Homeland Security Seizes Dozens of Piracy Websites

[Gindil]

Sad day

Piracy is Bad!

OT: Other than piracy being a crime and all, how did the ICE - Homeland Security Investigations get all these powers?

And was it only sites registered in the US?

Patriot act, and they're the enforcement side of the FBI.

 

[ultrachicken]

Doesn't HLS have bigger issues to tackle?

The US gov spends too much money on things that should be low priority.

 

[Patrick Dare]

When are they going to learn!?

The reason we pirates keep escalating our efforts is because we don't want to buy a game and come home only to find out we don't legally own the game to start with (i.e. that it can be revoked at any time with or without reason, which is only more money for the greedy criminals in the corporate). Same with movies. The industry is treating legitimate customers like criminals, so why don't we just go right ahead and BE criminals from the get-go and break their stupid fucking selfish "digital rights management"?

I say this all the time - DRM needs to be banned and the DMCA needs to be reformed.

Not to mention all the problems with various DRM that have come about like SecuRom and that whole Sony debacle. That said I'm currently in the process of converting all my dvds to mkv files. Technically violating the DMCA because I am circumventing the DRM but I don't see why it should be illegal for me to do so and I would hardly call it immoral (and no, I'm not making torrents or putting them on limewire, etc.).

 

[XThecommander]

Homeland security, it seems you forget your name, which is HOMELAND, and SECURITY. Now please take on the bigger tasks, and stop trying to stab at a molecule.

 

[Starke]

What's hilarious is 4chan is seriously scared by this. I'm not kidding.

Seriously? That's freakin' hilarious.

Glad they are doing something about it. But why exactly is this a homeland security issue?

Just a theory, but this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104994-Anonymous-Attacks-US-Government] may have had something to do with it.

 

[Starke]

I'm concerned about the site owners.

These websites were their livelihood.

It's like seizing a grocery store, taking it from the owner and denying him his work because he sells glue which some kids have been getting high off of.

I don't see how this could have been done in a supposedly civilised and moral country.

Honestly, a better simile would be a grocery store that was selling unstamped cigarettes. Yeah, they knew they were coming in, and they didn't care. These sites had the option to clean house on their end and maintain their safe harbor protections. They didn't. Now, it's sad that this is how people decided to make their money, but it doesn't make what they did legal.

 

[Actual]

It's like seizing a grocery store, taking it from the owner and denying him his work because he sells glue which some kids have been getting high off of.

Honestly, a better simile would be a grocery store that was selling unstamped cigarettes. Yeah, they knew they were coming in, and they didn't care. These sites had the option to clean house on their end and maintain their safe harbor protections. They didn't. Now, it's sad that this is how people decided to make their money, but it doesn't make what they did legal.

I don't know exactly which sites were taken down, but most of these websites already comply with the law. The law states that a website is legally not guilty of copyright infringement if they act quickly and reliably to take down any material which is flagged as copyrighted by the copyright holder. So the film company sends a list of files every couple of days pointing out all of their stuff on the torrent site and the website owner takes it down.

If these websites were adhering to this then they were seized after a rapid shift in the law, laws which as far as they knew they were following.

Your simile works if the grocer received thousand of cigarette packets every day, and a large portion of them were unstamped, but to a casual glance, no different from the legal ones. It would not be reasonably possible for him to sort them out and still maintain his business.

So, if a guy makes his living selling child pornography, we shouldn't stop him because it's how he makes a living?

If your livelihood is based around profits based SOLELY (keyword) on illegal things, you can (and probably should) be shut down.

Most pirates don't do it for a living or a profit. The Scene is based upon competition, they earn no money from it.

That's a ridiculous over-dramatisation.

Let's tone it down, child-pornography is illegal so yes that should be shut down.

These sites do not only provide links to illegal content, a large portion of what they link to is legal.

In fact, some of these sites have done wonderful things to improve P2P technology and keep the internet a free, interesting, and useful place. Take Isohunt and Vuze for example, both legal websites that do great work improving the technology of file-sharing. They do great work and they receive monetary reward for this. However their work is used for illegal file-sharing, despite their efforts. Do they deserve t be shut down, and have their intellectual property taken from them by the government?

Thankfully, I believe they're both situated outside the U.S. so they are safe for now.

 

[Ashsaver]

And I'm wondered:Why homeland security are the one doing this.

 

[Fumbleumble]

Final proof that the American governement is a fascist one.

It is not the job of a government, who's mandate lies with the people, to curtail the actions of it's citizens for the sole benefit of corporate interests.
These laws do nothing except make the rich richer and the expense of those without.

True, it isn't the governments job to do that. But it is[i/] the governments job to stop crimes and apprehend suspects. Which is what is being done here. The fact that the criminals are pirates is irrelevant, because they're criminals nonetheless and need to be stopped.

Which is the WHOLE point.

It's not a CRIME...Rape, armed robbery.. THOSE are crimes. This is copyright infringement which is a CIVIL matter.

This is only being defined as crime because the governement has made laws, against your rights, stating it is a crime at the behest of industry.

At MOST industry should be able to sue you in a claims court.. it's NOT a case for being jailed with dangerous, sick scumbags.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

I can only imagine being so totally and completely naive is probably a happy peaceful feeling. I bet it's damn near zen-like isn't it? However, those of us that are capable of thinking for ourselves realize that the big media corporations are just as bad if not worse than the pirates.

