bush -> Israeli president -> Army -> Missiles.
MPAA -> Bush -> Palestinian peace prosess -> New laws.
Re:WRONG!! Boycotting WILL EVENTUALLY WORK! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:You forgot something... (Score:2, Insightful)
That should be their new slogan, "Stop blowing us up and we'll stop taking your land."
I'm pretty sure that Palestinians wouldn't fuck with anybody if people stopped taking their land. I've never lived there, but talked to quite a few people who have, and have family members and that seems to be a general consensus amongst them.
That should be their new slogan, "Stop taking our land and we'll stop blowing you up."
Which was first: Israelis taking land, or Palestinians blowing up?
Re:Not that it needs to be said, but (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally, I don't care if it is anymore. If someone can tell me what is unfair or uncapitalistic about a band making all of it's money through live concerts, and distributing cheap mp3's or CD's for little to no money at all.......a situation that doesn't involve any middle men (record companies) and relies solely on word of mouth to bring the cream of the crop into the public scene (seems to have worked for websites so far).......if someone can show me what is wrong with all that, then I might consider caring about the record industry. The truth is simply that they're standing in the way of progress and technology. A tactic that hasn't worked to well in the past.
Re:You forgot something... (Score:3, Insightful)
You are totally missing the point! The Israelis never go after civilians just for the sake of going after civilians. Palestinian terrorists and suicide bombers will attack innocent Israeli men, women and children for no good reason other than to kill as many of them as possible. Why else do you think they send suicide bombers onto busses and into nightclubs? How many Israeli soldiers and politicians do you they think they think they are going to get by setting a bomb off in those places? The answer is zero. They aren't after politicians or soldiers when they set off a bomb in a public place, they are after innocent civilians specifically.
Do the Israelis kill innocent civilians too? Yes, but it is always result of collateral damage. They never target a Palestinian bus or nightclub just so they can kill civilians. They target terrorist leaders and operatives. Sometimes innocent civilians die in the process and that is a horrible thing but it is a much different situation when civilians are dieing as a result of collateral damage than it is when civilians are being killed just for the hell of it!
If the Palestinians would quit sending suicide bombers to kill innocent Israeli's then they could have their own state. The bottom line is that there is a certain percentage of Palestinians who do not want Israel to exist and they will continue killing Israeli's in a futile attempt to drive them out of existence. These people need be eliminated or locked up for good and the only ones that are going to be able to do that successfully are the Palestinians. The Israeli's can't do it and the Israeli's don't want to do it but since the Palestinian leadership seems either unwilling or incapable of doing it themselves then it doesn't leave Israel with a whole lot of options.
Almost every country in the world, the USA included, would put enormous pressure on the Israeli to withdraw from the West Bank and Gazaa completely if suicide attacks stopped tomorrow and a substantial amount of time passed without any additional attacks. The problem is, as it stands now, when a cease fire is declared it just gives the terrorist's time to rebuild, regroup and re-arm and then launch more attacks. These groups must be dismantled and eliminated or they must agree to a permanent cease-fire and put down their weapons for good before there will ever be peace in the middle-east.
If the Palestinians show a good faith effort in trying to dismantle and disarm these groups then the Israeli's must give them whatever time and assistance they may need and not resort to military action is response to terrorists attacks but allow the Palestinians themselves to respond.
It's going to require a good faith effort from both sides. Right now though, Abbas is still trying to reason with these groups rather than dismantle them and Arafat, as far as I can tell, is probably either working with them or is totally complacent. This has to change before anyone can reasonably expect the Israeli's to try and work with the Palestinians.
I'm calling BS. (Score:1, Insightful)
Ask France what happens when you do nothing as massive amounts of troops and weapons move toward your borders. As for wars where the first people to attack didn't claim self-defense, you give two examples below: Israel's war for independence and the Yom Kippur war where the only aims were to destroy Israel.
You also seem to have overlooked the 1978 and 1982 invasions of Lebanon -- the last one being condemned even by the US. So by my counting Israel was invaded twice in the last 55 years: the 1947 independence war and the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Perhaps you were confusing Israel with Lebanon, which has never started a war but has been invaded three times in the last 30 years (by Syria in 1976, Israel in 1978 and 1982).
Considering all the attacks on Israel from bases in Lebanon (which was and is still controlled by Syria but nobody complains about that bloody occupation) I'm going to believe Israel's self-defense arguments in that instance too. We took out the Taliban for pretty much the same reason.
