Homeland Security Seizes Dozens of Piracy Websites

[beema]

What in the fuck does ICE have to do with blocking pirated media? That doesn't seem like their jurisdiction at all...

hooray for less freedom! keep it coming US govt. You are so good at preventing terrorism and such!

well, my two favorite bittorrent sites are still up and running, so whatever. suck a dick ICE.

 

[bob1052]

No matter how much the entertainment industries tell you the reason if they are on hard times is most likely due to them releasing poor content.

Do you have any proof of that? The exact same argument with no proof can be made about piracy.

 

[Kinokohatake]

What in the fuck does ICE have to do with blocking pirated media? That doesn't seem like their jurisdiction at all...

I guess you haven't downloaded an illegal alien. It's a lot like the Mike TV scene from Willy Wonka except they start off tiny.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Speaking of checking yo-self before you wreck yo-self:

 

[Hairetos]

But what happened to defending the 'homeland' from real threats?

So if there is one issue, everything else ever should be ignored. Lets say for an example, there are two hostage situations happening. Should every single effort be made to resolve one while turning a blind eye to the other?

Copyright Infringement vs. Hostage Scenario. Mmmm...nope, not comparable.

It's not a big deal. It doesn't threaten anything. There are plenty of other priorities out there.

 

[cerebus23]

Ok, a handful of corrections, one the sites seized were not confirmed to have any piracy related material, basically someone complained, the government overreacted. Two the sites seized were both domestic and foreign, which if you ask me is a clear over step of US bounds. Three, anyone who thinks it's ok for the government to take a site without proof that any illegal activity has occurred is clearly out of their minds, next they will take your porn, cause it's bad for the children, or your TV cause you kept too many movies on your DVR, which is also copyright infringement.

Interesting if true. This whole operation smacks of the united states government overstretching its authority, and creating new authorities that were never granted.

the dept if homeland security never had any mandate to hunt down internet pirates this is the most bald face overstep in the name of corporate pandering i have ever seen, the DHS is you know supposed to protect the united states form internal terrorist threats...ok maybe it was a slow week, maybe there are no terrorists to find, but i tend to think that movies and tv industry are just shoving enough money into washington for them to pull some silly bullshit like this.

And where any of these agencies got the authority to invade offshore assets is a mystery to me, and the really interesting thing is that someone complained about one of the sites and it was entirely false? wtf? no wait......i mean WTF.....who complained the head of MGM? maybe comumbia pictures? maybe BMG music? and why THE FUCK are we taking complaints as grounds for invading them?! and why the FUCK was this complaint not investigated at all?!

this whole mess is a neverending series of government overstepping it bounds, abusing its authority, and just doing errands for the entertainment industry.

and to top it all off not one site hit was a major piracy site. i mean noone can find any commonly used piracy site that was involved so what exactly was the fing point? if you want to bust people knocking off rolexes and air jordans...well you got about a few 1000 of those to go before you even see a dent, oh and you better just put the whole of china on your invade list, see how well that goes.

bottom line this whole story reeks of bullshit from the top down.

 

[TechNoFear]

Piracy copies the product, meaning the original owner still has his and he can still make a profit with it. Also, you have to get it through your thick skull that, due to that, piracy may have actual positive effects on the industry and that the damage done by it is literally impossible to prove.

The damage is not impossible to prove.

What about the multiplayer issues (leading to bad reviews and metrics) for DemiGod, caused by a nearly 90% piracy rate?

Clearly piracy had an impact on both sales and the reputation of Gas Powered / Stardock (because they put their customers first and released without DRM).

 

[bob1052]

Copyright Infringement vs. Hostage Scenario. Mmmm...nope, not comparable.

They are both illegal activities and the both need to be dealt with. By not comparable you mean you have no response.

 

[Xanthious]

I can only imagine being so totally and completely naive

...shit all over everyone's freedom of speech

Irony is so delicious.

Freedom of speech doesn't apply on the internet and doesn't apply to illegal actions.

First off while I agree it doesn't apply to illegal acts I don't recall checking my First Amendment Rights at the door when I logged onto the internet. Please go bleat that nonsense elsewhere.

Furthermore, while your blindly defending DHS please tell me what in the tap dancing fuck online piracy has to do one iota with Homeland Security? Or maybe you don't care and are fine with the government overstepping their authority. Are 14 year old students now suddenly crashing planes into buildings with pirated music? Did I miss something?

 

[No One Jones]

Intellectual property is not property.

 

[bob1052]

I can only imagine being so totally and completely naive

...shit all over everyone's freedom of speech

Irony is so delicious.

Freedom of speech doesn't apply on the internet and doesn't apply to illegal actions.

First off while I agree it doesn't apply to illegal acts I don't recall checking my First Amendment Rights at the door when I logged onto the internet. Please go bleat that nonsense elsewhere.

You didn't check them at the door because you never had them to being with when you were online.

 

[Hairetos]

Copyright Infringement vs. Hostage Scenario. Mmmm...nope, not comparable.

They are both illegal activities and the both need to be dealt with. By not comparable you mean you have no response.

The Dept of Homeland Security isn't a magic anti-crime stick that can wave illegality away with the flick of a metaphorical wrist. It has limited time and resources that it should be devoting to other tasks. All crimes are not equal and they don't deserve equal attention.

And of course I have a response. I gave you one. Bit of an asshole to say that I don't.

 

[bob1052]

The Dept of Homeland Security isn't a magic anti-crime stick that can wave illegality away with the flick of a metaphorical wrist. It has limited time and resources that it should be devoting to other tasks. All crimes are not equal and they don't deserve equal attention.

And of course I have a response. I gave you one. Bit of an asshole to say that I don't.

Mmm nope... you are wrong.

Am I doing it right?

If you think they have every member of their team neglecting "other tasks" you are mistaken, and if you think they should put every member of their team on that "other task" and neglect everything else, you are mistaken.

So according to you, innocent people that might be killed is the same thing as someone downloading music? Get a grip.

Because everything is completely literal that you read and has no meaning between the lines.

Following your reasoning I will ask what object I should grip.

 

[Xanthious]

If you think they have every member of their team neglecting "other tasks" you are mistaken, and if you think they should put every member of their team on that "other task" and neglect everything else, you are mistaken.

It is absolutely irrelevant if they are neglecting other tasks or not. Online piracy has fuck all to do with Homeland Security. If you believe otherwise your grossly mistaken. So either you are ok with the government overstepping their authority or you have no clue what in the blue hell your talking about.

 

[thublihnk]

Yeah, uh, make no mention that the DHS is completely overstepping their rights and responsibilities.

But yeah, it's awesome that federal defense dollars are being used to protect private corporations' copyrights. /sarcasm

They're overstepping their responsibilities but not their rights.
The government didn't do anything wrong. They went through the same process that they would have gone through for any other criminal. They collected probable cause, got a warrant, got evidence and convicted the people.

It's actually really hazy, they very well could've been overstepping, unless these sites were selling bootlegs. From what I'm seeing here, they were providing .torrents and/or free downloads so what should've happened is the copyright holders should've issued takedown notices, or filed suits against the companies. Not a criminal crackdown, as the DHS, FBI, nor any other law enforcement agency should be enforcing these copyrights. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement#Enforcement_Responsibility

 

[londelen]

I've got to get out of here man.

 

[kouriichi]

Oh great. are they trying to start riots?
Im sure if a riot does start up, they'll seriously reconsider after they see the billions of dollars in stolen goods and property damage.
Nerds will be running through the street, singing pirate songs, waving swords, and wearing bandanas. And i will proudly be one of them.