Federal Judge Rules P2P Users Aren't In a Conspiracy 66
Fluffeh writes "Judge Holderman ruled against copyright holders who were trying to paint a rather distorted picture. They sue just one Internet user, but use that lawsuit as a pretext to subpoena other defendants who had participated in the same BitTorrent swarm. The plaintiffs in these lawsuits claim that the other users had participated in a "conspiracy" to assist one another in distributing particular copyrighted works. Because the copyright holder's threat is based on the cost of litigation (and risk of public embarrassment — as this is a tactic used increasingly by the pron industry) more so than the damages a defendant would face in the event of a loss, innocent defendants have virtually as much incentive to settle as guilty ones do. That's not how things are supposed to work, and more and more judges are refusing to play along. Coupled with recent rulings in Florida, the copyright holders seem to be finding less and less favor with judges."
April Fools? (Score:4, Funny)
Guess, I'll wait until April 2nd before reading anything more on /.
consPiracy? (Score:5, Funny)
I see what you did there.
Re:Selling drugs is P2P, but so is having sex (Score:5, Funny)
Eeek! I thought having sex is P2V, or sometimes P2A or P2M, but the last two only before marriage...
Re:Selling drugs is P2P, but so is having sex (Score:4, Funny)
Re:An Helicopter for All (Score:3, Funny)
An 'elicopter, an 'acker...
Just you wait 'enry 'iggins.
Re:Selling drugs is P2P, but so is having sex (Score:4, Funny)
Selling drugs is P2P, but so is having sex (see wikipedia for more info fellow reader).
Erm, I'm interested in what you say and would like to subsc... Never mind, got any, um, more illustrative links?
(ducks & runs...)
Re:Innocent what? (Score:5, Funny)
Well, it is true they aren't exactly known for their accuracy in their accusations... and I believe I saw a report of an online webcam being targeted as well.
I believe the webcam was accused of unfair competition rather than copyright infringement ;-)