Because the Palestinians don't have the option of sending in helicopter gunships to assassinate Israeli politicians. I'm not condoning suicide bombings, but your comparison is laughable. In a conflict, each side will naturally make use of the means at its disposal. Moreover israel's "targeted assassinations" invariably kill many more people than just those being targeted -- but obviously a 6-year-old girl who happens to live next door to a Hamas leader doesn't matter as much as a 6-year-old killed in a suicide bombing.
You are condoning suicide bombings. Hell, you're condoning suicide bombings against civilians too by morally equivicating the actions of a democratic nation defending itself to thugs who target civilians in order to invite the harshest reprisals possible in order to win over public opinion. And it appears to be working (an AP story today was titled Hamas abandons truce after Israel strike. Heck, I thought they abandoned the truce when they bombed an Israeli bus and killed 20 people-6 children). Yeah more people that those just target by Israel die but they're not invariably or even often innocent civilians. And even if they were the rules of war permit proportionality in the use of force against legitimate targets (think Deathstar contractors). That is, you could bomb a convoy with Saddam even if his civilian family is with him. One of the first polls ever conducted of the Palestinians showed that a majority didn't support suicide bombings because of the harsh reprisals and their prevention of any peaceful settlement. Plenty of rebels succeeded without resorting to systematically targeting civilians. But again, Israel wouldn't be doing any of that shit if they weren't getting attacked all the time.
And guess why the Palestinians don't have the 'means' to destroy Israel. Other Arab countries aren't really interested in the Palestinian's cause other than use as a distraction from their own problems. Despite the fact that Palestinian GDP is better than most Arab peoples (excluding oil) because of their economic ties to Israel they could still be much better off if they cooperated rather than try to push Israel into the sea. The Palestinians who live in Israel have more right and are generally better of than Arabs pretty much anywhere else.
well (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:You forgot something... (Score:3, Insightful)
That should be their new slogan, "Stop blowing us up and we'll stop taking your land."
Of course the slogan of the other side is "Stop stealing our land and we'll stop blowing you up" - clever point there bub.
I say Jihad, you say Jehova... (Score:1, Insightful)
The arabs picked a fight, the palestinians have never been loved, and considering their attitudes, they're like angry tanned serbians, it's not hard to see why, if people want to start assigning blame, start with the UK end with the arabs, the US didn't mess any of that shit up, it was like that when we found it.
A reflection back through history teaches us a little conquest can be helpful, a homoginizing force that can actually bring people together.
Would modern china be what it was without the waring states period, and of course the mongol invasion? Hell no, there wouldn't be a chinese identity without it. They'd be all spread out in crazy little tribes that hate each other too. But thanks to their vicimization, and lets not leave out the colonial powers, they've got a billion people who might not love their system of government, but they can more or less be moved to action as one people.
Modern sensibilities aside, there's certainly a case to be made for writing off a couple of ethanicities that can't move out of some imagined feudal utopia, and into the world we live in. Serbians, angry camel jockies, crazy jungle living bitches from the southern philipines, our very own millitia groups at home, seemingly most of africa, I'm looking at you. Your clock is ticking, learn to play nice, or else
Sometimes people want to fight bad enough, that there is nothing you can do, but kill one, or just let them slug it out until one of them just doesn't have any fight left.
It certainly seems like that is the case with isreal, and her foes. And quite frankly the same goes for uncle Sam and his. In which case, Gengis Khan has much to teach us. You can try to kill everyone who hates you, or just doesn't agree with you, but that's hard. It's much easier to go where they live and obliterate everything they know and love. Soon, no one will want to risk fighting you, but cause they'll have to risk and probably loose everything for a victory that won't even be symbolic because no one will remember it. It's no coincidence that the mongols ruled over both russia and china providing them with a national identity, and forging them into the superpowers they are today.
Likewise, holding back for both the US and isreal only purpetuates the fighting, and just insures another generation will grow up, poor, a drift, hurting and hating.
Overall "Can't we all just get along?" soundsly like a reasonable question, and perhaps we could all agree it's a great sentiment, but the world just doesn't run on hugs. (Mostly greed and ignorance from what I can gather.) We're all bound by the limitations we face, not the ones we wished we faced.
Re:Anti Semitism? (Score:3, Insightful)
No, they're just called, "Dirt Nigger", "Dune Coon", "Towel Head", "Rag Head", "Camel Jockey", "Terrorist", "Infidel" and lots of other things.
They were colonized, enslaved, hated, repressed, murdered, tortured and any other horrible thing you can think of *Just Like Every Other Race, Religion, and most likely Species* that ever lived on this planet. And you're bitching that only the Jews deserve a special word for hatred of them?!?
Israel has no claim whatsoever on special status. If they do wrong it is wrong. If they are wronged, then it is likewise wrong.
Fuck *your* semantic games.
.