The pirates aren't the ones that are trying to censor the internet and shit all over everyone's freedom of speech. The pirates aren't the ones buying off politicians to forward their own agenda. People like Rupert Murdoch and his ilk, not the pirates, have come out and said things like he believes content providers should be the ones "running the internet". The pirates aren't the rich and powerful businessmen that are in a state of panic because their ancient business models are no longer viable.

Organizations like the MPAA and the RIAA know their time is coming to an end and rather than adapt and innovate they choose simply to pay off the people in a position of power and effectively curb stomp all over our rights in the name of combating piracy.

Fact Stater Legend in Disguise

 

[DevilWolf47]

No wonder we've screwed the pooch in every regard as of late. Why the hell is ICE on this?! That's like sending in the DEA to deal with unsanitary conditions at a McDonalds.

COICA has me concerned. People are going to begin using the "Terrorist" excuse to try and counter people who demand that constitutional protections spread to the internet. "Sorry Dr. Jaeger, but if Google stops selling your search history to anyone who asks with an open wallet, the terrorists win!" "Sorry Wolf, you can't go to this website anymore because the terrorists were using it to upload pirated anime!"

Web piracy is a misdemeanor. If they can seize the websites with warrants they can easily use IP information to track the pirates and make sure they don't establish a new website and they can alert file sharing sites. Maybe if we get Homeland Security off it's fat Cheeto-dust covered ass to stop looking for pirated copies of World of Warcraft we can focus on finding a replacement for the full body scanners which actually ARE A CONCERN. Leave infringement to the FBI you stupid fucks!

 

[vrbtny]

.....Shouldn't the homeland security be protecting us from terrorists?

Not, 13-year-olds who desperately want Black-ops, and haven't saved up the pocket money?

 

[instantbenz]

Pirate Bay is still running, so I fail to see what this accomplished.

Pirate Bay isn't just a website. Pirate Bay is an idea, mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.
I guess what i'm trying to say is that unless the internet comes under full control and regulation (God forbid, figuratively speaking) there's no plausible way to slow down piracy, nevermind stop it.

The reference is entirely necessary as this garbage shows it could get that bad. It's as though some governments look at fictional works to reference with pointers for their regime.

A point made by many others is just how ridiculous of an expense it is when there are bigger fish to fry. Let's stop pleasing people who make oodles of money and start showing some respect to the lower classes that keep this piece of shit afloat.

 

[UltimatheChosen]

Let's tone it down, child-pornography is illegal so yes that should be shut down.

Piracy is illegal, too.

These sites do not only provide links to illegal content, a large portion of what they link to is legal.

In fact, some of these sites have done wonderful things to improve P2P technology and keep the internet a free, interesting, and useful place. Take Isohunt and Vuze for example, both legal websites that do great work improving the technology of file-sharing. They do great work and they receive monetary reward for this. However their work is used for illegal file-sharing, despite their efforts. Do they deserve t be shut down, and have their intellectual property taken from them by the government?

Just because they do some good stuff doesn't mean they get off the hook for violating the law.

If I burned down houses for fun, but also volunteered at a homeless shelter, does that mean that I shouldn't go to jail?

 

[The Long Road]

Internet piracy has only ever sounded like whiny people unable to get over their sense of entitlement. "I want stuff, but I don't want to work for the money to buy it, because I'm somehow different from the rest of the population and deserve it for free". Not going to fly when some people need to hold multiple jobs just to get their next meal. Get over yourselves. When an organization (call them 'greedy corporations' if you like, but it only shows that you have precisely zero understanding of the industrialized world's economy) sinks millions of dollars into the creation of a product, they are going to make damn sure that their ability to make a profit and pay their investors, employees, and employees' benefits. Then they just might want to put some of that money into the creation of their next product so that the company can stay in the black. If you threaten to interrupt that cycle, they are going to try to stop you, especially if you're doing it illegally.

On the subject of violation of rights and overextension of government control... No. You have no right to take what isn't yours, and the government is completely in the right to pursue you for it. This is not overextension of government control, it's enforcement of policy. It's the same reason mob safe houses are seized. It's a fool's bet to think that the government wouldn't shut down the Salvation Army if they started a Robin Hood-style robbery scheme as a supplement.

Overall, people are just whining because they can't get free things now. Somebody said earlier that the word "terrorist" is being flung around far too much now. The same applies to "oppressive government" and "greedy corporations". If an argument can be formulated that uses either of those phrases, people have a knee-jerk reaction to resist it, even though both entities have sustained their lives so far and will continue to do so as long as their ability to protect assets and enforce policy is not strung up by manipulative thieves like internet pirates.

 

[Gindil]

There went internet neutrality. Next step is giving the net to the big companies.

Honestly, if you want to increase net neutrality, you need to make the broadband companies compete. This whole idea of rules for the internet that they need to adjust to really won't fly unless they're faced with a strike to their income.

 

[LastMondaysHangover]

You're never going to eliminate internet piracy entirely. This scenario is more like a game of "Whack-a-Mole, you might as well give up because it's always going to be popping up everywhere