Major Piracy Bust Against Top Providers 35
An anonymous reader writes "It appears the German copyright authority has launched a massive offensive against top warez providers. According to Slyck, GVU (the German version of the RIAA/MPAA) coordinated a wide spread effort that included the seizure of 20 servers and 30 arrests in 5 countries - Germany, Austria, Holland, Poland and the Czech Republic."
Police raid at GVU-headquaters (Score:5, Informative)
FYI: The GVU is... (Score:1)
The GVU - German Federation Against Copyright Theft, was founded in late 1984 by companies that hold a stake in the German film market. Its members include national subsidiaries of US majors as well as independent companies. suppliers such as post-production and replication companies, as well as national and international industry associations and lobbies. In response to developments in multimedia, the GVU also
Like, duh (Score:5, Insightful)
From the article: Initially, these raids may place a damper on spread of pirated material, however the allure of public recognition is simply too great for many to avoid. With time, their role in the online warez community will most likely be replaced.
This is news? It's been like this since way, way, way before the World Wide Web was invented. (Yes, children, there was software piracy back in the days of 5.25" floppy disks.)
Of course, with the Internet, all the other warez sites on the planet can easily fill the void left by the ones that were just shut down.
Re:Like, duh (Score:5, Insightful)
However, even further back, in the days of 8" floppy disks there was hardly any piracy because it was mostly all Free Software to begin with.
Re:Like, duh (Score:2)
However, even further back, in the days of 8" floppy disks there was hardly any piracy because it was mostly all Free Software to begin with.
Quite true. And disks made better frisbees back then, too.
Re:Like, duh (Score:5, Funny)
I think you're on to something.
8" floppy disk: hardly any piracy
5.25" floppy disks: some piracy
3.25" floppy: lots of piracy
Similarly,
LP: hardly any music copying
tapes: some piracy
CD: lots of piracy
and it holds true for video too!
laserdisk: no piracy
vhs tape: some piracy
dvd: lots of piracy
Clearly, the smaller the media becomes, the more copies are made. The MPAA should make a note of this and make pizza-sided Blu-Ray media.
Re:Like, duh (Score:2)
Dare I say? (Score:4, Informative)
Dare I say that free content is making warez redundant, even second rate? Free software works better than commercial software. Free media, such as can be found at places like the internet archive [archive.org] or http://magnatune.com/ [http]">Magnatune is better than RIAA/MPAA crap. Give your money and mind share to those who deserve it!
Allow me to pimp the Radiators [archive.org], one of the best jam bands to come out of New Orleans. There are hundreds of hours of their concerts available that you can share with your friends without charge or greed [archive.org].
Remember kids! (Score:5, Funny)
-B
just needed a modem (Score:1)
brun choplift
Of course, those games kept us entertained for weeks on end. Now, you can just dl a mame pack or apple roms and play all known games from 2001 and back. Crazy.
so much for obscurity (Score:3, Funny)
if software was reasonably priced, there would be very little piracy
T34|\/| \/\/4R3Z (Score:2, Interesting)
In groups that are dedicated to the free distribution of other people's content, why are they so keen to show that a release is "theirs"?
Re:T34|\/| \/\/4R3Z (Score:2, Informative)
Re:so much for obscurity (Score:2)
" thankfully, this type of tyranny will only result in better anonymity"
correct.
As the main stream public facing services are removed they will be replaced by underground systems(i.e. non public facing, invite only etc).
Seeing onion proxys and other anonymity systems gaining ground will allow these to reach the public with negligable risk.
"if software was reasonably priced, there would be very little piracy"
again correct.
I refuse to buy DVDs and games when they are first r
Re:so much for obscurity (Score:2)
Where "reasonably priced" is roughly equal to "Free" that is.
Re:so much for obscurity (Score:2)
Not really, no.
I buy games used for my consoles all the time. I almost never buy them new, because I don't feel there are that many games worth $60-$70 CDN. However, if I can get it used for $15-$20, that is just fine for me. Ergo, for me, games are too expensively priced for me to consider purchasing them at their initial sell price, so I don't buy them there. I either wait for them in the used bin, or the bargain bin after they get to be 3 o
Re:so much for obscurity (Score:2)
Wow a personal anecdote. What a stunningly perceptive analysis of human nature and market forces. NOT
Here's how it works - as long as people can get a product for a lower total cost they will do so, individual non-rational actors notwithstanding. So as long as software, or any digital product for that matter, is available through easy to find (i.e. low cost) illicit venues, then people will use those venues instead of purchasing it legitimately for a higher
Re:so much for obscurity (Score:2)
Yes, a personal anecdote. Which holds about as much truth as your editorial opinion above. However, unlike your little rant, I can back up my anecdote with additional info. There's lots [escapistmagazine.com] of easily [cnn.com] located evidence [mcvuk.com] that a lot of people prefer to buy used as well, cost being a major, if not the only factor. Can you think of another "market force" that would convince all those people to buy used except the p
Re:so much for obscurity (Score:1)
Perhaps you should quote the part where I cite well understood principles of economics instead of just smarting over being called ignorant.
Re:so much for obscurity (Score:2)
False. Casual piracy is the result of human nature, and will occur no matter what pricing is set at.
I wonder... (Score:2)
Nice try (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Nice try (Score:2)
Ye, the GVU. Their website was down when the police seized their servers. Apparently they keep their warez/moviez on their main website servers. I'd expect better covering up of their involvement (as a protection racket for both the `piracy' industry and the copyright holders) from a branch of the MPAA.
OMG, 20 servers!? (Score:2)
the scene (Score:1)
http://www.welcometothescene.com/ [welcometothescene.com]
Free and entertaining.
Oh, it's piracy, not privacy (Score:1)